Feature: Settlements of small face policies start to emerge
Settlement Watch
By Linda Koco
Are the small face life policies going through the settlement pipeline? Apparently this is starting to happen. Take this case. A friend of John Cash was having some financial difficulty with paying the premiums on a $150,000 universal life policy he no longer needed, one with a $13,000 outstanding policy loan. "My friend was 69 and had some health issues,” says Cash, who is a producer with Cash & Associates, P.A., Orlando, Fla. Due to the policy loan, the net value was only $137,000, he continues. The cash value was only $500. Cash says his friend couldn’t keep up with the premiums and the interest on the loan, and so he wanted to surrender the policy. When Cash ran that by a settlement broker, he learned his friend might be able to settle the policy instead—even though...click here for more
Ask the expert: do I need a special license?
Question: I am a life insurance agent and would like to advise my clients of the secondary market for life insurance. Am I required to obtain a special license?
click here for the answer
Everything is getting better: part III
This is Part III of the 4th life settlement roundtable sponsored by National Underwriter Life & Health, the parent of Settlement Watch. It was held in Washington, D.C. on May 14, 2008. The participating executives acknowledged continuing legislative struggles in the buisness but also expressed tremendous confidence in the value of what they provide to consumers. NU Editor-In-Chief Steve Piontek was moderator.
What companies are doing
MR. PIONTEK: Let’s talk a little bit about what some of the companies are doing We have companies that are tailoring policies so that settling them will become less advantageous. I think that this will be a major change as more and more companies get on board with this kind of activity. Any comments about that?
MS. BALSAM: It is wonderful. I think that products that are competing with life settlements are not only coming from insurance companies; they are coming from Wall Street too. It is giving us, the brokers, the opportunity to add more value to our clients by giving them more options. There are innovative new products that are coming onto the marketplace for seniors that are giving them options, and we are ...click here for more |
Quiz question: life expectancy trend
Question: What has happened to the gap between life expectancy levels for better-educated and less-educated U.S. residents, and between higher-income and lower-income U.S. residents, in recent years?
a) It has narrowed dramatically
b) It has narrowed a little
c) It is about the same
d) It has widened
click here for the answer |