Final Expense Companies That Pay the Fastes

[WinoBlues]

Then I stand corrected on some previous assumptions.
It also my be a regional issue. I have had a couple claims lately where the Funeral Directer said it is their standard practice to always charge it. In both these cases the company, United Heritage, would have paid them and overnighted the check. It also seems to be the ones owned by the big corps like SCI. In both of these cases I let the FD know that I could get them paid before the service.

I was also under the impression that the Corps somehow got a kick back from Forethought. I find that independents seem to be more flexible. But there are few independents around here anymore.

Thanks for the insight.

Lee

No. There is no need to.

Funeral directors don't charge it ever. The funeral advancing companies are the ones charging it. ForeThought and LH both own funeral advancing companies and there are others that probably come from the check into cash business.

Funeral homes aren't profiting off of advancing life insurance policies. They just want their money prior to service.

If an insurance company pays prior to the funeral service it's the same as cash. They won't get charged a fee. They will more likely get a discount.

 

[Newby]

Then I stand corrected on some previous assumptions.
It also my be a regional issue. I have had a couple claims lately where the Funeral Directer said it is their standard practice to always charge it. In both these cases the company, United Heritage, would have paid them and overnighted the check. It also seems to be the ones owned by the big corps like SCI. In both of these cases I let the FD know that I could get them paid before the service.

I was also under the impression that the Corps somehow got a kick back from Forethought. I find that independents seem to be more flexible. But there are few independents around here anymore.

Thanks for the insight.

Lee

The biggest funeral corporation by far is SCI (Dignity Memorial) and they don't even use ForeThought. They use American Memorial exclusively. They used a ForeThought product for a short time but it was their own exclusive product design they had ForeThought make for them. A couple of years later, they bought American Memorial Life which they later sold to Assurant.

 

[WinoBlues]

The biggest funeral corporation by far is SCI (Dignity Memorial) and they don't even use ForeThought. They use American Memorial exclusively. They used a ForeThought product for a short time but it was their own exclusive product design they had ForeThought make for them. A couple of years later, they bought American Memorial Life which they later sold to Assurant.

I could defiantly be mistake on who uses who. Other than claims I really do not deal with them. Then it is only if there is a problem. Otherwise it is just here are the forms, phone and fax numbers and the name of the beneficiaries that are coming in.

Again, thanks for all the knowledge.

 

[RonRoberts]

Yes. ForeThought, Lincoln Heritage and a few others do not have a fee for rapid settlement because that's how they already do it. I assume that LH will continue to do so even though they sold all their Preneed business off to NGL last year and dropped out of that market.
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It has to be on non-CONTESTIBLE. But the question is...do they require a certified death certificate?

Scott, please help me out here:

If I have a $35K policy and pass and it is outside of the 2 year period. My family goes down to the funeral home and tells them they have a policy on me and that is what they will use to pay for my funeral.

1. Will my family have to assign the entire $35K policy over to the funeral home or just the portion to cover the funeral?

2. If they have to assign the entire policy over to the funeral home I realize that the funeral home will not get to keep the entire $35K so how long before my family is paid the difference?

3. If they only assign the cost of the funeral over then how long before my family is paid their portion of the proceeds?

4. Will the funeral home charge 5% of the policy face amount or 5% of the funeral charges?

Thank you very much.

 

[Newby]

Scott, please help me out here:

If I have a $35K policy and pass and it is outside of the 2 year period. My family goes down to the funeral home and tells them they have a policy on me and that is what they will use to pay for my funeral.

1. Will my family have to assign the entire $35K policy over to the funeral home or just the portion to cover the funeral?

2. If they have to assign the entire policy over to the funeral home I realize that the funeral home will not get to keep the entire $35K so how long before my family is paid the difference?

3. If they only assign the cost of the funeral over then how long before my family is paid their portion of the proceeds?

4. Will the funeral home charge 5% of the policy face amount or 5% of the funeral charges?

Thank you very much.

Most families only advance the amount of the funeral or sometimes a thousand or two more.

