Unethical Agent...what would you do?

[360]

Wanted to see what others would do in this situation. I was setting an appointment with a client for a mortgage protection lead last week and he specifically asked me about the unemployment feature of the policy and I responded that it is a waiver of premium for up to 6 months but it would not pay his mortgage payment and that that type of coverage is available through a seperate policy for an additional fee.

He went on to state that another agent had told him he could provide coverage for unemployment as part of his mortgage protection policy and he was actually to sit with him the next day. I told him I was 99.9% sure he was being misled but to go ahead and sit with the guy. He did...agent sticks with his story...knowing I'm in the picture...and continues to assure the client his mortgage will be paid if he's unemployed.

Client believes him and writes an app. I show up the next day and we start walking through things. I show him in the software of the carrier that was written that the agent flat out lied.

The agent also told him additional information that was flat out wrong, such as..."if you sign now, you're covered immediately"...even though he didn't collect a check and had the guy sign the waiver to that effect. "You ride a motorcycle and my carrier is one of two that will give you disability"...please.

To top it all off, his main pitch was to take this guy down the Missed Fortune road in the long run...something I have no problem with IF you're not dealing with a liar.

To top it all off, in doing a little research on the agent in question, he's also securities licensed...which scares me to death. If a guy will lie about something like the unemployment thing knowing another agent is involved what else is he lying about to every other client.

I know it's the insured's responsibility to read their policy and not take people at their word but the bottom line is that they don't...especially if they like what they're hearing.

Maybe I'm over reacting but it really bothered me. The guy I met with now knows the truth...what about everyone else.

What would you do?

 

[slushhhpuppie]

I would meet with the client and put a call into compliance at the carrier he signed an app for (on speaker with you in the room). Have him ask them questions about unemployment features point-blank.

At least the client will discover the truth first-hand, and you'll be the hero that saved him.

More often than not playing the "that other guy is a crook" game will back-fire unless you prove it to the client.

 

[HomeService]

This is why I constantly hammer "the mortgage protection game", but people still wish to be in this game for some reason. To get of my high horse about this type of selling a moment: report the guy, and the company he represents, to the state board of insurance.

{ Side note: come on, you guys sound like a bunch of snake oil salesman, are you selling life insurance, or unemployment insurance, or mortgage payment insurance?? How about "wife cheated" insurance, for those who have a wife who ran off with someone else and kept the house and the guy is now responsible for half the payment? }

 

[somarco]

How about "wife cheated" insurance, for those who have a wife who ran off with someone else and kept the house and the guy is now responsible for half the payment?

Now THAT is something I can sell.

Who writes it?

 

[360]

This is why I constantly hammer "the mortgage protection game", but people still wish to be in this game for some reason. To get of my high horse about this type of selling a moment: report the guy, and the company he represents, to the state board of insurance.

{ Side note: come on, you guys sound like a bunch of snake oil salesman, are you selling life insurance, or unemployment insurance, or mortgage payment insurance?? How about "wife cheated" insurance, for those who have a wife who ran off with someone else and kept the house and the guy is now responsible for half the payment? }

I'm still in the game because it works for me. It puts me in front of 10-15 prospects every week that have asked for life insurance and/or disability insurance.

The lead card says: "You are entitled to participate in our Mortgage Life and Disability Income Protection Insurance Program by enrolling in a life insurance policy".

Where's the snake oil?

 

[HomeService]

WIN, if I remember correctly you once posted on here that the mortgage protection leads get you in front of people and then you can do a fact finder and possibly cross-sell them other stuff as well, good, that's fine. I think you are probably trying to do right by the client, but I mainly was talking about the other agent who sounds like a snake-oil salesman, and the fact that these mortgage protection companies keep trying to "up the anty" by adding disability insurance as a rider, now we are talking unemployment riders { if it exists, maybe it does not} , I was sarcastically mentioning a divorce rider- it all sounds like a circus after a while. You being in this game with other agents like this guy, kind of drags you down a little. Don't stoop to his level for sure, I trust you won't. But, sometimes I think that some of these insurance companies try to stoop down to snake oil status- to get apps coming in, and that sucks. Shame on some of these companies and the guys who represent them. { not you so much, WIN, you sound ok to me, just that I have met some shady characters in the mortgage protection game, and you have met some as well}

If the company is truly introducung new gimmicks that help out the client and at a fair price, great, I have no problem, but sometimes I think these companies turn their backs and know that they have liars out there representing them and do nothing about it because they produce, and that's not good. And this seems to be fairly rampant in the mortgage protection game, I hope not- but it seems this way sometimes.

 

[Mr. Bill]

A letter to the branch manager of his broker/dealer signed by the client outlining the sequence of events, cc'd to the state DOI should do the trick.

Yowza!!!

 

[360]

No problem.

I hear you loud and clear on some of the stuff that I'm sure goes on with green pea agents and/or agents that mislead clients on purpose. I suppose it could happen a little more on this type of lead due to the way agents are recruited and the lack of oversight that exists.

My approach is simple. Do for them what you'd do for your mother, father, brother or sister and you can't get hurt.

The scumbag in question just really fired me up. The only good analogy I could think of is that I realize every now and then someone might pee in your pool...it happens, but this yahoo is running around taking a dump in the pool in each town he travels to.

Which leads me to travelling...something done quite often with mortgage protection. If he had been doing this in his own little market, year after year, he'd be out of business just as soon as word got out that he'd been lying to everyone. When he's travelling, he thinks no one will ever know about it. I don't think it's inherently part of mortgage protection...it's part of how the travelling salesman could be a part of that type of scheme.

Hey did someone say snake oil salesman?

 

[HomeService]

When I looked into being a mortgage protection agent a few years ago, the manager here in Austin TX was from Chicagoland somewhere, and his assistant was from Wisconsin, seemed to me like they were just passing through, maybe. I called one of the recruiters from another company, she said they would send me around on a plane and work other states. Get non-res licensed, spend $350 on a plane ticket to make $5000 in a week. So yes, they travel. Quite a bit. No, I did not buy into her schpeel. She was talking about going where the real estate booms were. Austin has a fairly good boom going on still, but I think it is saturated with agents right now-maybe.

 

[joshril]

I would leave it alone. Let the customer know his rights and explain the complaint procedure. You never know if the customer is telling the complete truth. He may have told you all of that crap to get YOU out of the picture.

I don't know the customer or the exact situation, but no good can come from getting deeply involved in this. Point the customer in the right direction, leave your contact info, and move on...