Does FE Co Look Unfavorab on One That Has Applied for Others?

[wehotex]

I noticed that an Oxford policy has a question that asks the insured if he has ever applied for another life insurance in the last 2 years.
Last week, I had a discussion with the Aptical person on whether they actually disclose to MIB that a prospect attempted to get insured, much like on a credit report after you applied for credit. Her answer was that they do, but they do not disclose the result of the interview (that the person was declined or downgraded, etc). We agreed that a prospect may decline to take the coverage for several reasons besides denial or downgrade, maybe they had no money at the time, etc.

Has anyone out there experienced something to the contrary where an insurer held it against the prospect because he had been denied or downgraded for coverage at an earlier time?

Why does the insurance co even ask whether the prospect has applied for coverage in the last 2 years?

 

[jdeasy]

I noticed that an Oxford policy has a question that asks the insured if he has ever applied for another life insurance in the last 2 years.
Last week, I had a discussion with the Aptical person on whether they actually disclose to MIB that a prospect attempted to get insured, much like on a credit report when you apply for credit. Her answer was that they do, but they do not disclose the result of the interview (that the person was declined or downgraded, etc). We agreed that a prospect may decline to take the coverage for several reasons besides denial or downgrade, maybe they had no money at the time, etc.

Has anyone out there experienced something to the contrary where an insurer held it against the prospect because he had been denied or downgraded for coverage at an earlier time?

Why does the insurance co even ask whether the prospect has applied for coverage in the last 2 years?

With some companies it's an issue and with others it's not. I hate it when they put that on the application. Why wouldn't a company make their own decsions without concerning themselves with what others have done?

Americo had that question on their app. They have removed it now. RNA doesn't ask. Foresters doesn't ask. 5 Star put in on their app about a year ago. UHL asks that question. I'm surprised that AmAm doesn't, but they don't.

If the question is on the app it matters to that company.

 

[Josh]

With some companies it's an issue and with others it's not. I hate it when they put that on the application. Why wouldn't a company make their own decsions without concerning themselves with what others have done?

I think a part of that is the same reason why I ask folks what RXs they take after I ask them if they're in good health. I love how often I get the response "Excellent" when I ask their health, then you ask for RXs and they mention "well, I'm only going to be on this RX for another few weeks, pain from the quadruple bypass surgery is starting to go away". That's an exaggerated example, but it does happen. It may just be a flag for them to check and make sure folks are being perfectly truthful about what's going on by helping them jog their memory.

We often think about the health side of underwriting, but in reference to the "applied for coverage" question vs "declined or rated", they may also be looking for other coverage to make sure folks aren't buying unjustifiably excessive amounts of life insurance.

 

[Newby]

With Oxford they are a decline if they were declined or rated with any company within the last two years.
If they have been declined or rated, just don't apply with companies that screen for that. It doesn't matter what shows up on the MIB. If they can't answer the health questions honestly, go with a company that they can.

 

[Todd King]

With Oxford they are a decline if they were declined or rated with any company within the last two years.
If they have been declined or rated, just don't apply with companies that screen for that. It doesn't matter what shows up on the MIB. If they can't answer the health questions honestly, go with a company that they can.

UHL will do the same thing. Once a decline is part of the MIB, you might want to start looking for companies that don't ask and/or don't pull the MIB.

I just recently had an agent who had a client declined with Foresters, they then tried to go to UHL...decline! The agent finally went with CSA...no problem now.

 

[jdeasy]

I think a part of that is the same reason why I ask folks what RXs they take after I ask them if they're in good health. I love how often I get the response "Excellent" when I ask their health, then you ask for RXs and they mention "well, I'm only going to be on this RX for another few weeks, pain from the quadruple bypass surgery is starting to go away". That's an exaggerated example, but it does happen. It may just be a flag for them to check and make sure folks are being perfectly truthful about what's going on by helping them jog their memory.

We often think about the health side of underwriting, but in reference to the "applied for coverage" question vs "declined or rated", they may also be looking for other coverage to make sure folks aren't buying unjustifiably excessive amounts of life insurance.

That example is not much of an exaggeration. I get that kind of stuff all the time. I went into a home a couple of years ago. The guy never got up, {maybe he couldn't?}, and I would guess him to weigh 400 lbs. He had an oxygen tank to his left and an ashtray on his right. He had what appeared to be a basket of medicines in front of his chair and a motorized wheelchair sitting nearby. He looked at me and said, "if you can't get me immediate coverage, don't bother to sit down".

That was good since I was already wanting out of there.

I referred him to Newby!

 

[Newby]

UHL will do the same thing. Once a decline is part of the MIB, you might want to start looking for companies that don't ask and/or don't pull the MIB.

I just recently had an agent who had a client declined with Foresters, they then tried to go to UHL...decline! The agent finally went with CSA...no problem now.

The MIB doesn't enter into it at all. If the app asked about it you move to a different app. You can't check "no" if it's really "yes"
And since most companies don't care it's never even an issue.

 

[Todd King]

The MIB doesn't enter into it at all. If the app asked about it you move to a different app. You can't check "no" if it's really "yes"
And since most companies don't care it's never even an issue.

I do understand where you're coming from, but when UHL checked the MIB, they seen that there was a decline and went no further. This came straight from the UHL underwriter. I was a bit surprised too.

 

[jdeasy]

I do understand where you're coming from, but when UHL checked the MIB, they seen that there was a decline and went no further. This came straight from the UHL underwriter. I was a bit surprised too.

UHL asks that question on the app.

 

[Todd King]

UHL asks that question on the app.

I'm sorry but I left out a couple of very important points.

For whatever reason, (maybe the total face amount), the agent wrote 2 apps on two different days. The 1st one to UHL, then the 2nd to Foresters.

Foresters did originally approve the app, then came back a couple of days later and denied it.

Meanwhile, the one to UHL was sent in and by the time they pulled the MIB, somehow, they could see that Foresters had turned it down, therefore, so did they. This is what the underwriter said when we conference called about it. I did ask if it was turned down for a medical reason or if it was because of denial by another company. She stated that once it was seen that the client was turned down before, they didn't bother with further medical underwriting.

Like I was indicating before, the whole thing confuses me still and doesn't make sense. I'm just re-stating what the underwriter said.