Colorado Bankers (CB Life)...

[scagnt83]

As if those ratings mean much: years of B++, then going from that level to E in two weeks *after* the bad news.

B++ is the bottom 40% of all US carriers. Not a strong rating at all. Not covered by an agents liability insurance its so risky of a rating.

And as Ray stated, outright fraud is hard to catch. Ratings agencies rely on regulators catching fraud such as this in their audits. They just use the numbers carriers give to regulators.

 

[rousemark]

My husband and I are close to retirement age in Massachusetts. In March 2018 we purchased a CB Life 5 year fixed rate fixed term annuity through Citizens Securities doing business out of our local retail Citizens Bank branch in Brighton. Our family has been doing business with Citizens in Brighton for over 40 years and we have always had bank accounts and CD's with them with no problems. In 2018 our CD was maturing and they (Citizens) were pursuing us to put the money into a fixed rate fixed term annuity as an alternative to a CD as the interest rate was higher. At the time Colorado Bankers Life was offering 3.6% guaranteed interest for 5 years on a fixed rate fixed term annuity and it was a highly rated company. The agent at Citizens Securities explained that the money was "fully insured" by the Massachusetts Guaranty Association and pointed us to their website. We looked at that website and saw that it said money would be covered "UP TO $250,000.00". When we went back to the agent at Citizens Securities with this he explained that as long as BOTH OUR NAMES were listed as owners on the contract that we would EACH be covered up to $250,000.00. We happily signed on the dotted line for $400,000.00 and decided to forget about the money for 5 years. Fast forward... a little over 2 years later... April 2020... we find out that CB Life is in rehabilitation...and has been since June 2019...We immediately called the agent at Citizens and he explained that he didn't tell us because he didn't want to "alarm" us... but we had "nothing to worry about"... and we would get "all" our money back "in March 2023"... and he once again... pointed us to the Mass Guaranty Association website. He said to look at the frequently asked questions tab and specifically where it says "The total protection PER OWNER per member company is $250,000 for all annuity contracts". We were actually on the phone with the Citizens agent while we he was walking us through the website and where to look. After hanging up with the Citizens agent we immediately called the Mass Guaranty Association and the Director there informed us that the Citizens Securities agent had sold us a bill of goods when telling us that EACH NAMED PERSON (owner) on the contract would be covered up to $250,000.00. That is completely FALSE and in fact the most we would EVER be "covered for" is $250,000.00. So -- we went back to the head of Citizens Securities and issued a formal complaint against the agent but after an internal review of our complaint we received a letter from Citizens Securities indicating they don't believe that the agent did anything wrong. HUH?? We are devastated and shocked that Citizens Securities is employing agents in Massachusetts who are at best confused and mis-informed about the products they are selling and at worst lying to their clients.... Obviously it's not Citizens Securities fault that CB Life is in rehabilitation...that is not our complaint. The issue is we would have only done the fixed rate fixed term annuity for $250,000.00 (not 400 thousand) if we had been correctly told by Citizens Securities that 250 was the maximum amount we would be covered for... in the event of bankruptcy of CB Life.

How can they say he did not do anything wrong? If Mass regulations regarding the Guaranty Association are the same as TN, it is illegal for an agent to use the existence of the Association as an inducement to buy. An agent should not even mention it prior to the policy being issued.. Report the agent to the DOI and get a lawyer.

 

[Allen Trent]

Citizens Securities doing business out of our local retail Citizens

This arm of the bank is subject to Securities oversight by the SEC & FINRA. You should not only file a formal complaint with your state insurance commissioner, but also FINRA that has oversight of the Securities rep handling this assuming you can prove that he mistated info on the Guaranty Assoc or that the were highly rated. Short of you hiring a lawyer, even a complaint might not change anything as the Insurance comm doesn't usually generate any ruling ordering a producer to pay a client for an error, etc

Sorry you are going through this

 

[HarryV]

B++ is the bottom 40% of all US carriers. Not a strong rating at all. Not covered by an agents liability insurance its so risky of a rating.

And as Ray stated, outright fraud is hard to catch. Ratings agencies rely on regulators catching fraud such as this in their audits. They just use the numbers carriers give to regulators.

 

[HarryV]

Only in public schools and woke colleges (and insurance company ratings I gather) is a B++ grade less than average.

