WARNING about Primerica Prepaid Legal Services.
By BDnLacy
@BDnLacy (324)
United States
January 31, 2007 1:38pm CST
Well let's talk about prepaid legal services. My mom bought an insurance policy through a company called Primerica. She purchased this policy 7 years before she passed away. Now when she bought this policy she also bought the extra service that went with it call prepaid legal. My mom paid $25.00 a month for this and paid it faithfully every month. The insurance was to pay for all of her final expenses, and for a attorney to handle all of her final arrangements. She had set it up so that myself and my brothers would not have to be concerned with any of it at the time of her death. Well She passed a couple years ago and we found out she had been scammed. Well partially scammed anyways. The insurance policy did pay off just as it was supposed to, but! The prepaid attorney refused to even get on the phone and talk with us. We ended up doing everything he was prepaid for 7 years to do. Since my mother had setup this service, we really had no idea what all needed to be done after her death. Like accounts that needed to be closed, accounts that needed to paid off, or anything else. When we would try to discuss it with her, she would always tell us not to worry about it, she had it took care of already. And all we needed to do was call this number she had on a card and notify them of her death.
Well as I said the day came that she passed and we did as she to do. While we were at the funeral home we made the call to them and was told they would not be doing anything. The death insurance paid just as it was supposed to so we were able to give her the burial that she deserved. But because she had put all of her faith into the prepaid legal service, we ended up having to hunt down all of her accounts and other final arrangements. But that's not even what upset us as we were glad to do it for her. What upset us was the fact that we were told that she was dead and the company had no further obligations to her. Now my mother was not a rich woman by any means, but she did have a lot of things that had to be handled after her death. But the fact that they refused fulfill the obligations that they did have to her, wasn't even the worst part of it. That wouldn't come till the next month.
I'm not sure how many are aware that once a person dies, the family can not close their bank accounts or even remove the money until all outstanding checks have been paid. And the social security office says to leave it open for a minimum of 3 months to insure they can retrieve any money paid to them after their death. Well following the bank and the social security's rules we did leave her account open. One day I go to retrieve her mail and there was a statement from the bank stating her account was over drawn. Now knowing that all of her checks had already cleared her account and all credit accounts were paid by the insurance on each of them, we could not figure out why her account was now over drawn. So we go to the bank and find out that Primerica was still taking $25.00 a month out of her account. When we called them to get it cleared up we were informed that they had all rights to continue taking the money, because they were not notified of her death. Which was a complete lie. As I said we had spoken with the person that was supposed to handle her final arrangements at the funeral home. And was told they would not be doing anything for her as she was dead and they had no obligation to us.
Now a woman that prided herself in not ever being in debt was being bankrupted after her death by the company that was supposed to protect her interest. We had to pay back the bank the money they took plus all of the fees they charged for it being over drawn. SO BEWARE THAT PRIMERICA PREPAID LEGAL IS A SCAM!!!! The insurance is a good one to have as they did pay as they said.
I'm not sure if any of you will find this information useful but I felt I should take a moment to warn everyone about the prepaid legal services offered by Primerica. If you have had any dealings with this company this is a good place to tell others about it as I will be adding links to this article everywhere I can.
1 person likes this
5 responses
@nonew3 (1941)
• United States
30 Apr 07
Wow, thanks for warning me about this! I am seriously looking into prepaid legal services as I have several legal problems going on at the same time and do not have the time and energy to devote to all of them and their paperwork, phone calls, etc. I will most definitely NOT go with Primerica Prepaid Legal! Thank you ever so much for letting me know! Wow!
@amypatton (1)
• United States
6 Feb 10
Its unfortunate that people are so willing to believe anything negative said about a company or service without researching it for themselves or taking into account the fact that doing so could end up costing them in the end. You can look up any company or service and find people who were unhappy with it. As a Primerica rep myself I am upset by the apparent misrepresentation on the part of the representative who referred this client to our prepaid legal service. Just to clarify, Primerica Prepaid Legal Service does not "go with" our life insurance policies. It is a seperate optional product reccomended to clients who may have need of it for will preparation and other legal needs and should be represented as such. I would also like to thank this client's child for their compliment on our life insurance, as protecting the lives of our clients and their families is precisely what Primerica stands for. That's why I myself protect my family with Primerica life insurance and am a subscriber to several of our other products including Prepaid Legal. And I would NOT represent a company that did not operate with the UTMOST integrity. Any representative not doing so should be reported immediately.
@apaull (1)
• United States
3 Apr 11
We purchased pre-paid legal services and they said they would help represent me in a speeding ticket case. I sent them the information 2 weeks ago and was told I'd hear back from them in 5 days. My hearing is tomorrow, and I still have not heard back from them. Thanks a lot, Pre-paid legal services!
@jtr115 (722)
• United States
4 Oct 07
Had you spoken with the Primerica rep/attorney's supervisor? If not, you should let them know about what happened. I actually work for Primerica. Most offices I've visited have reputable and trustworthy clients, but there are occasionally those who are dishonest. Reporting them to a supervisor or the supervisor's supervisor usually weeds them out.
@iammyownboss (1)
• Canada
26 Aug 08
I'm sorry to hear about this, as a Primerica Rep. It seems that the rep did not properly educate your mother regarding the product.
I recommend prepaid legal to any client who has not yet put a will in place, because it truly is a 'steal' of a deal to pay such nominal fees for one as compared to Will Kits, etc. After a will is put in place, I leave it up to my client to decide if any of the continuing services and discounts would be of interest or value to them- most do keep the product since most people do become involved in legal issues at some point in their life.
This product however should not be confused with a retainer, and is only to provide legal services, or discounts on legal services, during the life of the client (while the account is paid and active, of course). It is not a retainer, or for estate planning post mortem. The product brochures are very clear on this, if the rep provided one. Unfortunately, misleading reps are out there- and it's up to diligent consumres (and other reps!) to help report these incidents to Primerica so they can be dealt with quickly.
@amberjones1986 (1)
• United States
5 Jun 10
I too am so sorry to here of this happening to your family. However, as mentioned before no company is perfect and there will always be someone unhappy. In your situation it seems to me that the plan may have been "over sold" by the rep OR maybe the terms and coverages were not fully understood. I am very familiar with the Pre-Paid legal services plan and it IS worth the $26 month value. There is a will included and there is tax-audit support but I have never seen it to mention anything about accounts. It is very sad that this happened and I am very sorry that it has left a "bad taste" in your mouth. These services have been around for almost 40 years, is on the New York Stock Exchange, and on the BBB. If it were truly a scam, it would not have been around for this long.
The plan was meant to help in many situations but it is not a miracle worker. But for what its worth, there is definite value in having it. Not everyone sees the value of it, therefore, the plan may not be for everyone. My advice is to look at the facts and coverages and make an unbiased decision for yourself personally before deciding this is a "scam"