Don't Trust 5 Star Approvals

[ccurryUW]

Client info:
Female, Age 71 NT
Rx: Cyproheptad 4mg 2x day (allergic skin rash)
Sertraline 100mg 1x Day (Anxiety)
Triamt 37.5-25 1x day (blood pressure)
Atorvastatin 10mg 1x day (Cholesterol)
Omeprazole 20mg 1x day (Acid Reflux)
Has upcoming surgery to remove Gall Stones.

I was replacing a UoO Graded WL $10k and a State Farm WL $20k.
Client already had $10k SIWL w/RNA.
I wrote her another $15k SIWL w/RNA, approved/issued. I then wrote her a $25,000 SIWL Preferred with 5 Star, approved preferred/not issued.

Her 5 Star policy hadn't issued so I called and was told they changed her to Graded from Preferred due to something on MIB (couldn't tell me what). As we already had the approval we have already cancelled out the UoO and State Farm. Now 5 Star is going back on their decision of Preferred and only offering Graded. There is not a single question on 5 Stars application that would require graded for her.

Both the UoO and State Farm policies were recently issued. Between the $15k with RNA and the $25k with 5 Star I was going to be able to get her $10k more coverage for less premium. Keep in mind the State Farm was FULLY UNDERWRITTEN (blood, urine, med records, etc).

I don't know about any of you, but when I'm given an Preferred approval at the phone interview and then they come back graded I think it's ridiculous.

Whatever was apparently on her MIB, I'm sure RNA, State Farm, other companies have seen the same thing and didn't have a problem with it. I'm lost at what to do so any suggestions are welcome. I originally showed her the EL WL w/RNA, but she decided to just go with the SIWL between RNA and 5 Star, as she had just gone through full underwriting and didn't want to do it again.

It's funny how much people complain about 5 star on this site no carrier is perfect in every way, and we as agents nit pick on such tiny problems in the big scheme of things. 5-star's product has not been on the market nearly as long as these other products and it's dominating them. If you submitted 100 apps with 5-star, RNA, and MOO. You would by far have the highest amount of policies issued with 5-star and its not even close! Our agency submits around 200 apps a week with each of those 3 carriers and our approval rate with RNA and MOO is around 75% where 5-star is close to 90% (88%to be exact). We could talk about the one thing that went wrong with a company or go write 10 more policies instead. That being said they have had a lot of problems as of late due to the fact they did not anticipate this amount of volume from this product so fast. I think they are doing a pretty good job over all.

 

[JimmyUt]

It's funny how much people complain about 5 star on this site no carrier is perfect in every way, and we as agents nit pick on such tiny problems in the big scheme of things. 5-star's product has not been on the market nearly as long as these other products and it's dominating them. If you submitted 100 apps with 5-star, RNA, and MOO. You would by far have the highest amount of policies issued with 5-star and its not even close! Our agency submits around 200 apps a week with each of those 3 carriers and our approval rate with RNA and MOO is around 75% where 5-star is close to 90% (88%to be exact). We could talk about the one thing that went wrong with a company or go write 10 more policies instead. That being said they have had a lot of problems as of late due to the fact they did not anticipate this amount of volume from this product so fast. I think they are doing a pretty good job over all.

All things being equal, I would write RNA over 5Star simply because of the agent support and home office. The biggest complaint is 5star reversing itself after making a clear decision. Ambiguity in underwriting can be a nightmare. I am sure it is growing pains, but we will see. With RNA I have not experienced those problems and have written enough premium to go on convention with them. I think both carriers are good, and have their place.

 

[Indy007]

It's funny how much people complain about 5 star on this site no carrier is perfect in every way, and we as agents nit pick on such tiny problems in the big scheme of things. 5-star's product has not been on the market nearly as long as these other products and it's dominating them. If you submitted 100 apps with 5-star, RNA, and MOO. You would by far have the highest amount of policies issued with 5-star and its not even close! Our agency submits around 200 apps a week with each of those 3 carriers and our approval rate with RNA and MOO is around 75% where 5-star is close to 90% (88%to be exact). We could talk about the one thing that went wrong with a company or go write 10 more policies instead. That being said they have had a lot of problems as of late due to the fact they did not anticipate this amount of volume from this product so fast. I think they are doing a pretty good job over all.

