My Upline Stole $2K from Me then Ghosted & I have $8K of Debt - Advice?

[InsuranceGuy17]

I'm reaching out on this thread because I don't know who else to ask for advice. Long story short, I got recruited by FFL 7 months ago, and they sold me "the dream". I naively trusted my upline and continued buying a lot of leads over the past 7 months and making minimal profits. We were doing telesales and my upline would advise what to say because we would be on zoom simultaneously. I took my upline's sales advice which resulted in bad business and I now have $7,000 of carrier debt. This was very stupid of me, but I also lent him $2K to buy leads and he was going to return the money plus interest a month later, we had a vague contract typed out via email.

A month has now gone by since he was supposed to pay back the money, but he ghosted me on the due date and I haven't heard from him since.

Initially, I was planning on paying my carrier debt because it's just the right thing to do and it's my decisions that got me into this situation. However, since my upline has now stolen $2,000 from me and ghosted I feel like I've been screwed and I shouldn't pay the carrier debt. I don't care if I lose my insurance license because this whole experience has made me want to get as far from this industry as possible.

Really my only conern is this somehow effecting my personal life, such as being sued for neglecting the carrier debt or it effecting my credit score.

My upline ghosted and his upline told me to buy more leads, I have no one else to turn to for advice regarding this so I would very much appreciate any thoughts or suggestions! Thank you

 

[fed up]

Have any carriers contacted you about charge backs or money owed? If so, ask for a complete accounting of your account. Find out if your carriers rewrote any of your business. Contact anyone you wrote business for and ask what happened. It could be emails went to the wrong address or bank accounts changed. If no one has contacted you wait until they do and follow my advice.
After all is said and done and you feel that you should not owe anything you can try a trick that I gave used with success.
Write out a check for far less than they claim you owe. Write in the memo line and on the back"Endorsement constitutes payment in full" . They will cash the check and you are done with them. Make sure to photo copy front and back before you mail it in and file that away for later.

 

[billyb]

If he states that he has a $7000 debit balance then he already has been contacted by the carriier. Pay your debts whether you stay in the business or not.

 

[somarco]

Unless things have changed, carrier chargebacks are not reported to credit agencies, only to Vector One.

If you decide to stay in the business, or return at some point in the future, the problem will come back to bite you. Unlike credit files, Vector reports (supposedly) last forever.

As for the "paid in full" trick . . .
'Paid in Full' Check Memo

Try to negotiate/resolve the debt, if for no other reason, to preserve your honor. Even if there is no legal recourse from the carrier (and they may not choose to pursue that avenue), things like this can come back and bite you.

Carrier debt generally rolls up to your manager, general agent, etc. so the carrier is made whole, but not your upline.

 

[Newby]

Your “Upline” needed to “borrow” $2,000 from you?

Wow! Only at FFL.

 

[vic120]

Your “Upline” needed to “borrow” $2,000 from you?

Wow! Only at FFL.

I was confused about the borrowing part I mean how do you trust an upline that has to borrow from agents

who is ffl?

 

[shonceman]

Your “Upline” needed to “borrow” $2,000 from you?

Wow! Only at FFL.

When I was in my late 20’s, a friend I hadn’t spoken to in a couple of years called me out of the blue. He was aware that I’d been in the insurance business briefly before taking a different sales job. He said he’d found an incredible opportunity in the insurance business, and wondered if I might be interested in learning about it. In those days, I always kept my options open, so I suggested I could meet him at his downtown office around lunchtime.

When I got there, he said his wife had taken his car somewhere, so I suggested we just walk to the corner Burger King. We get in line and he says, “She’s got my wallet, too. Do you think you can loan me $5?” I said, “No, man, I’ll just buy your lunch.” I’m already thinking “Houston, we have a problem!” But I had lunch with him and caught up on his family, etc.

When we walked back to his office, he took me into a small, but nicely furnished conference room. He proceeded to make his presentation: nice story about the founder (Art Williams), how much money I could make in the first year, etc. Well, since he clearly couldn’t even afford Burger King, I asked him how much he was making. He answered, “Well, I’m just getting started, so…”

I was mentally out of there at that point, but politely listened to the rest and told him I’d think about it, which I did (mainly about how weird the last couple hours had been)!

I’ll never comprehend just how much chutzpah somebody’s gotta have to try to recruit when they’ve had 0 success themselves!

 

[BibH]

When I was in my late 20’s, a friend I hadn’t spoken to in a couple of years called me out of the blue. He was aware that I’d been in the insurance business briefly before taking a different sales job. He said he’d found an incredible opportunity in the insurance business, and wondered if I might be interested in learning about it. In those days, I always kept my options open, so I suggested I could meet him at his downtown office around lunchtime.

When I got there, he said his wife had taken his car somewhere, so I suggested we just walk to the corner Burger King. We get in line and he says, “She’s got my wallet, too. Do you think you can loan me $5?” I said, “No, man, I’ll just buy your lunch.” I’m already thinking “Houston, we have a problem!” But I had lunch with him and caught up on his family, etc.

When we walked back to his office, he took me into a small, but nicely furnished conference room. He proceeded to make his presentation: nice story about the founder (Art Williams), how much money I could make in the first year, etc. Well, since he clearly couldn’t even afford Burger King, I asked him how much he was making. He answered, “Well, I’m just getting started, so…”

I was mentally out of there at that point, but politely listened to the rest and told him I’d think about it, which I did (mainly about how weird the last couple hours had been)!

I’ll never comprehend just how much chutzpah somebody’s gotta have to try to recruit when they’ve had 0 success themselves!

I got a cold last week from a primerica agent trying to recruit me . He told me up front he was part time . He was nice and I listened a few mins and told him I’m happy were I am . He wished me good luck and I said you too . Knowing all I know I felt sorry for him .

 

[goillini52]

who is ffl?

Family First Life, an FE FMO.

 

[Newby]

I was confused about the borrowing part I mean how do you trust an upline that has to borrow from agents

who is ffl?

They are a HUGE pyramid recruiting agency. Sort of in the NAA model but target the FE, Medicare, IUL agents more than mortgage protection. Famous for naming their 95% commission level 110% just for shits and giggles.