Paying Claims

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Newby here to FE, I have read about how companies are slow in paying claims even after the 2 year contestable period. Can you guys tell me which companies have a good reputation for cutting a check quickly and who to avoid?

I don't know what I don't know, but it seems to me that writing companies I know will pay claims fast should be important?
 
Newby here to FE, I have read about how companies are slow in paying claims even after the 2 year contestable period. Can you guys tell me which companies have a good reputation for cutting a check quickly and who to avoid?

I don't know what I don't know, but it seems to me that writing companies I know will pay claims fast should be important?

Hands down United Heritage in my personal experience. I try to handle all my claims myself so I have a pretty good feel for the time frame.
 
If the policy has been in force over two years the company's speed or lack of speed at paying the claim doesn't matter too much. Because most funeral homes will assign the policy to a funeral assignment company and be paid instantly. That way the funeral home is always paid prior to the funeral and the assignment company waits on the insurance company to pay them.
 
Are you saying United Heritage is good or bad?

Sorry. Hands down United Heritage is the best at paying the whole claim out. In my experience.


Assuming non contestable.

Example: If I got a call today (Sunday) that a client died this morning. It is possible the client and Funeral Home will have the full pay out in hand on Tuesday or Wednesday. Does not matter if it is $10,000 or $100,000.00. No fees that funeral homes in California charge, if they even do an assignment, to just get the FH's part. Had one with them a couple years ago where the whole $250,000.00 was in the wife's hands in about 72 after the husband died. Many companies would not even have the claim forms in the mail to widow by then. My mother died on a Sunday, I and the FH had checks in hand Tuesday before noon.

Now that is assuming I have been notified and They did not just take the policy to the funeral home. If the FH assigns it to a loan company then the Funeral home gets their part, charging the beneficiary a couple hundred dollars normally. The beneficiary then has to wait, unless I can push the FH into sending in the notification of death to UH in which case they will pay in a day or two. My experience with many FHs is they do not like me involved but they are my clients not theirs.

Now normal claim with a DC? From the day they get the DC in the office 24 to 48 hours is normal and they will overnight the check if requested. They used to do a wire transfer also if requested, not sure they still do that. They do charge whatever the overnight fee was.

Newby is the expert on assignment, in my book, so I am just speaking to my experience.

Edit: Damn, need to switch to decaf. Short answer. The best is UH.
 
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All of the companies that come from a PreNeed insurance background pay the quickest with no assignment company necessary. This would include ForeThought, Homesteaders, NGL, United Heritage, Cincinnati Equitable, Lincoln Heritage, FDLIC, and others.

With those companies they just require a form signed by a licensed funeral director and faxed in stating that he has the deceased and a copy of the funeral goods and services statement. The insurance company will bank transfer the money to the funeral home within hours and no death certificate is needed by these companies because they pay way before a death certificate is even issued by the state.

With most non-PreNeed companies (which includes most FE companies) the same thing is done by using funeral assignment companies and paying a 3% additional fee. Usually the funeral home absorbs the fee.

So the reality is, if you died today and have a policy in force that is more than 2-years in force, I (as a licensed funeral director) can have your money into your beneficiary's hands today or no later than tomorrow regardless of who the insurance company is.

BUT in order to do this, there must be a living beneficiary. Any policy that goes to "the estate" is useless at the funeral home. Never make that mistake.
 
For a company to not pay funds out in less than 7 days on a non contestable policy should be a felony.
 
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