^^^^ Obviously not an agent. How is your approval rate with either RNA or 5 Star so low? POS approvals are supposed to be just that. Unless your talking FE mixed with FU. If you don't care about adverse decisions that negatively effect your clients, you're clearly only in it for the $. I'm partially in it for the $, but do care that my clients are covered and treated fairly. Whether that be by carriers, or other agents.

I'm going to pull the BS card on you saying your agency submits 200 apps a week with EACH of those carriers. We all know you're full of **** with that.

 

[Newby]

All things being equal, I would write RNA over 5Star simply because of the agent support and home office. The biggest complaint is 5star reversing itself after making a clear decision. Ambiguity in underwriting can be a nightmare. I am sure it is growing pains, but we will see. With RNA I have not experienced those problems and have written enough premium to go on convention with them. I think both carriers are good, and have their place.

5-Star fixed that reversal as soon as it was brought to their attention. They had a couple of errors last week. Both quickly fixed. It's not the way they do business.

Actually RNA did the exact same thing on the very first phone interview I did with them. They fixed it too but put up a bit of a fight first.

 

[Rothstein]

All things being equal, I would write RNA over 5Star simply because of the agent support and home office. The biggest complaint is 5star reversing itself after making a clear decision. Ambiguity in underwriting can be a nightmare. I am sure it is growing pains, but we will see. With RNA I have not experienced those problems and have written enough premium to go on convention with them. I think both carriers are good, and have their place.

I thought that you would write RNA over 5 star so that the customer has to pay more. I have never seen RNA beat anyone's price.

 

[Agentguy5]

I only had 4 declines and 2 offers for graded from the first 100 applications that we sent up to 5 Star.

Having sent over 150 apps to them, I have never had them go back on a decision.

 

[DecisionMan]

Just how does a "late hit" happen?

I mean, they order up the MIB and script check and get it. How is it extra info comes in late? Does the computer burp and the underwriter look up and say "oh, more information is here."?

"Late hit" sounds like a smoke screen statement for "we screwed up."

 

[Agentguy5]

Just how does a "late hit" happen?

I mean, they order up the MIB and script check and get it. How is it extra info comes in late? Does the computer burp and the underwriter look up and say "oh, more information is here."?

"Late hit" sounds like a smoke screen statement for "we screwed up."

The insurer goes back 6 months or 1.5 years later and runs a MIB check on the client. An incident that wasn't reported to MIB innitially when the app was written can eventually show up and then you have your "late hit"

it's not the insurer screwing up, it's the insurer protecting their interest by looking for "late hits"

 

[WinoBlues]

The insurer goes back 6 months or 1.5 years later and runs a MIB check on the client. An incident that wasn't reported to MIB innitially when the app was written can eventually show up and then you have your "late hit"

it's not the insurer screwing up, it's the insurer protecting their interest by looking for "late hits"

Not just them. I issue paid a large GUL 3-4 months ago. The insured applied for another policy and my company has come back for details. They said it was from an MIB hit.

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]5-Star fixed that reversal as soon as it was brought to their attention[/B]. They had a couple of errors last week. Both quickly fixed. It's not the way they do business.

Actually RNA did the exact same thing on the very first phone interview I did with them. They fixed it too but put up a bit of a fight first.

Seems more like they fixed it after it hit this forum. Why couldn't it have been fixed with the agent to begin with?

 

[JimmyUt]

I thought that you would write RNA over 5 star so that the customer has to pay more. I have never seen RNA beat anyone's price.

Before their rate increase, RNA was priced lower. I will write either company as they both are good. I have never experienced any issues with either. Let's hope that continues.