Final Expense Companies That Pay the Fastes

RonRoberts

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I have seen and heard certain final expense companies claiming to pay their claims the fastest. Is there a way to find out how long it takes for an insurance company to pay the claim?

For instance, LH says they pay their claims the fastest. If they do, then isn't this worth something?

On the other hand, even if Foresters is one of the least expensive companies but takes months to pay a claim then why would anyone want to write Foresters.

I am not advocating one company over the other. But, if there was a way to statistically know this for sure then wouldn't you and I want to know this in order to help us make an informative decision?
 
There is one company that promotes paying out a high percentage of claims -- forget who it is.

I realize as an agent that I have no control but who wants to be contacted by the deceased family, file the claim, and months later it still isn't paid? Not me. JD and Newby's posts have made me look at Foresters a little different other than as a low cost leader.
 
The companies that come from a funeral Preneed background all pay within 24 hours of death on NON-CONTESTIBLE claims. Those include ForeThought, Lincoln Heritage, NGL, And lots of regional companies like Investors Heritage, Cincinnati Equitable, Atlantic Coast, Homesteaders Life and many others. None of these companies can claim to be any faster than another because they ALL pay within 24 hours of death and often quicker. The claims are paid WAY before there is even a death certificate.

Most FE companies have a more traditional death claim process. Most REQUIRE a certified death certificate with the death claim. That requirement can slow the claim down a month or longer in some states. Death claim with most FE companies takes from a few weeks to a couple months. CONTESTIBLE claims often take 90- days to settle but I've only seen one company that takes longer than 30-days AFTER they have all the medical records. That is unacceptable.

5-Star Life is unique in that they pay 50% of the claim Preneed style (24-hours with no death certificate needed) and the other 50% traditional style (after death certificates are issued).

I guess if one company can claim to be the fastest, it has to go to Homesteaders Life. They give all the funeral homes their own check book. If the funeral home receives a death call of one of their insureds, they call a toll free number to verify coverage amount and the funeral director writes the check himself on the Homesteader check book. It can't get any quicker than that.
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RonRoberts said:
I realize as an agent that I have no control but who wants to be contacted by the deceased family, file the claim, and months later it still isn't paid? Not me. JD and Newby's posts have made me look at Foresters a little different other than as a low cost leader.

Those Foresters claims were within the first two years so NO company would pay real quick. But in my case they were making NO effort at all. Their attitude toward me AND toward the attorney involved was completely unacceptable. No one would choose to do business with a company that treats their families with that attitude. Especially a widow who just lost her husband who she depended on very much due to her handicap (total deafness.)

My opinion is that they are running the claim department short handed and back logged and the staff that is there is not happy. They took around nine months total and several month after they had ALL requested information from the VA and all the medical records. They said they just had a huge backlog before they could get to it. I've never seen another like it.

I do think ALL companies should disclose what % of CONTESTIBLE claims do not get paid. Settlers has bragging rights there and they are the only FE company that freely gives out that info.
 
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The companies that come from a funeral Preneed background all pay within 24 hours of death on NON-CONTESTIBLE claims. Those include ForeThought, Lincoln Heritage, NGL, And lots of regional companies like Investors Heritage, Cincinnati Equitable, Atlantic Coast, Homesteaders Life and many others. None of these companies can claim to be any faster than another because they ALL pay within 24 hours of death and often quicker. The claims are paid WAY before there is even a death certificate.

Most FE companies have a more traditional death claim process. Most REQUIRE a certified death certificate with the death claim. That requirement can slow the claim down a month or longer in some states. Death claim with most FE companies takes from a few weeks to a couple months. CONTESTIBLE claims often take 90- days to settle but I've only seen one company that takes longer than 30-days AFTER they have all the medical records. That is unacceptable.

5-Star Life is unique in that they pay 50% of the claim Preneed style (24-hours with no death certificate needed) and the other 50% traditional style (after death certificates are issued).

I guess if one company can claim to be the fastest, it has to go to Homesteaders Life. They give all the funeral homes their own check book. If the funeral home receives a death call of one of their insureds, they call a toll free number to verify coverage amount and the funeral director writes the check himself on the Homesteader check book. It can't get any quicker than that.

A lot of funeral directors like Homesteaders for just this reason alone...Lincoln pays electronically following a faxed death cert...Another reason I like lincoln, (or great western or foreskin) is that I can make the funeral home the beneficiary or even an irrevocable beneficiary no notary req'd...
 
The companies that come from a funeral Preneed background all pay within 24 hours of death on NON-CONTESTIBLE claims. Those include ForeThought, Lincoln Heritage, NGL, And lots of regional companies like Investors Heritage, Cincinnati Equitable, Atlantic Coast, Homesteaders Life and many others. None of these companies can claim to be any faster than another because they ALL pay within 24 hours of death and often quicker. The claims are paid WAY before there is even a death certificate.

Most FE companies have a more traditional death claim process. Most REQUIRE a certified death certificate with the death claim. That requirement can slow the claim down a month or longer in some states. Death claim with most FE companies takes from a few weeks to a couple months. CONTESTIBLE claims often take 90- days to settle but I've only seen one company that takes longer than 30-days AFTER they have all the medical records. That is unacceptable.

5-Star Life is unique in that they pay 50% of the claim Preneed style (24-hours with no death certificate needed) and the other 50% traditional style (after death certificates are issued).

