BRIS
Expert
I'm just getting set up with Hartford and wanted to see if anyone has any experience with them, good or bad? I have a number of good companies, so it is not a "must have" situation. Give me your insight!
New appointment with Hartford
- Thread starter BRIS
- Start date
- 620
They are a great company as far as coverage and service. If they like a risk, their prices are amazing.
They have a number of different life policies. Some better than others both for premium and accumulation of cash value. I found their underwriting to be somewhat less than liberal. But, they a company that people trust and the name alone will sell policies, especially in the more affluent markets. They are also very easy for an agent to work with. I was with a Hartford agency for about 5 years.
I've been reading this forum for a couple of years and this is the first time I've felt compelled to reply. Hartford Life & Annuity was my main carrier for 14 years so believe what I say.
Stability- Just google "Hartford selling individual life division"
Commission- their current life products charge back 100% of your commission if it lapses within 13 months. Not the unearned. Not 12 months. Also, their commission statement is hard to understand. The more business you have the harder it is read. That wasn't too bad of an issue until they laid off the 2 most competent people in the commissions department. Good luck getting something fixed now.
Underwriting- slow in recent years but they do have t-4 to standard.
Agent support- They closed the Middle America distribution channel in the crappiest way possible in 2012.
They canceled a convention in Cancun. I believe that was 2008. They did nothing to compensate the agents that qualified for it. Then they went 3 years without having one. When they finally brought it back the requirements for a writing agent were 135k. For a GA it was 600k all for a trip to......SAN DIEGO. It gets better. They canceled that one too! In fairness to them they canceled it because they closed a division and fired everybody. It would have been nice, however, to be compensated for the second trip they screwed people out of. Business is business but I don't get the logic of getting rid of people that work on commission. Especially when you still sell life insurance (at least for now).
All in all, If you are the big time financial planning type they may be a good fit product wise. If you're a kitchen table selling life insurance guy.....
Stability- Just google "Hartford selling individual life division"
Commission- their current life products charge back 100% of your commission if it lapses within 13 months. Not the unearned. Not 12 months. Also, their commission statement is hard to understand. The more business you have the harder it is read. That wasn't too bad of an issue until they laid off the 2 most competent people in the commissions department. Good luck getting something fixed now.
Underwriting- slow in recent years but they do have t-4 to standard.
Agent support- They closed the Middle America distribution channel in the crappiest way possible in 2012.
They canceled a convention in Cancun. I believe that was 2008. They did nothing to compensate the agents that qualified for it. Then they went 3 years without having one. When they finally brought it back the requirements for a writing agent were 135k. For a GA it was 600k all for a trip to......SAN DIEGO. It gets better. They canceled that one too! In fairness to them they canceled it because they closed a division and fired everybody. It would have been nice, however, to be compensated for the second trip they screwed people out of. Business is business but I don't get the logic of getting rid of people that work on commission. Especially when you still sell life insurance (at least for now).
All in all, If you are the big time financial planning type they may be a good fit product wise. If you're a kitchen table selling life insurance guy.....
- 160
Having a carrier like the Hartford is key to building a successful agency, I would say Hartford, Travelers, and Chubb are top of the line appointments to have, though I may have missed a few. I always recommend that any agency under 5m become part of a cluster or alliance group, in most cases this will give you very quality appointments. You can access a cluster directory as well as a Carrier directory on AgencyEquity, which is linked below.
J
JBusch
Guest
Isn't Hartford trying to sell off thier Life and Annuity divisions? I heard that some FE company picked up thier variable line....anyone else heard this?
Hartford sold their VA business to Forethought. Their life business is in the process of being sold but who that company is is still unknown right now. It's business as usual right now with them, but at some point it will be another company issuing and servicing the policies.
