November 2020 Carrier Updates
Last Updated: November 20
In addition to the carrier updates below, you may also be interested in:
- Our compilation post on how to market online: our best and most relevant posts for marketing in a digital-only environment
- Our ongoing, constantly updated list of non-med carrier options
- Our post on taking your agency digital
AIG
- Non-medical underwriting limits increasing to $1M. Effective November 21, 2020, our non-medical underwriting will be expanded to include eligible cases with face amounts up to and including $1 million. The previous face amount limit was $499,999. To improve underwriting efficiency, guidelines for underwriting classes and Part B submission methods will also be revised: • Standard to Preferred Plus will be available through non-medical underwriting. Sub-Standard classes are no longer available. Note that Table A and B are included in the Standard rate class. • Part B application/medical information may only be completed by the tele-interview vendor. Submitting an agent-completed Part B will create duplication and delays, and should be avoided. Non-medical underwriting remains available for the same ages on the same products, Max Accumulator+ II and Platinum Choice VUL 2. When applicable, the ability to pivot to medical underwriting remains available.
Need help with any of AIG's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Allianz
- Holiday hours and year-end processing. To ensure the contract is issued by close of business for 2020: Life insurance new business final delivery requirements must be received in good order before Monday, December 28, 2020, at 3:00 p.m. Central time. Fixed index annuity new business applications and final requirements must be received in good order before Monday, December 28, 2020, at 3:00 p.m. Central time. Variable annuity new business applications and final requirements must be received in good order before Thursday, December 31, 2020, at 3:00 p.m. Central time. If any request is intended to be recorded for the 2021 tax year, please submit the request after January 1, 2021. Please note that scheduled premium payments processed in January are recorded for the 2021 tax year.
- Client Communication Regarding Incorrect Values. As a result of a regular review process, Allianz discovered a calculation error that caused your clients’ contract or policy values to be less than they should have been. Clients will be notified that the impacted values have been updated and their contracts or policies will be corrected going forward.
Need help with any of Allianz's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
American National
- COVID-19 Underwriting Update. Due to the difficultly of obtaining medical exams and APS requirements in many areas, American National has decided to continue its expanded COVID-19 accelerated underwriting criteria. Reminder: If your case is approved and issued without an exam and you are able to schedule an exam at a later date, then Underwriting will review the exam results to see if a better rate class is warranted.
- 2020 Year-End Processing Dates and Holiday Hours. Paper applications must be received in the Springfield Processing Center no later than 12/14/2020 to begin processing in 2020. We encourage the use of ExpertScan (available via your ExpertOffice account) for all paper documents to be submitted. E-App Applications must be received by 12/18/2020. Deliveries must be received in the Springfield Processing Center by 2:30 p.m. CST on 12/23/2020 to allow processing time for paid business in 2020. Cases received before the deadline will be given first priority.
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.
Global Atlantic
- 2020 Year-End Processing Dates and Holiday Hours. Friday, December 11: Requests that require multi-day processing, such as term conversions, internal exchanges, reinstatements, etc., must be received in good order to be processed prior to year-end. Please contact the new business team with end of year reinstatement related requests at 855-887-4487, option 1. Applications received after December 11 will be processed in order received and are not guaranteed to be processed by year end.
Need help with any of Global Atlantic's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
John Hancock
- Introducing the LifeTrack Performance Summary. Written in simple language with intuitive visuals to help make sense of the numbers, the all-new LifeTrack Performance Summary is designed to help your clients better understand their policy and stay on track to meet their goals, enabling you to have more productive policy review conversations.
- Foreign National Criteria. John Hancock has revised solicitation requirements and now provides contract to be e-delivered if solicitation criteria is met.
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.
L&G
- 2020 Year-End Processing Dates and Holiday Hours. We often receive questions regarding year-end closing or cut-off dates. We hope that you find the explanation below helpful. New Business Processing: December 31, 2020 will be a normal business day and the standard service times for processing documents received that day will apply. 1099 Income Reporting: New business requirements need to be received and processed by Wednesday, December 30 to be included in 2020 Miscellaneous Income Tax Reporting (1099 MISC). The commission payments sent Thursday, December 31 following the December 30 closing are the final payments for the 2020 tax reporting year.
Need help with any of L&G's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Lincoln
- Coming Soon – Lincoln WealthAccumulate® 2 IUL (2020). Effective November 16, 2020, subject to state availability, Lincoln is pleased to introduce the Lincoln WealthAccumulate® 2 IUL (2020) to our life insurance portfolio. Lincoln WealthAccumulate® 2 IUL (2020) is an innovative Indexed UL built for clients who want death benefit protection plus growth opportunities through indexed accounts and access to cash value for today's and tomorrow's needs. It provides the flexibility to allocate to and move between five indexed accounts linked to the percentage change in the S&P 500® or Fidelity AIM® Dividend Index, that attempt to provide a balance between return potential and downside protection. This product will meet the new AG49-A illustration requirements at launch and will not initially be available in New York.
