Colorado Bankers (CB Life)...

[Stephen Round]

Nobody has ever lost money, or gone through the SGA process, in an guaranteed annuity from a AA or AAA rated insurer. That is a fact.

So if CBL was rated B++ in 2017 and Citizens Bank told us it was a "top rated" company, wouldn't you say that was a crime?
Don't they have some exposure for misrepresenting the product? And shouldn't they have seen the writing on the wall as things were going down-hill and notified their clients that it was time to bail out - BEFORE the company was put into receivership?

 

[Dan T]

Is there any professional advice out there about taking the accumulated interest payments that the rehabilitator is allowing

 

[Allen Trent]

So if CBL was rated B++ in 2017 and Citizens Bank told us it was a "top rated" company, wouldn't you say that was a crime?
Don't they have some exposure for misrepresenting the product? And shouldn't they have seen the writing on the wall as things were going down-hill and notified their clients that it was time to bail out - BEFORE the company was put into receivership?

For me personally, B++ is not "top rated", but unless you asked for "top rated" definition, maybe the Citizens employee ignorance was on display or maybe they figured being at the 5th best rating level out of 14 levels was in the "top"

Sounds like there was no financial records for anyone like an agent to review when they began having trouble as the owner was faking any record keeping anyway

Terrible all around

 

[Dan T]

Mr Round has any other news organizations besides WSJ approached you about this story

 

[Stephen Round]

Mr Round has any other news organizations besides WSJ approached you about this story

No. The Wall Street Journal was the only one.

 

[scagnt83]

So if CBL was rated B++ in 2017 and Citizens Bank told us it was a "top rated" company, wouldn't you say that was a crime?
Don't they have some exposure for misrepresenting the product? And shouldn't they have seen the writing on the wall as things were going down-hill and notified their clients that it was time to bail out - BEFORE the company was put into receivership?

Maybe. Personally, I would feel responsible as the agent if I said that and this happened.

As others pointed out "top rated" is a very vague comment if you really break it down and play the semantics of it. We all know the intent of the comment. But as a consumer, you have to ask very blunt directed questions.

Who says they are top rated?
What is their rating?
How does it compare to other carriers?

They were in the top 60% of all carriers.... which means they were in the bottom 40%.

Are they misrepresenting the issue? That is a matter of opinion.

My opinion is that its a misleading sales tactic. If its illegal or not probably comes down to state law.

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Legally, the only thing you have described so far that is cut and dry, is they used the SGA to solicit the sale.

 

[ProActive]

We all know that, in most cases, negligence (at the very least) was involved by those advisors who sold us the product, or subsequently as in our case where we stopped monthly interest withdrawals and were not warned by our advisor that CBLife was already in trouble. When we learned that fact we tried to start up payments again, but by then the assets were frozen. We could have at least been receiving monthly payments during these past several years.

What I want to know is, has anybody here actually signed on with a law firm such as Klayman/Toskes or Sheperds et al, and has anybody successfully sued their financial advisor?

Klayman Toskes, for example, states: We offer legal services on a contingency fee basis, meaning we do not collect attorney’s fees unless we obtain a financial recovery for you.

Sounds good, but has anybody tried this and seen any results? And what about the statute of limitations, which seems to have passed for most of us?

 

[Allen Trent]

We all know that, in most cases, negligence (at the very least) was involved by those advisors who sold us the product, or subsequently as in our case where we stopped monthly interest withdrawals and were not warned by our advisor that CBLife was already in trouble. When we learned that fact we tried to start up payments again, but by then the assets were frozen. We could have at least been receiving monthly payments during these past several years.

What I want to know is, has anybody here actually signed on with a law firm such as Klayman/Toskes or Sheperds et al, and has anybody successfully sued their financial advisor?

Klayman Toskes, for example, states: We offer legal services on a contingency fee basis, meaning we do not collect attorney’s fees unless we obtain a financial recovery for you.

Sounds good, but has anybody tried this and seen any results? And what about the statute of limitations, which seems to have passed for most of us?

Each state varies on statute of limitations on civil lawsuits & it then further varies based on the type of claim. Some for personal injury are 2 years & some for fraud or contract lawsuit are 6 years. In addition, there would be a debate as to when the clock starts ticking on something like this because the clock generally starts when the damage was done, not always when the sale/contract was started. Law firm definitely not going to take a contingency case if they believe it is past statute of limitations. So, I doubt the law firm would be asking for people to come forward unless they had some level of confidence they could get a settlement.

The difficult task for those that eventually get recovery from other insurance companies footing the bill from Guaranty Association assessments, will be determining what damages you could get in a lawsuit if you end up getting fully paid from the Guaranty Association. Maybe law firm could still get settlement from advisor or bank for lost opportunity cost, access to money, stress..

 

[Tahoe Ray]

What I want to know is, has anybody here actually signed on with a law firm such as Klayman/Toskes or Sheperds et al, and has anybody successfully sued their financial advisor?

If the person was a registered rep/advisor and you have an account open with them beyond your annuity (mutual funds, EFTs, etc.) that could be very sticky.

Even if it was just the annuity, people in this thread were stating that their annuity values were showing up on their bank statements. There could very well be a relationship beyond just you and the advisor.

You likely agreed to binding arbitration when you filled out all of your ppwk. Many of these firms even have "non-brokerage forms" for this type product (that is not technically under their purview) to force arbitration in the event of a dispute.

If this was just joe/jane insurance agent and you felt that they misrepresented the product, then yes you could just sue them and let the courts sort it out. With other entities involved it's not always cut and dry.

 

[Newby]

In my opinion the AM Best Rating system is designed more to sell ratings to insurance companies than it is to protect consumers with information they can easily understand.

It would translate better to the lay person (and to agents) if it followed our old school report card system that we are all familiar with.
A and A+ would be excellent. There is no need for an A++ or an A-. Those just add to the confusion.
B and B+ would indicate Good or better than average
C = average
D = Failing
F = Failed

That's all we need. They use A++, A+, A, A-, B++, etc. so by the time they get to C which should mean average it really means the boat is sinking. B- should mean above average but it really means This one is failing out.

It would hard to sell C-ratings to companies for a LOT of money. So they mix it up and sell them a B+ that really means average but most people can't figure that out. You even hear agents say they consider ANY thing in the A range (meaning A-) is all the same to them. Really? An AM Best A- is the same as an A+?

The whole goal of the AM Best rating system is to sell ratings to insurance companies at a hefty price tag. Maybe insurance companies should have to disclose on their website how much money they paid AM Best to be rated. That would help people understand the system they are relying on a little better.