Met Life Auto & Homes Vs. Nationwide

[Aram Fingal]

MetLife P&C production requirements are very reasonable compared to other captive companies in my opinion. Also, the salary is in fact a salary, not a loan like some of them do (I have no knowledge about Nationwide at all and can't speak to their program)

Met gives you access to their general agency so you can also issue policies with other companies. You get a reduced commission and in a lot of cases you get no renewal commission on these policies. What it does for you though is if you're quoting a household and one of their policies just doesn't fit with Met you can shop it somewhere else. Plus you can always re-quote them in Met later. This can be a really big advantage over other captive companies.

A previous reply said that your access to the life products would be very limited. It's not really that bad, you just can't use the variable products or annuities because you won't have a securities license. You'll still have access to term, universal and whole life.

I hope this info helps.

 

[VolAgent]

Yes, I realize that there are Metlife P&C, Metlife Life and securities (Financial Rep. as they call the position), and there is also Metlife for the indy side. Have you worked with Metlife before? If so, please tell me more about the salary and commission structure for Metlife P&C and Metlife Financial reps.
I've read all of the threads I could find here about them but most were old threads and there could always be new programs or contracts out there. Thanks.

Never worked for them. I talked to them a few years ago. 19 weeks of salary and it varied depending on your previous income, experience, etc. I've heard it will go up to 900 a week, but don't quote me on that.

I tried to do some policies with them on the brokerage side, and they are the biggest pain ever.

 

[applepie44]

MetLife P&C production requirements are very reasonable compared to other captive companies in my opinion. Also, the salary is in fact a salary, not a loan like some of them do (I have no knowledge about Nationwide at all and can't speak to their program)

Met gives you access to their general agency so you can also issue policies with other companies. You get a reduced commission and in a lot of cases you get no renewal commission on these policies. What it does for you though is if you're quoting a household and one of their policies just doesn't fit with Met you can shop it somewhere else. Plus you can always re-quote them in Met later. This can be a really big advantage over other captive companies.

A previous reply said that your access to the life products would be very limited. It's not really that bad, you just can't use the variable products or annuities because you won't have a securities license. You'll still have access to term, universal and whole life.

I hope this info helps.

Thank you for your post. I'd like to talk to you more about Met but I cant PM you since I have less than 20 posts. Can you expand more on the salary and its requirement. Do I have to hit quotas to achieve the salary? Will Met let me sell P&C in all states or just my home state? You also said that Met's requirement are very reasonable compared to other captives but what exactly are the requirements?
Thank you again.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Never worked for them. I talked to them a few years ago. 19 weeks of salary and it varied depending on your previous income, experience, etc. I've heard it will go up to 900 a week, but don't quote me on that.

I tried to do some policies with them on the brokerage side, and they are the biggest pain ever.

Is the 19 weeks of salary for Met P&C or Met Financial Rep?
Thanks

 

[Aram Fingal]

Assuming that they do things the same in every state, which I'm not sure of but think they do:

The salary on the P&C side is for 2 years. When I went through the program it was actually for 3 years, but it was a lower amount and it decreased a bit each year. Now it's higher and I'm not sure if it goes down the second year or not. After the salary goes away, they give you much higher commissions on both new and renewal business for a couple of years. This commission "bonus" is intended to lessen the impact of losing the salary. It does go down a little bit every so often. I'm not sure of the details as it's different than when I did it, but from what I remember it actually seemed like an improvement. Ask whatever district manager you're talking to for the exact details.

I'm not sure what the exact requirements are to get on the salary either, as it was a while ago for me and it might have changed a bit. Met has a kind of points system for policies that they use for most of their requirements so it's hard to translate in to a policy requirement. But I think I average about 2 points per policy. If I remember correctly the requirement is to do something like 50 points in a two month period to qualify for the salary. Again, ask the district manager to be sure.

Once you get on the salary, currently they only require you do 50 points per quarter to stay on salary, although you'll obviously want to do a lot more than that (there are other subsidies and bonuses you can qualify for with not much more than that). They are however changing to an annual requirement instead of quarterly. The points requirement will be the same, but you won't have to hit it every quarter. This will be nice in case you have a bad month that throws your quarter off.

As far as selling in other states, I think they'll let you sell in any state you're licensed in. They don't encourage it, and I don't know many agents that do it, but it is possible.

Something else to keep in mind working for Met is that you are actually an employee of the company and are paid W2 not 1099. Why does this matter? It makes it a whole lot easier to get a mortgage or car loan or credit card. Banks consider it job instead of a business. It made my life a whole lot easier when I bought my house. I don't know if Nationwide works that way, but most companies don't.

So I guess what I'm getting at is that Met is a really good company to work for in P&C. As I said I've had no experience with Nationwide, but I have worked for another company (one that gets bashed in these forums regularly) that just about drove me out of the insurance game all together. When I interviewed with Met, based on my experience, I didn't believe anything they told me. But I decided to give them a shot anyway, and everything they told me was true and then some. It was a please surprise after my previous experience.

I'm going to PM you my office phone number so you can call me and ask me questions if you want. Just keep in mind that I'm west coast time.

 

[bboyd]

Just curious, does metlife have insurance positions where you can work from home? I was on their website and they had some virtual positions but none seem in the insurance side.

 

[Aram Fingal]

Not as an agent. You're required to set up an office within a certain length of time. It doesn't have to be anything fancy though, some use those office suite places. And on the P&C side of things they will give you a bit of money to help you set it up once you get on the full contract. Some times you can share space with another agent.

Nothing prevents you from working from home a lot of the time though.

Just curious, does metlife have insurance positions where you can work from home? I was on their website and they had some virtual positions but none seem in the insurance side.