Annuity IQ

There are currently 17 responses to “Allianz Lawsuit Goes To Class Action”

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1. 1 On June 22nd, 2007, ANN E. U- LINDSLEY said:

   I am very concerned about my investment. I would like to speak to an Attorney concerning this problem. This investment was for my demise.I was told by representative I would have nothing to worry about…Please contact me as soon as possible so I can have all explained to me, Another senior here I feel was taken advantage of ,and I want to be one of those who are counted in the law suit..

2. 2 On June 22nd, 2007, admin said:

   Hello Ann,

   While I do not know the details of your situation, or the product you purchased, your first step would be to contact the insurance carrier and express your concerns. If they refuse to do anything about it you have two options.

   1. Contact your state Department of Insurance and file a complaint. this is free and it might help you.

   2. Contact an attorney, but an attorney will always tell you to sue. So instead, perhaps contact another financial adviser and have them look at the product you own. If that does not help you can go here, https://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/submit_form.html?label=allianz to have an attorney look at your situation. Just remember an attorney will be expensive and it they should be used as a last resort. I hope this helps!

3. 3 On July 6th, 2007, The Annuity Guy said:

   Careful here. I agree that these annuities are WAY oversold, there is no denying it. However, when does the insurance company become liable for the individual agent’s lack of professionalism?

   Where is the class action suit against Smith and Wesson for people killed with handguns? It’s just another case of attorney’s looking to profit.

4. 4 On July 8th, 2007, admin said:

   The comments were not really geared to the insurance company. They were geared more to use the insurance company to help rectify the situation.

   While I agree the insurance carrier should not be liable for their agents, not employees, actions they do have an obligation to keep bad products off the market.

   For example, a 10% client bonus annuity that pays the agent a 10% commission cannot be good for the client. No company would layout 20% of an investment and not expect to profit from the product. With this type of annuity the consumer usually gets slammed.

   I do not think it is just about attorney’s looking for profit, yes that is a big part of it, but the states are suing as well. There is simply little question to the products, i.e. Masterdex 10, being good products for the consumer.

   With that being said, why did all these states approve these products? Who is in charge? Now they will turn around and sue the insurance carrier? I think the states bear some responsibility here as well.

   It is just a shame that many people got bad advice and bad products and now the lawyer’s will clean up, not the clients who actually lost money.

5. 5 On September 9th, 2007, Anonymous said:

   if these annuities were so unsuitable, why would the states allow agents to sell these annuities up to age 85? The masterdex 10 is a good annuity.

6. 6 On September 22nd, 2007, Chester Klann said:

   I had a financial consultant who tried to get me to roll
   my Fidelity Variable Annuity over to one of your Indexed
   Variable Annuity. Since I was almost 80, he told me I
   had to do this immediately before I turned 80. I felt
   pressured and that he desperately wanted to get his
   commision on my $1,000,000 Fidelity Annuity.

   It seemed as though I was in line to be taken. Was I
   right?
   C. Klann

7. 7 On October 6th, 2007, More misinformation said:

   You need to get your facts straight before writing articles about companies. You are referring to the Masterdex 10 product in your “article”. This carries a 9% commission not 10 % and does not have a 10 year surrender charge. The product is builk for income and can insure a senior never out lives their income. They can begin taking money out after the first year and them sweep acumulation value and gains out after the 5th. While I think it is horrible to put all of someones money in a product like this..I also think it is equally bad to not have any of someones money in a product like this. The problem is people write whatever they want and do not even know what they are writing about.

8. 8 On October 15th, 2007, atlmeb said:

   Are you saying that the MasterDex 10 is a good or a bad product.? It does not look like it is one the products listed in the lawsuite but it does promise a 10% bonus upfront.

