Many New Yorkers spend substantial sums of money each year on life insurance premiums with very little idea of what they are getting for their money. Often buyers don’t realize that there are major differences in the types of life insurance they can buy and the sources for such coverage.
The information in this resource center aims to familiarize you with basic life insurance terms, describe the major life insurance policies and annuities that are available, and provide important shopping tips to help you make the right choice when purchasing life insurance or annuities.
Lost Policy Finder
The Lost Policy Finder is a free-of-charge service to assist families in locating unclaimed benefits on life insurance policies/certificates and annuity contracts/certificates insuring the life of, or owned by, a deceased immediate family member. The service is not available to individuals, companies, organizations or services that charge consumers a fee for making the request or for locating lost life insurance policies or annuity contracts.
Annuity Products in New York
An annuity is a contract between a purchaser and an insurance company in which the purchaser agrees to make a lump sum payment or series of payments in return for regular disbursements, beginning either immediately (within 12 months) or at some future date. The goal of most annuities is to provide a steady stream of income during retirement for a specified period of time or for the remainder of one or more lives. The lives on which payments depend are called annuitants. The purchaser is often the annuitant and the person to whom periodic payments are made.
Life Settlements - What you Need to Know Before Selling Your Life Insurance Policy
A life settlement is the sale of a life insurance policy to a third party called a life settlement provider. The owner of the life insurance policy sells the policy to the life settlement provider and receives an immediate payment in return. The life settlement provider becomes the new owner of the life insurance policy, pays any future premiums and receives the death benefit when the person whose life is insured under the policy (the insured) dies.
The New York State Department of Financial Services wants you to have the facts before you sell your life insurance policy. Consult your own professional financial advisor, attorney, or accountant to help you decide if this is the most suitable arrangement for you.
Guaranty Fund Protection in New York State
The Life and Health Insurance Company Guaranty Corporation of New York provides consumers with a measure of protection against the insolvency of a life insurer; health insurer; or property/casualty insurer that writes health insurance. The Guaranty Fund also provides protection for policyowners of long term care insurance.
Insurance Company Ratings and Stability
When selecting an insurance policy, you are also selecting an insurance company and you may wish to know how stable that company is financially. Many firms rate the financial soundness of insurance companies. Some provide the ratings free while others charge a fee, ranging from a small fee for an online rating to a larger amount for quarterly reports. Each firm has a different rating scale and firms may differ in the conclusions they reach about a specific insurance company. Therefore, you may wish to check with more than one firm before selecting an insurance company.
Listed below are some of the firms that rate insurance companies along with their phone numbers and web addresses:
Fitch Ratings
1-800-75-FITCH
www.fitchratings.com
Moody’s Investors Service
1-212-553-0377
www.moodys.com
Standard & Poor’s
1-212-512-3108
www.standardandpoors.com