The advancing company only charges 5% on the amount that is advanced.

The money is available as soon as they can verify the policy is good so usually around 2 or 3 hours.

If they want to advance the whole $35,000 or whatever amount they will have their money just as quickly but will pay 5% on the whole advanced amount.

Also there is competition within the advancing industry too. I've seen some that charge 4% and one that did 3.5% but they wanted full recourse of they screwed up. A smart funeral home would want non-recourse.

 

[RonRoberts]

Most families only advance the amount of the funeral or sometimes a thousand or two more.

The advancing company only charges 5% on the amount that is advanced.

The money is available as soon as they can verify the policy is good so usually around 2 or 3 hours.

If they want to advance the whole $35,000 or whatever amount they will have their money just as quickly but will pay 5% on the whole advanced amount.

Also there is competition within the advancing industry too. I've seen some that charge 4% and one that did 3.5% but they wanted full recourse of they screwed up. A smart funeral home would want non-recourse.

Thank you Scott. I do like the 50% advance with 5-Star with no fee.

 

[rousemark]

If the funeral home takes assignment, the assignment is normally " as their interest appears", meaning the insurance company will pay the insurance company the amount of the funeral bill and then pay the beneficiary the balance.

However, that is old school if I am reading this thread right. Now, funeral homes do not want assignment but want the family to use an advancing company? If they do that the funeral home is paid within 24 hours? Then, should that not be the same as the family paying in cash? If the funeral home gives a 5% discount for cash and the advancing company charges 5% would that not be a wash for the family?

 

[SA210]

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.

I would have to agree with you on Americo....they are horrible at paying there claims when it comes to the contestability period. As for Lincoln Heritage I've had two claims that were contestable and both got paid within less than 60 days. One lady had the policy for 2 months and the other died on the 23rd month. Each company is different but lets not forget that what also holds up the process is the APS's from the Dr.'s and Hospitals. Sometimes that in it's self is like pulling teeth.

 

[Newby]

If the funeral home takes assignment, the assignment is normally " as their interest appears", meaning the insurance company will pay the insurance company the amount of the funeral bill and then pay the beneficiary the balance.

However, that is old school if I am reading this thread right. Now, funeral homes do not want assignment but want the family to use an advancing company? If they do that the funeral home is paid within 24 hours? Then, should that not be the same as the family paying in cash? If the funeral home gives a 5% discount for cash and the advancing company charges 5% would that not be a wash for the family?

If the family pays for the assignment it IS paying cash.

Funeral homes usually operate one way or the other. Some charge families the 5% if they need to use an assignment company. They will not charge the fee if the family pays not her way like write a check.

Other funeral homes want to appear like they just eat the assignment fee. They advertise that they take insurance assignments without charging extra. But usually with those funeral homes you can just offer to write a check and not pay with the life insurance and they will give a discount of 5% and I've seen as high as 10%.

That's just burying the fee.

It's a real fee. It has to be in the cost someplace because they really have to pay it.

A few funeral homes actually still extend credit and allow families to charge the funeral until the insurance pays off. Those are getting harder and harder to find and usually are not the more desirable funeral homes. But there are exceptions.

 

[rousemark]

If the family pays for the assignment it IS paying cash.

Funeral homes usually operate one way or the other. Some charge families the 5% if they need to use an assignment company. They will not charge the fee if the family pays not her way like write a check.

Other funeral homes want to appear like they just eat the assignment fee. They advertise that they take insurance assignments without charging extra. But usually with those funeral homes you can just offer to write a check and not pay with the life insurance and they will give a discount of 5% and I've seen as high as 10%.

That's just burying the fee.

It's a real fee. It has to be in the cost someplace because they really have to pay it.

A few funeral homes actually still extend credit and allow families to charge the funeral until the insurance pays off. Those are getting harder and harder to find and usually are not the more desirable funeral homes. But there are exceptions.

as far as I know, the FH in my area still accept insurance assignments and wait for payment. They do ahve some charges that have to be paid up front. One of those is the opening and closing of the grave..