Last Updated: August 3
Accordia Life
- A game-changer for lifetime guarantees. Accordia Life's Lifetime Foundation indexed universal life (IUL) can provide an alternative to traditional no-lapse guarantee (NLG) products at a lower cost while still maintaining the assurance of a lifetime guarantee.
- Important Updates to Replacements in New York (Regulation 60). Effective June 1st, 2015 American National Life Insurance Company of New York is updating the procedure for transactions that involve a replacement of a life insurance policy or an annuity contract.
Need help with any of Accordia Life's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
American National
- New Jersey Form Revision. The New Jersey ASIA PLUS 7 Disclosure (Form 10635-NJ) has been revised, effective immediately. The new form is now available in Virtual Forms and has a revision date of 06/15 . Please check your forms and discard any old stock you may have.
- Important Updates to Replacements in New York (Regulation 60). Effective June 1st, 2015 American National Life Insurance Company of New York is updating the procedure for transactions that involve a replacement of a life insurance policy or an annuity contract.
Need help with any of American National's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Athene
- Revised Business Forms. New Business Product Comparison Worksheets for Arkansas and Florida have been improved to include pre-populated forms that are easier to complete. The revised forms are available for download on Athene Connect. The New Business Product Comparison Worksheet is a required form and must be included with all applications where annuity contracts or life insurance policies are being replaced. Agents should begin using the revised forms immediately.
Need help with any of Athene's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
AXA Equitable
- Estate Planning for Same Sex Couples after Supreme Court Ruling in Obergefell vs. Hodges. On June 26, 2015 the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, the name assigned to a series of consolidated cases on same-sex marriage rights. The Court ruled 5-4 in favor of the petitioners, holding that same-sex married couples are entitled to equal protection under the laws and that their marriages must be recognized nationwide.
Need help with any of AXA Equitable's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
John Hancock
- Enhancements to JH LTC Illustrator. New functionality will be added to the JH LTC Illustrator system effective August 17th that will provide additional flexibility and tools to support the sale of Performance LTC.
- Aligning Long-Term Care and Life Insurance "Dual Submission" Guidelines. We have recently aligned our "dual submission" guidelines for long-term care and life insurance, which has resulted in a slight change in the process for handling dual submissions for LTC (formerly the process was known as the "First Household Rule").
Need help with any of John Hancock's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Legal & General
- End-To-End Digital Solutions. How to Sign Up? All Here. Have you had an ePiphany about the LGA digital tools that save your agency time and money? There are lots of easy ways to get started and we've listed them all here.
- One-Click APS Status Added to lgamerica.com. Looking for APS status on our website? Before today, Policy Search would take you to the New Business>Policy Detail screen and then you'd need to scroll waaaaay down the page to see if we added an update to the Underwriting Notes.
Need help with any of Legal & General's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Lincoln Financial
- New EFT Requirement for Quarterly Billing Mode on Term Business. Lincoln will soon require Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) as the payment method for all NEW term business using Quarterly billing mode. Effective August 10, 2015 all term policies requesting a quarterly billing mode will be required to elect EFT as the premium payment method. In-force policies will not be affected by this change. See chart for billing options.
- Policy Delivery Notice Enhancements. Beginning on August 10, 2015, New Business will be enhancing the Policy Delivery Notice. The new Delivery Notice will be used for currently sold life products, including MoneyGuard® and all future products. The following outlines the enhancements that were made to the Delivery Notice:
- Premium and insured's assigned rate class information was added. This eliminates the need for a rated amendment to be signed.
- The product marketing name was added.
- Added statement to acknowledge no change in the proposed insured's health.
- For purposes of 1035 exchanges, the rated amendment is no longer required but we will require a signed illustration prior to initiating the 1035.
- The current process for the placement of Life and MoneyGuard® policies remains unchanged.
- New Life Application Launches August 10, 2015. On August 10, 2015, Lincoln will introduce a newly enhanced and streamlined Life Application. Note, this does not apply to MoneyGuard® - the current MoneyGuard® application remains unchanged. The new Life Application will be shorter, easier to complete and encompass all regulatory and compliance requirements. The objectives for the new Life Application are to enhance the client experience, incorporate agent feedback, include all compliance requirements, and to refine the underwriting questions. Sections of the new Life Application (Part I, Insured B Supplement, Part II, and Defined Age Supplement) have been separated which allows for true customization in the selection of the needed application packet. The bundled application will continue to be generated as a required form on the Forms Tool; however, the base application (pages 1-5) will be also be available separately. In addition, key data collection points have been added to eliminate the need for the Supplementary Contact Information form.