I guess if one company can claim to be the fastest, it has to go to Homesteaders Life. They give all the funeral homes their own check book. If the funeral home receives a death call of one of their insureds, they call a toll free number to verify coverage amount and the funeral director writes the check himself on the Homesteader check book. It can't get any quicker than that.
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Those Foresters claims were within the first two years so NO company would pay real quick. But in my case they were making NO effort at all. Their attitude toward me AND toward the attorney involved was completely unacceptable. No one would choose to do business with a company that treats their families with that attitude. Especially a widow who just lost her husband who she depended on very much due to her handicap (total deafness.)

My opinion is that they are running the claim department short handed and back logged and the staff that is there is not happy. They took around nine months total and several month after they had ALL requested information from the VA and all the medical records. They said they just had a huge backlog before they could get to it. I've never seen another like it.

I do think ALL companies should disclose what % of CONTESTIBLE claims do not get paid. Settlers has bragging rights there and they are the only FE company that freely gives out that info.


So when LH claims they pay within 24 hours, the reason is because they come from a preneed background?
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Within the first two years of the policy or after?

After the first two years.
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Within the first two years of the policy or after?

A lot of funeral directors like Homesteaders for just this reason alone...Lincoln pays electronically following a faxed death cert...Another reason I like lincoln, (or great western or foreskin) is that I can make the funeral home the beneficiary or even an irrevocable beneficiary no notary req'd...

It was my understanding that LH did not need a death certificate, that as long as the funeral home contacted LH directly they would pay the claim...within 24 hours. Am I wrong on this?
 
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RonRoberts said:
So when LH claims they pay within 24 hours, the reason is because they come from a preneed background?
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After the first two years.
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It was my understanding that LH did not need a death certificate, that as long as the funeral home contacted LH directly they would pay the claim...within 24 hours. Am I wrong on this?

Yes. Lincoln Heritage was mainly a Preneed Life Insurance company for most of their history. ALL Preneed companies pay death claims within 24-hours and none of them require a death certificate. It's been that way for over 25-years. There are dozens of Preneed companies and the rapid death claim is the ONLY way it can be done and compete in that market.

The rapid death claim is much less common with FE companies. All of them that I know of that pay this way come from a Preneed insurance background. The one exception is 5-Star Life. They don't sell Preneed at all but they have the rapid claim on 50% of their benefit.

The rapid claim is a HUGE advantage to families at the time of death. And the agent should point it out and make it a valuable selling feature when selling the policy. It's also a good time to explain contestability.

ForeThought will turn ANY other company's (non-CONTESTIBLE ) policy into a rapid claim for a 5% charge. Funeral homes use that service when people pay with traditional type FE or life insurance. That way the FH gets their money quickly and ForeThought waits on the insurance company's claim.
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RonRoberts said:
So when LH claims they pay within 24 hours, the reason is because they come from a preneed background?
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After the first two years.
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It was my understanding that LH did not need a death certificate, that as long as the funeral home contacted LH directly they would pay the claim...within 24 hours. Am I wrong on this?

Yes. All the company's do it that way. A licensed funeral director has to file the claim form for a rapid claim with any company. None of them need a death certificate since that would defeat the whole purpose.

JD will insist that with LH the Funeral Consumer Benefit Society does the rapid claim but they actually have nothing to do with it.
 
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The rapid claim is a HUGE advantage to families at the time of death. And the agent should point it out and make it a valuable selling feature when selling the policy. It's also a good time to explain contestability.

ForeThought will turn ANY other company's (non-CONTESTIBLE ) policy into a rapid claim for a 5% charge. Funeral homes use that service when people pay with traditional type FE or life insurance. That way the FH gets their money quickly and ForeThought waits on the insurance company's claim.

Bingo. If an agent is not explaining this and arming their clients with the info they need for when that day comes they are doing a huge disservice.

I could be wrong but to me most funeral homes do not lead with how easy it will be to use a rapid claim process, they squeeze the people just enough to make them wish they'd bought something from the funeral home as that beneficiary is now their number one prospect. If you walked into a funeral home with policy in hand and they told you in about three minutes how easy this was all going to be by using that inexpensive FE policy that was purchased their opportunity would be lost.

My experience in talking to beneficiaries is that in the end low and behold the funeral home helped them work it out but only after making them wish they'd bought something else that would have been so much easier to file a claim on.
 
I won't insist that LH pays within 24 hours because of the FCGS. I will say that's what the president of LH and the president of the FCGS told us in a meeting.

They said that the FCGS will pay the bill within 24 hours of death, but if the LH did not hav ehte FCGS attached to it they would would wait on the death certificate.

Newby says they weren't telling the truth. Maybe they weren't? Not a surprise that LH officials would be loose with the truth.

As far as paying fast, yes those companies mentioned all do apy quickly. Traditional FE companies do wait on the death certificate and then they pay pretty quickly.

We are talking about out of contestability claims. No company pays fast on claims that in contestability. I would be surprised if LH has ever even paid a claim that was in contestability.

Americo is very bad about paying contestable claims. Settlers is the only company I know of that will publish their contestable claims paying experience.

Fortunately I haven't had a lot of contestable death claims. The one I have now with Foresters is taking longer than any others I have experienced. But, 3 months is not out of the ordinary. The Foresters one will be 6 months shortly and no end in sight.
 
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