We are investigating possible claims against certain insurance companies who maintained “retained asset accounts”, mostly on behalf of life insurance beneficiaries and traumatic injury survivors. Often, when an insurance company is supposed to pay on a life insurance policy or a disability policy, the insurer will avoid paying out a lump sum as required by the insurance contract and by law and will instead issue what looks like a checkbook that delays the time in which the insurance company must pay out the benefits. By using the checkbook, the insurance company maintains the policy proceeds for itself in an account –money that belongs to the beneficiary of the policy– and it keeps for itself the interest on that money. For example, Prudential had the “Alliance Account” and would delay payouts to beneficiaries, including payments to service members who had SGLI, VGLI, or TSGLI policies (Service Members’ Group Life Insurance; Veterans’ Group Life Insurance; Traumatic Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance) by issuing what look like checkbooks instead of promptly paying lump sums. By issuing the checkbook, the insurer delays paying out the full benefits. In addition, these “checkbooks” draw on money belonging to the beneficiaries or the severely injured person but the insurance company holds the money in accounts that continue to earn interest for the company. Additionally, the insurance companies may not fully inform the account holders about the terms of the retained asset accounts or that the funds held in the account are not insured by the FDIC.
We are investigating possible claims against the following insurance companies as well as other companies:
- Aetna Inc.
- American International Group Inc. (AIG)
- AXA
- Genworth Financial Inc.
- Guardian Life Insurance Co.
- Lincoln National Corp.
- MetLife
- MONY Life Insurance Co.
- Mutual of Omaha
- New York Life Insurance Co.
- Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co
- Prudential Financial, Inc.
- Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co.,
- SunLife
- Unum Group
Have you lost money as a result of the same or similar activities by your insurance company? Report your case.