Migliaccio & Rathod LLP is investigating whether owners of certain older universal life insurance policies received the persistency bonuses or anniversary credits promised under their insurance contracts.
Some universal life insurance policies provide additional cash-value credits when the policy remains active for a specified number of years or reaches a particular anniversary. These credits may increase the policy’s accumulated value and affect the amount available upon surrender or the length of time coverage remains in force. However, policyholders may have difficulty determining whether the insurer applied these credits correctly because account statements often contain complicated calculations.
Migliaccio & Rathod is investigating whether life insurance companies failed to apply guaranteed persistency bonuses or anniversary credits required by their policies, potentially reducing policyholders’ cash values, surrender benefits, or death benefits.
Policyholders May Have Experienced:
- Reaching a policy anniversary without receiving a promised persistency bonus;
- Having guaranteed anniversary credits omitted from their policy’s cash value;
- Receiving account statements that do not reflect required bonus credits;
- Receiving less money upon surrendering a policy than the contract required;
- Having coverage lapse earlier because required credits were not applied; or
- Difficulty obtaining an explanation of how contractual bonuses were calculated.
Potential Claims May Include:
- Failure to apply guaranteed persistency bonuses or anniversary credits;
- Incorrect calculation of universal life insurance account values;
- Breach of insurance contract;
- Improper reduction of policy cash values or surrender benefits; or
- Violations of applicable insurance laws.
Signs You May Be Affected:
- You own or previously owned an older universal life insurance policy;
- Your contract expressly promised a persistency bonus or anniversary credit;
- You maintained the policy through the required eligibility period;
- Your account statements do not appear to reflect the promised credit;
- You received a lower surrender value or experienced an unexpected lapse; or
- You have the policy contract and historical account statements.
If you believe you experienced this issue, we would like to hear from you. Please complete the contact form on this page, send us an email at [email protected], or give us a call.