"They just use the numbers carriers give to regulators". Thanks for the info that reenforces my claim that the ratings are of minimal use. An objective rating company would do independent research and rate accordingly. (They might have been able to discover and publicize the malfeasance in siphoning off the 40% that NC allowed at the time and was likely the reason that the **** moved the companies to NC.) If they did that and knew, the little 'u' appended to the rating seems like a CYA move.

Yeah, I'm bitter.

 

[rousemark]

Only in public schools and woke colleges (and insurance company ratings I gather) is a B++ grade less than average.

"They just use the numbers carriers give to regulators". Thanks for the info that reenforces my claim that the ratings are of minimal use. An objective rating company would do independent research and rate accordingly. (They might have been able to discover and publicize the malfeasance in siphoning off the 40% that NC allowed at the time and was likely the reason that the **** moved the companies to NC.) If they did that and knew, the little 'u' appended to the rating seems like a CYA move.

Yeah, I'm bitter.

Even Best says there is very little difference in a B++ and an A rating.

 

[Mary Combs]

My husband and I are close to retirement age in Massachusetts. In March 2018 we purchased a CB Life 5 year fixed rate fixed term annuity through Citizens Securities doing business out of our local retail Citizens Bank branch in Brighton. Our family has been doing business with Citizens in Brighton for over 40 years and we have always had bank accounts and CD's with them with no problems. In 2018 our CD was maturing and they (Citizens) were pursuing us to put the money into a fixed rate fixed term annuity as an alternative to a CD as the interest rate was higher. At the time Colorado Bankers Life was offering 3.6% guaranteed interest for 5 years on a fixed rate fixed term annuity and it was a highly rated company. The agent at Citizens Securities explained that the money was "fully insured" by the Massachusetts Guaranty Association and pointed us to their website. We looked at that website and saw that it said money would be covered "UP TO $250,000.00". When we went back to the agent at Citizens Securities with this he explained that as long as BOTH OUR NAMES were listed as owners on the contract that we would EACH be covered up to $250,000.00. We happily signed on the dotted line for $400,000.00 and decided to forget about the money for 5 years. Fast forward... a little over 2 years later... April 2020... we find out that CB Life is in rehabilitation...and has been since June 2019...We immediately called the agent at Citizens and he explained that he didn't tell us because he didn't want to "alarm" us... but we had "nothing to worry about"... and we would get "all" our money back "in March 2023"... and he once again... pointed us to the Mass Guaranty Association website. He said to look at the frequently asked questions tab and specifically where it says "The total protection PER OWNER per member company is $250,000 for all annuity contracts". We were actually on the phone with the Citizens agent while we he was walking us through the website and where to look. After hanging up with the Citizens agent we immediately called the Mass Guaranty Association and the Director there informed us that the Citizens Securities agent had sold us a bill of goods when telling us that EACH NAMED PERSON (owner) on the contract would be covered up to $250,000.00. That is completely FALSE and in fact the most we would EVER be "covered for" is $250,000.00. So -- we went back to the head of Citizens Securities and issued a formal complaint against the agent but after an internal review of our complaint we received a letter from Citizens Securities indicating they don't believe that the agent did anything wrong. HUH?? We are devastated and shocked that Citizens Securities is employing agents in Massachusetts who are at best confused and mis-informed about the products they are selling and at worst lying to their clients.... Obviously it's not Citizens Securities fault that CB Life is in rehabilitation...that is not our complaint. The issue is we would have only done the fixed rate fixed term annuity for $250,000.00 (not 400 thousand) if we had been correctly told by Citizens Securities that 250 was the maximum amount we would be covered for... in the event of bankruptcy of CB Life.

 

[Mary Combs]

I feel your pain. I am so angry with Citizen’s Bank. They take no responsibility.
Both my husband and I have CBLI annuities.
Citizen’s offered us a LOAN for up to 90% of the value of our annuities.
My husband took the offer and says he has no intention of paying they back.
He says “ they can have my annuity”

 

[Mary Combs]

I’d love the know were your going to make more than 1% in a risk free investment ? Chasing the stock mkt sitting in the greatest bubble ever at 23 avg p/e?Housing mkt ? Up an astonishing 7% y/y . Your correct about massive inflation coming as the fed and govt will have printed near $10 trillion by the summer . We’re heading toward a zombie economy like Japan has been for 30 yrs . The only place we see mass inflation right now is asset inflation prices . But for you to make over 1-2% your going to have to take risk .

 

[Mary Combs]

I hope interest on CD’s goes up. I remember when you could get15%
Now we are all forced into the stock market. Working class people cannot afford the risk of the stock market.