Lincoln Benefit Life Insurance Took My Savings

Lincoln Benefit Life
2940 South 84th Street
Lincoln, Nebraska 68501-0469
[url]www.accessallstate.com[/url]

I signed up for a term life policy 4 years ago that was supposed to be switched to a "whole life" policy after the first year. The way it was explained to me (because I didn't even want to sign up for the term because it was too expensive - $1200) was that after the first year I could switch to the whole life policy which cost $5000 and get a credit for the $1200 for the first year which is what I did. The insurance broker faxed me over the pages on a rush basis after the first year to switch the policy and I faxed them back to her the same day. What I believe was the terms and conditions page had been recopied so many times that you can't even read it. A few weeks later the policy book was delivered to me by the agent. The way she had described the policy was that my money would only grow so according to what she told me I should have $15000 plus interest. What I have now is nothing. I in theory have $12000 because they deduct "costs" and "expenses" - none of which she told me when she was selling me the policy. She told me the reason is because when she was explaining the policy to me her laptop computer wouldn't allow her to show me the costs and expenses. Another feature she failed to tell me about is that I have to be in the policy for 20 years! If I pull out in advance I forfeit $14300. When I received my last statement I didn't understand the costs and expenses and called up Lincoln Benefit to find out what was going on and I found out then for the first time that Lincoln Benefit (my insurance company) no longer sells whole life policies and I had been signed up for an "adjustable flexible" policy. I explained that I had never even heard my insurance broker utter those words and that she had only referred to the policy as a whole life policy. My agent had never told me about costs and expenses and never explained the $14300 default fee if I pulled out before 20 years. She did a bait and switch on me. Lincon's complaint department did an investigation and have said everything is on the up and up and I have no recourse. I was totally lied to and relied on everything she told me about this policy. I was never informed AT ALL about the $14,300 default fee or about the costs and expenses - she simply described my money growing each and every year so by now I would have the $150000 I've put in plus around 5% interest. Lincoln agreed to give me back $5000 if I terminated my policy. However, they kept my remaining $10,000. DON'T DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY IF YOU WISH TO KEEP YOUR MONEY - THEY ARE THIEVES AND LIARS. I've tried everything I can do to get my money back but it appears I would have to sue them and I just don't know what my chances would be. I work with a law firm and even the lawyers here told me they're unable to understand my policy in full. I depended on Lincoln to explain to me what I was buying and by leaving out vital details I was in fact lied to. A partner at my firm (a very intelligent attorney) told me that even he had been the victim of a similar policy so it can't be just me. I honestly don't know how they can get away with this but it appears they can. I work 13 hours a day as a secretary to support my family and the $10,000 they ended up keeping was two years of my bonuses. This was money I thought I could use in the event of an emergency and now it is all gone.

[Betty]

Some ins. policies are confusing. It's possible the ins. co. is doing nothing wrong here in regard to your pol. (sounds reasonable) except that maybe your agt. should have explained the pol. to you better & told you about costs/expenses/default fee. If your agt. or the co. cannot explain things to your satisfaction & you believe they did something wrong, you can put in a complaint with the ins. commissioner of your state/ins. dept. of your state.

You really shouldn't be listing the address, etc. of the ins. co.

add info - I just realized you posted this same thread in July. [url]http://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=370846[/url]

[debster007]

Sorry, gbarney04, but you lost credibility by posting this same rant everywhere on the Web. I actually got tired of finding it repeatedly on "complainer" websites.

We've been customers of Lincoln Benefit Life for many years. Have not had a single problem. For you to put so much energy into trying to defame this company when you obviously made a mistake by not checking and double checking everything, only makes you look obsessive and a little foolish in your repititious spam-like tirades.

If this company was "that bad", there would be complaints littering the internet like confetti. There just aren't enough to substantiate that LBL is a crooked company.

Remember....people in this recession have lost many, many thousands of dollars from their retirement investments. A situation like this only seems like pretty small potatoes in comparison.

We all win and lose in life. What's important is the lessons we take with us from those losses.

[anteater]

Originally Posted by debster007

Sorry, gbarney04, but you lost credibility by posting this same rant everywhere on the Web. I actually got tired of finding it repeatedly on "complainer" websites.

You do realize that this thread is 2 years old, don't you?