Settlers Life Insurance Company

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to ***’s concerns noted in her complaint. Our records reflect that Ms. contacted us on January 29, 2019 regarding her payments intended for her family billing account number ***. Our policyholder services representative informed Ms. that the account did not reflect any payments had been received for the account since June of 2018. Ms. informed our representative that she had copies of negotiated checks showing that payments had been submitted and negotiated by us. Our representative asked Ms. if there were any other accounts she might be paying for to which Ms. replied, no. The representative then asked Ms. to forward our office a copy of the negotiated checks for review. Ms. agreed to send us a copy of the checks. Upon receipt of the copied checks, we determined that the funds were sent by Ms.’s bank through her online bill payment system. The funds were applied to two different policy numbers listed on the payments indicating the policies to which the premium should be applied. The two policy numbers indicated were *** and ***. During this process, we discovered that Ms. had another policy with Settlers Life Insurance Company, ***, for which she was paying. The payments in question had been applied to *** and *** (***), but they were intended for ***. We moved the funds to the account that Ms. truly intended the funds for (***). The policies on that account number were made active again as though they never terminated due to nonpayment. We were surprised to receive a complaint regarding this situation because we believed it to be resolved. Once Ms. notified us of this issue, we worked quickly to correct it and her policies are now active. I have spoken with Ms. and informed her of the information presented here and asked her to update the account number listed in her banks online bill payment system to prevent this issue in the future.

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to *** concerns noted in his complaint. In connection with the policy in question for which *** is the Owner, Beneficiary, and Payor, Settlers Life Insurance Company (“Settlers”) responds as follows:On 6/08/2018 Settlers received an application for insurance on which *** was the insured and ***, ***’s brother, was listed as the Owner, Beneficiary and Payor. The policy was issued on 6/14/2018 and mailed to *** since he was the policy owner. *** elected to have the premium payments deducted from his bank account automatically each month. The bank draft for the initial premium payment was scheduled for 6/22/2018 in the amount of $47.05. On 6/20/2018 we received notice from ***, the writing agent, that *** wished to cancel the policy. The draft for the initial premium payment was stopped. We notified *** that the draft had been cancelled, and that he had until 7/04/2018 if he wished to reconsider and continue with the coverage. On 6/25/2018 we received a call from ***, *** brother and the insured on the policy. He said he would make the initial premium payment to reinstate the policy, transfer ownership from *** to himself, and continue to pay the premium. Since the ownership of the policy had not transferred before the policy was reinstated, the original payment method was also reinstated. Thus, premium payments would be deducted from *** bank account automatically each month per the application. The premium payment due for July was submitted to *** bank account on 7/23/2018 in the amount of $47.05.On 7/25/2018 we received notification from *** that the draft had posted to his account and that he did not authorize the bank draft. Our customer service representative informed *** that we would return his call after we determined what had occurred. It was at that time that we discovered that the original payment method had been reinstated, which is why the draft posted to *** account. When *** paid to have the policy reinstated, the billing method should have been changed to “direct bill” to ***. The customer service representative called *** within the hour, explained what had occurred, apologized, and told him that the $47.05 would be refunded to him. *** asked to speak with a manager, and he was transferred to me. *** left a message because I was unable to answer the phone at that moment, however I was able to return *** call the same day. Since *** did not provide a number in his message, I phoned him at the telephone number listed in our policy administration system. I left a voicemail for a return call at that number. We did not receive any additional phone communication from *** that day. In an effort to quickly resolve this matter, we requested that the refund check be issued as soon as possible. On 7/26/2018, check number *** made payable to *** in the amount of $47.05 was overnighted to him. We have confirmed that *** received the check. We were surprised to receive a complaint from *** because once we were notified, we acknowledged the mistake, took immediate steps to correct it, and then fully refunded his money. Please contact me should you have any questions or concerns.