- Coming Soon – Lincoln WealthPreserve® 2 IUL (2020). Effective November 16, 2020, Lincoln is pleased to introduce another addition to our life insurance portfolio: Lincoln WealthPreserve® 2 IUL (2020). This product will meet the new AG49-A illustration requirements at launch and will not initially be available in New York. Lincoln WealthPreserve® 2 IUL (2020) offers flexibility for growth, access to cash value, and financial protection. Built for clients who want valuable guaranteed protection with flexibility for life’s changing needs.
- Upcoming Illustration Changes for Indexed UL Products (AG49-A). Actuarial Guideline 49-A (AG49-A) was adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to update the existing AG49 guideline that is applicable to all Indexed UL products. AG49-A was originally expected to be effective on November 25, 2020 but will now be effective on December 14, 2020. It is prospective only, so will not apply to any new business or future in-force illustrations for any policies that meet the transition rules. The Lincoln DesignItSM Illustration System will apply the appropriate loaned and unloaned crediting rates and reflect them in the combined Net Policy Values and Surrender Value columns of the illustration. Actual interest credited to the policy will not be limited by AG49-A parameters, and participating loan values will earn the same credited rate as the unloaned values. Although variable products are excluded from AG49 and AG49-A, Lincoln will continue to apply the original AG49 methodology to the Lincoln AssetEdge® VUL and Lincoln AssetEdge® Exec VUL products with indexed accounts but will not apply new AG49-A requirements. Transition Rules: Formal applications or tickets (with all solicitation forms) that are signed, dated and received by Lincoln’s home office in-good-order on or before December 11, 2020, will not be subject to the illustration guideline changes. Any IUL application/ticket received after December 11, 2020 will be subject to the new AG49-A illustration guideline changes.
- Online Personal History Interview for Lincoln MoneyGuard®. Lincoln is committed to providing a superior customer experience as we continue to enhance our digital capabilities to deliver streamlined processes with quicker turnaround times. Earlier this year, we launched the online client interview capability for life insurance products and we’re seeing great results and hearing positive feedback from our partners and clients. Beginning November 16, we are pleased to further expand this online interview capability to improve the Lincoln MoneyGuard® process. Online interview provides clients with a new choice in how they provide their Personal History Interview (PHI) information to Lincoln.
Need help with any of Lincoln's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Mutual of Omaha
- 2020 Year-End Processing Dates and Holiday Hours. Client Interview Team Holiday Hours (All in Central Time). Wednesday, November 25, 2020: 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Thursday, November 26, 2020: Closed. Friday, November 27, 2020: Closed. Saturday, November 28, 2020: Regular hours: 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Thursday, December 24, 2020 (Christmas Eve): 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Friday, December 25, 2020: Closed. Saturday, December 26, 2020: Closed. Thursday, December 31, 2020: 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Friday, January 1, 2021: Closed. Saturday, January 2, 2021: Regular hours: 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
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.
New York Life
- 2020 Year-End Processing Dates and Holiday Hours. Commissions: All “earned” commissions in 2020 will reflect on this year’s 1099. Earned commissions include any commissions paid to the ledger during the calendar year, regardless of when the commission payment was received. Commission payments are processed bi‐monthly on the first business day after the last day of the month and the first business day after the fifteenth day of the month. Commissions trigger after the full initial premium and Supplemental Application (Self‐Health Certificate) has been received in good order and processed. Life Insurance ‐ Year‐End Key Dates: December 14 - A complete application package (Parts 1 and 2), including all underwriting requirements, must be received in our office and deemed in good order. Submissions and underwriting requirements received after this date will be processed and underwritten on a “best effort” basis. December 21 - Underwriting approval must be received to proceed to issue. December 29 - Initial premium payment and currently dated Supplemental Application (Self‐Health Certificate) must be received in good order to pay compensation for 2020.
Need help with any of New York Life's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Principal
- eDelivery enhancements. Contact information is added. We heard from you that you’d like to be able to see the email addresses and phone numbers used for eDelivery when you’re reviewing the case for approval. We’re pleased to let you know this information is now available in the approval email. This will allow you to review and update any information needed before the policy is ready for signatures. Full eDelivery for Term in New York. Effective November 17, full eDelivery will be available for Principal® Term policies in New York. These policies are currently eligible for eDelivery, however, the policy has to be printed and a wet signature applied. With this enhancement, policies will be able to be eSigned and returned to Principal electronically.