- Applying for a life policy just got easier. Our redesigned application can save you time and more. Your time is valuable. So based on your feedback, we've enhanced our life application to make doing business with us even easier.
- Approved Vendor List Update. Effective August 25, 2015, MediConnect(Verisk) will no longer be an approved APS retrieval vendor for Lincoln. The Approved Vendor List has been updated to reflect this change. If you are interested in still using MediConnect/Verisk outside of the approved vendors, reference the Medical Reimbursement Guidelines.
Need help with any of Lincoln Financial's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Met Life
- MetLife Quick Predict. This first-of-its-kind mobile field underwriting tool can help producers determine early in the fact-finding process whether a client may qualify for an Elite or Preferred rating class, based on 11 key risk factors. After using MetLife QuickPredict and running an illustration based on the indicated possible rating class, producers can provide clients a more accurate individual life insurance policy premium estimate.
- MetLife Solutions Updated to Make 'Life' Easier. Updates to the Illustration System are scheduled to become effective July 17. In response to feedback received, the following updates are designed to provide the enhanced functionality necessary to ensure you provide clients the most accurate and complete illustrations. Click the link above to view these updates.
Need help with any of Met Life's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Mutual of Omaha
- Updated Guaranteed ADvantage Application. Effective August 1, 2015, the Guaranteed ADvantage application will now be easier to use with a simplified payment section that makes it more consistent with other life products. This new application will be easier to fill out and will lead to policies being issued faster and without any additional follow up. With this new updated application, the Payor must now be one of the Proposed Insured, instead of previously being able to be paid by another individual. By changing this, we are removing additional signatures that would otherwise be required when filling out the application. Additionally, the Bank Service Plan (BSP) Authorization form has been updated and is now easier to complete with the consolidation of the initial and ongoing payment sections.
- Now Available: Updated Product Portfolio and Underwriting Guidelines. Mutual of Omaha's updated Product Portfolio and Underwriting Guidelines booklets are now available for ordering. These guides are your go-to resource for knowledge and information about our life insurance products and underwriting services.
- MutualCare® Solutions Product & Underwriting Guide & Process Revisions. In an effort to continue evaluating and improving our Long Term Care underwriting processes, the following changes have been made and will take effect July 15, 2015.
Need help with any of Mutual of Omaha's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Nationwide
- New Guidelines on Indexed UL Illustrations. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) developed a new guideline on illustrating index universal life (IUL) products. Nationwide® worked closely with these groups to develop this important guideline, which promotes illustration uniformity and better education of potential IUL buyers. The guideline, referred to as AG 49, is being implemented in two phases.
Need help with any of Nationwide's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Prudential
- New Business Forms Update - BenefitAccess Rider. As previously announced, BAR is now approved for sale in California on all applicable products, including VUL. In addition, the California versions of the BenefitAccess Rider Disclosure forms that must be completed at the time of application have been revised, effective 7/13/15. These disclosure forms have been updated to comply with CA-specific accelerated death benefit regulations and include new disclosure language and benefit payment options. (In CA, BAR will now also offer a one-time lump sum benefit payment option.)
- New Guidelines on Indexed UL Illustrations. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) developed a new guideline on illustrating index universal life (IUL) products. Nationwide® worked closely with these groups to develop this important guideline, which promotes illustration uniformity and better education of potential IUL buyers. The guideline, referred to as AG 49, is being implemented in two phases.
Need help with any of Prudential's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Transamerica
- TransACE® CV and Guaranteed Whole Life Conversions. Effective August 31, when converting an existing product to TransACE® CV or Guaranteed Whole Life, all documents will now be based on the original policy issue state. If the insured has since moved to a new state, he or she can sign the conversion application in that state, but all documents must be based on the state in which the original policy was issued. All other products currently available for conversion will continue to require the forms be pulled in the original issue state. For additional information related to conversions, click here to access the Term Conversion Guide to Doing Business. Please note: For Transamerica Financial Life Insurance cases, New York rules will apply.
- New Hours for C&L and Commissions Call Center. Effective July 6, 2015, the C&L and Commissions Call Center hours will change and close for lunch from noon to 1 p.m. CT. The new hours will be 8 a.m. to noon CT and 1 to 5 p.m. CT.
- Weekly Cycle Payments for EFT. Beginning in July, new and current producers can get weekly cycle payments with Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT).
Need help with any of Transamerica's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.