Forest Hills Financial Group

Review: I purchased a whole life insurance policy in May 2011 with [redacted] and [redacted]. I subsequently had a change in finances. I was an attending physician at the time I purchased the policy and decided to go back for 3-4 years of additional training. I informed [redacted] and [redacted] and met with them to discuss options. We had several meetings including meeting at my home and I was encouraged not to cancel the policy as the money I previously paid could pay for the policy over the 3-4 year time period. I was asked verbally how much can you afford to pay. The policy was about 9000$ a year. I informed [redacted] and [redacted] the most I could pay was approx 2500$ a year. I was told that based on that I would make quarterly payments and they would inform me of the amount. I have two emails in which I inquire about the amount owed. I made a payment Nov 2012. I emailed once again in January 2013 and was informed not to pay anything. I contacted them in July 2013 for a meeting but I didn't have Internet access to facilitate the meeting. Aug 2013 I received an urgent email from [redacted] that the policy lapsed and I owe 3000$. He also stated that he never told me the policy could pay for itself and that I had to pay the fee.This is dishonest as we had many meetings prior to my decision to continue the policy. I could have walked away in May of 2012 and I would have been okay. However,I was encouraged to continue and so decided based on the information given. I feel as though I was lied to and I am seeking justice bc I don't want another person to experience this. I have lost 10000$ and I feel cheated.Desired Settlement: I would like [redacted] and [redacted] to acknowledge our several meetings regarding my change in finances and be honest about what was discussed. I also want to see if they is any cash value in the policy that I can obtain.

Business

Response:

[redacted] and [redacted] have been working with [redacted] since April **, 2011. Together they had decided to plan for her financial future. She purchased disability insurance as well as Whole Life and Term Insurance. When [redacted] purchased all of these policies she was an attending physician and the premiums for all 3 policies were well within her budget.

After about 7 months of paying premiums, [redacted] left her job to complete a fellowship which gave her less income and a change in her financial situation. Whole Life insurance is not purchased for the short term, it is purchased for the long term, so it was in [redacted]'s best interest not to cancel the policy. If was up to us to figure out the best way to have [redacted] keep the policy and help and guide her through the next few years before she would have the increase in salary again and be able to afford the full original premium.

We met and spoke with [redacted] where she advised she could only afford a fraction of what she was previously paying. We were able to redesign her disability policy after it had been in force for a while so that she would have that coverage as it was very important to her. She also kept the term insurance in force, and we were trying to keep the Whole life inforce. We spoke with Guardian life (the insurance company) and we were able to exchange the policy at no cost to [redacted] to a new policy series that had just come out, that allowed for more cash value in the early years. This allowed the policy to use minimum premium deposit from [redacted] and also use policy cash value to keep the policy going. In 3-4 years when when she had higher income she would then pay back the loans and return to paying the higher premiums and the policy would go back to how it was originally meant to be.

Over the course of the next few months, there was communication between us and [redacted] advising her to pay premium and she would also email us asking if any premiums needed to be paid. Some times we said, yes, please send payment, and other times we said no payment was needed. There was no way to have the bills automatically generate with what we wanted to do, b/c it is not the normal way to pay premiums. It was our responsibility to communicate with [redacted] on when to mail in money. Unfortunately there was one quarter where we missed a notice from Guardian and we didn't inform [redacted] timely. That was the most important one as that was the anniversary and the policy lapsed.

When we got the notice from Guardian that the policy lapsed we immediately got in touch with [redacted] and advised her that she would need to complete reinstatement paperwork and mail in $3000. She was upset and rightly so. What we didn't realized then but we realize now after we spoke with our associate General agent, is that since [redacted] was paying minimum premium deposit, she could and still can reinstate with minimum premium deposit of about $750. From there [redacted] could change her policy to the premium that she wants, or continue to pay minimum premium and pay the rest via policy loans.

We never want any client to feel like we are dishonest, and we never want any client to be unhappy with our planning. [redacted] was wonderful to work with. If there is anything we can do to make this right, we would love the opportunity.

In no way should [redacted] feel cheated. We were honestly trying to help [redacted] through the next few years so that we can be there for her through out her career. This complaint says that she has lost 10K. If she reinstates the policy (she has 5 years to do that) she will not have lost anything.

As we stated above, Insurance is for the long term. Anyone who would cancel their insurance in the early years would loose their initial investment. We do not want that for [redacted] or any of our clients. Since this lapse was unintentional on both our parts, we would welcome the opportunity to make it right.

[redacted] is always welcome to call us or our Associate General agent which she has spoken to after she filed this complaint.

We hope this response is satisfactory to [redacted].

Please let us know.

thank you.

[redacted] and [redacted].

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.

Sincerely,