- Drop Ticket is updated for combo cases. If you submit ‘combo’ cases – life and individual disability insurance (IDI) together – we have good news for you. The Principal Drop Ticket has been updated to allow you to indicate you want the Part B completed for both life and IDI. When you select ‘yes’ to the question to include both, the applicant will be presented with questions for both when completing the Part B. To ensure the eSignature process goes smoothly, be sure to include a valid email address and direct phone number for both the financial professional and client. Do not provide 800 numbers, phone numbers that require extensions, or office numbers that are not immediately accessible by either party. Cell phone numbers work best and make authentication easy.
- Upcoming E-App changes. We’re making a few changes to the E-App you access through iPipeline to streamline and simplify the process for you. Here’s what’s changing: A separate Part B request is no longer needed. When you access the “Proposed Insured Part B” page, you only need to indicate within the application that Part B needs to be requested. Then, we’ll automatically send the online Part B email to your clients once we receive the eApp submission. (Effective November 4, 2020) The full E-App option will require less work for you. The full E-App (Parts A, B, and C) will be replaced on iPipeline with the version that includes Parts A and C only. After completing those, you’ll simply request Principal to complete the Part B. (Effective December 2020) New, more clear options for completion will be available in Lifepipe. When submitting an application through the quote engine you’ll see two easy-to-understand options: “Term Insurance” and “Term Insurance with CER Rider.” Both options will allow you to select either E-App with carrier-completed Part B or Drop Ticket in order to complete your submission the way you want. (Effective December 2020)
- Updated term conversion dating guidelines. We recently updated the policy dating guidelines on Principal Term conversions to ensure coverage from an existing Term policy into a new permanent life insurance policy is seamless. Here are the updated guidelines: Partial conversions – The existing term policy can be surrendered or adjusted on the monthiversary day. The new policy will be issued the following day. Full conversions – The existing term policy can be surrendered on any day of the month, other than the 29th-31st. The new policy will be issued the following day. Note that if the existing policy is paid by EFT, the EFT draw date for the new policy may occur on a different day than the previous policy.
Need help with any of Principal's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
SBLI
- COVID-19 Updates. Positive COVID-19 cases are still being postponed for 30 days after resolution of symptoms and back to normal physical activity. Cases that are more severe and require hospital admission will most likely require a longer postponement period, depending on the severity. A statement of health is still required upon policy delivery, except on cases with a Part 2 date within 2 weeks of issue. Our e-Policy delivery system helps to support this process as it allows the policyholder to accept, sign, and pay for the policy online, as well as fulfill any state delivery requirements without any human contact. SBLI has reactivated binding coverage with a Conditional Receipt and for the State of Kansas only, the Temporary Insurance Agreement. This option has been updated on our drop ticket platforms. Click the link above for more info.
- 2020 Year-End Processing Dates and Holiday Hours. Underwriting will continue to approve and issue cases through Thursday, December 31, 2020. All money to put new cases in force must be received by close of business on Monday, December 28, 2020. All 2020 term conversion paperwork and premium must be received by close of business on Tuesday, December 29, 2020. See link for more details.
Need help with any of SBLI's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Securian
- Tele-Interview Vendor Change. Beginning November 21, 2020, the tele-interview portion of Securian's eApp underwriting process will now be completed by APPS instead of ExamOne.
- Reminder: AG49A transition rules and UL crediting rate changes. Like all carriers, Symetra is required to transition the way we illustrate indexed universal life (IUL) products to meet the Actuarial Guideline AG49A, by Dec. 14, 2020. To meet this regulatory deadline, we have established transition rules for our Accumulator and Protector IUL products. We are also reducing our credited rate for in-force Symetra UL-G and CAUL policies in December. Please review our important AG49A transition dates and UL crediting rate changes (PDF) for more details.
Need help with any of Securian's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Symetra
- 2020 Year-End Processing Dates and Holiday Hours. Please mark your calendars with these important year-end business processing deadlines: We recommend that all underwriting requirements be received at Symetra by Monday, Dec. 7. To ensure timely processing, final issue requirements for life new business should be received by Friday, Dec. 18, for both daily and weekly commission schedules. Symetra will continue to process and place business through Thursday, Dec. 31.
- Reminder: AG49A transition rules and UL crediting rate changes. Like all carriers, Symetra is required to transition the way we illustrate indexed universal life (IUL) products to meet the Actuarial Guideline AG49A, by Dec. 14, 2020. To meet this regulatory deadline, we have established transition rules for our Accumulator and Protector IUL products. We are also reducing our credited rate for in-force Symetra UL-G and CAUL policies in December. Please review our important AG49A transition dates and UL crediting rate changes (PDF) for more details.
Need help with any of Symetra's products?
Call us at 1-800-823-4852 or click here to email our Brokerage Sales Support team.
Transamerica
- Important LTC Rider Updates. Beginning December 5, in the state of California, the Comprehensive Long Term Care Rider on the Transamerica Financial Foundation IUL (FFIUL) will be updated to meet new California guideline AB-1209.
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.
