Companies That Buy Existing Life Insurance Policies [REPACK]
Kate Dore, a Candidate for CFP Certification, is an expert on debt, credit scores, banking products, mortgages, investing, income taxes, life and health insurance, estate planning, and student loans. Kate's work has appeared in outlets like Business Insider, Financial Planning magazine, MagnifyMoney, Credit Karma, and Simple Money magazine. She received her Certificate in Financial Planning from Belmont University.
companies that buy existing life insurance policies
Life settlement companies purchase active life insurance policies from older adults, offering cash settlements to secure the death benefit rights to the policies. The companies become the beneficiaries of purchased life insurance policies and are responsible for paying the premiums required to keep the policies in force. These companies then sell the policies to investors or maintain the policies and later collect the death benefits.
Life settlement providers purchase life insurance policies themselves. They make money through institutional investors that purchase the life insurance policies, so there is no brokerage fee. By working with a life settlement provider, you cut out the middle man, which may make the sales process faster.
Finding the best life settlement company depends on many factors, including your age, policy size, and health status. We recommend comparing quotes from multiple life settlement companies to get the best price for your policy. If you choose to work with a broker, make sure to get a breakdown of all commissions or and fees charged for their services before selling your policy through them.
Anyone with a term or universal life insurance policy in place can use a life settlement company, but there are usually age and policy minimums required. For example, many life settlement companies will purchase insurance policies only from individuals aged 65 and older and with a policy value of $100,000 or more.
It is within your rights to sell your life insurance policy today; online from the comfort of your home with a Life Settlement. If you qualify for a Life Settlement you can see how much your life insurance policy is worth in seconds.
These eligibility requirements are not set in stone, for example; companies that buy life insurance policies will overlook standard procedure to assist policy holders who have a terminal illness and are seeking a payout for their life insurance policy to help with bills and expenses.
Therefore, in the event financial constraints make it impossible to honor the regular premiums, remember that you have the option to sell the policy in a life settlement or viatical, rather than allowing the insurance company keep the monetary value of the policy.
Magna Life Settlements is the leading life settlement provider. Magna pays people cash for their life insurance policy from the convenience of their own home online. Our team has decades of financial experience, and are dedicated to helping those in need. Many people have no idea just how valuable their life insurance policy is when they surrender or lapse it, and so many policies today are just given up because of inability to pay the premiums. If you fit our criteria you may be able to receive real value for something you felt had become a burden.
If you are considering selling your life insurance policy to a third party, you can help protect yourself by familiarizing yourself with your existing policy so that you fully understand your options, becoming fully informed about life settlements, shopping around for the best offer, and dealing only with licensed buyers and brokers. We are issuing this Alert to highlight the questions you should ask and the factors to consider before entering into a life settlement.
In the past, if you owned a life insurance policy that you no longer wanted or needed, you generally had two choices: surrender the policy for its cash value or allow it to lapse. Life settlements present a third option: selling your policy (or the right to receive the death benefit) to an entity other than the insurance company that issued the policy. That transaction is known as a life settlement.
The life settlement market emerged as an offshoot of the viatical settlement industry that developed in the 1980s as a source of liquidity for AIDS patients and other terminally ill policyholders with life expectancies of less than two years. Unlike viaticals, however, life settlements involve policyholders who are not terminally ill, but generally have a life expectancy of between two and ten years. Life settlements also tend to involve policies with higher net death benefits than viaticals.
When you sell your life insurance policy, whoever buys it is acquiring a financial interest in your death. In addition to paying you a lump sum for your policy, the buyer agrees to pay any additional premiums that might be required to support the cost of the policy for as long as you live. In exchange, the buyer will receive the death benefit when you die.
Life settlements have proven profitable not only for institutional investors that purchase policies, but also for the providers and brokers who handle these transactions. As a result, competition among life settlements providers for individuals seeking to sell or otherwise terminate their life insurance policies has become increasingly intense. Because the life settlement industry is relatively new and may target seniors who may be in poor health, it can be prone to aggressive sales tactics and abuse.
Life settlements may make sense for people who no longer need or want their insurance policies, and would otherwise surrender their policies or allow them to lapse. But even then, you should proceed with caution. Consult with your broker or other financial services provider, and make sure that you:
Life settlements can involve almost any kind of insurance policy, including variable policies. However, because only variable insurance products are securities, FINRA only has jurisdiction over life settlements involving variable policies.
If you have questions or wish to file a complaint about a life settlement, be sure to call or write your state insurance commissioner. If your complaint concerns a variable life insurance policy, you may also file a complaint with FINRA.
The cash surrender value of a life insurance policy is the amount you can collect if you cancel (or "surrender") the policy before it matures or before you die. The amount is typically based on the cash you've built up in the policy over time (your tax-deferred savings) minus any surrender charges or outstanding loan balances.
Lapse refers to the termination of an insurance policy when an individual fails to pay his or her premiums on time. If you allow a policy to lapse, you typically cannot collect any cash surrender value that would otherwise be available.
A death benefit is the amount an insurance company pays to a policy holder's beneficiary when the policy holder dies. Not all life insurance policies or annuity contracts provide for this sort of benefit, and not all death benefits are calculated the same way. The net death benefit is the amount specified in the insurance policy or annuity contract, minus any unpaid premiums that are due and outstanding loan balances or other withdrawals. In the case of variable life insurance or variable annuities, investment gains and losses can impact the amount of the death benefit.
The two main categories of insurance policy sales are life settlements and viatical settlements. A life settlement differs from a viatical settlement because the insured in a life settlement is usually healthy, while a viatical settlement pertains to a sale by an insured with a terminal illness.Life SettlementsA life settlement is the sale of a life insurance policy to a third party. The owner of the life insurance policy gets cash for the policy. The buyer becomes the new owner and/or beneficiary of the life insurance policy, pays all future premiums and collects the entire death benefit when the insured dies. Healthy people decide to sell their life insurance policies for many reasons. Some of the most common being: changes in the financial needs of dependents, a desire to eliminate or reduce premium payments, or the need for cash to meet expenses. Policies may be sold directly to a company or through a broker who works for you and "comparison shops" for life or viatical settlement offers. The buyer pays the broker a commission if the sale is completed.
People living with a terminal illness often face very tough financial choices. Selling an insurance policy through a viatical settlement is one option that may be used to provide cash to help with current medical and living expenses. Like life settlements, viatical settlements involve the sale of a life insurance policy to a third party. In exchange for a discounted cash payment to the seller, i.e., a reduced percentage of the death benefit, the buyer becomes the new owner and/or beneficiary of the life insurance policy, pays all future premiums and collects the entire death benefit when the insured dies.
Connecticut has acted to regulate viatical settlements under Connecticut General Statutes, Section 38a-465, et.seq. Viatical settlement companies and brokers must be licensed and the Insurance Commissioner must approve the contracts and forms used. Additionally, the seller of a life insurance policy has specific rights including, disclosure in writing of certain information prior to execution of the sale, confidentiality of personal information provided to buyers and the right to rescind the sale within 15 days from the receipt of the settlement proceeds. 041b061a72