9. 9 On October 31st, 2007, marc said:

   hi. I am a 43yr physician. I fully fund a 401k for myself & wife each year. andhave since age 23. I own my practice and have limited options for tax sheltered, suit sheltered investments for retirement. I would like to retire as early as possible. The masterdex 10 seems a good option since i have a 15-17 year window to retirement. In the last 3 yrs i put 156k into the master dex..current worth is 183k..my other investments total at 469k…is this a good situation for me? bettter choices??

10. 10 On November 5th, 2007, admin said:

    Chester -

    It looks like you made a solid decision. The commissions go down at age 80 which is why you felt such pressure to buy the product.

    More Misinformation -

    I guess you need to get a better IMO because you can certainly get more than a 9% commission on these products. All annuities are built to not allow investors to outlive their money, but only through annuitization. The fact is they are a bad product. Any product that can layout up to 20% of the premium through commissions and bonuses is not good for the consumer, period.

    The only people who think these products are good are the people who sell them. I am sorry, but any product that has a mandatory annuitization clause in order to get the benefits of the contract is not good for consumers. If they were there would be no lawsuits. As to why states approve products for sale up to age 85, we have no idea, but certainly the states do have some responsibility for this mess.

    Marc,

    We cannot give you specific financial advice and we would refer you to a qualified financial adviser to answer those questions.

11. 11 On April 8th, 2008, Nancy said:

    My father, at age 84, was talked into a Master Dex 10 Annuity. I am in the process of cashing them in and seeing how much money was lost in the whole process. His investment was making good money at Kemper and his agent saw fit to transfer all of it to get his hefty commission. No one will ever convince me that it wasn’t a dirty trick. If I could stick all the money under a mattress, I would. I don’t trust anyone now.

12. 12 On April 12th, 2008, Brenda said:

    My father was pushed to change an account to an annuity by one of Allianz’s reps. He told them he absolutely did not want an annuity, but it came out that way, anyway. There is a pending lawsuit in California. Do you know how to get him in touch with them?

    Thanks.

13. 13 On April 13th, 2008, Jim Kronenberger said:

    I was told specifically my I could get my money back if we needed it. I gave Allianze 10,000.00 in cash. A year later it was only worth 9,000.00. Barry Dalby lied to us.

    Jim Kronenberger
    St. Petersburg, FL.

14. 14 On April 13th, 2008, admin said:

    Nancy,

    Your father did get a bad deal, in our opinion. You may wish to contract an attorney to seek your options.

    Brenda,

    We do not know how to get in contact with the attorney’s handling the class action. You may wish to contact California’s Insurance Department to get more information.

15. 15 On April 16th, 2008, Nancy said:

    Thanks for your advice. That is exactly what I am going to do.

16. 16 On April 18th, 2008, Mariano J. Del Valle said:

    We feel like we were ripped -off as well. the agent was not upfront with answering our questions. Allianz does not allow you to track your investment. they send you an annual statement and you have no choice, but to accept their terms.You can’t correct any account that is not performing for your well being. If you borrow from your owm money , you get hit with a hefty interest rate. We think the goverment should step in and stop these thieves from taking advantage of the elderly. The financial planners call themselves certified financial planners, when they are really certified thieves preying on the elderly.

17. 17 On July 10th, 2008, Dennis said:

    An Allianz agent once put it to me this way regarding their bonus products - ‘They credit these bonuses but rarely pay it’.

    Unfortunately, the insurance industry is great at designing annuity products, heavily favoring the issuing company with very little for the customer.

    The practices of the annuity agent community is only second to the immorality of stock brokers.

    Furthermore, Allianz and most major issureres of annuities invest in the bond market, now totally on the skids and could collapse. All domestic annuities are denominated in Federal Reserve Notes and therefore will be worthless when the USD collapses.

    I would also say that the fervorous marketing of these products is a well-contrived plan to take your money.

    If I had sizable amounts of funds in annuity products, I would strongly consider vacating, regardless of the cost.

    Alternatives that make the most sense to me would be to have hard metal assets, real money, not phony paper dollars that now amount to little more than IOU’s.

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