Speak with an experienced advisor! This a real life case where we saved our client, Terry Pate of Texas, $24,000 on his term life insurance policy over his 20-year level term period by simply going a little further. Mr. Pate was so ecstatic about the work we did for him that he gave us full permission to review the details of his experience in applying for life insurance through our agency.
At the time Mr. Pate contacted us he was 66 years old and in need of $200,000 of 20 year level term insurance to cover a loan for some investment property he was financing. He found us online and at first was very hesitant and skeptical of whether we could really help him. Just prior to contacting us, Mr. Pate had worked with a local agent that promised him a policy but after 3 months still had not delivered.
After we explained how we work and our “hands on” approach to delivering the best results for our clients, Mr. Pate was willing to allow us to help him. Upon initial review of his medical history he was very healthy with no significant medical problems and it appeared that he may qualify for the preferred plus (best health class) underwriting category. However, we explained to Mr Pate that it is rather difficult to qualify for the best rate class at any age, let alone age 66, so we quoted both the preferred plus and the preferred underwriting classes.
Terry decided to give us a shot at helping him so we completed an application for life insurance and he agreed to do an insurance exam. We then sent everything up to the insurance company for formal underwriting to get his application approved.
As Terry suggested, all of his medical information on his application and exam paperwork looked “clean” and it appeared he would possibly qualify for the preferred plus health class. However, the underwriter at the insurance company approved Terry at the preferred (2nd best) health class.
Instead of calling Terry and letting him know that he was approved at preferred and NOT preferred plus, we contacted the underwriter in charge of reviewing his file to determine the reasons why they did not approve him at the best class (this is a routine step in our “hands on” process of delivering the best results). The reason given was a polyp found in a routine colonoscopy completed a year earlier. Instead of investigating further and ordering Terry’s medical records from his urologist, the underwriter simply approved him at preferred rates. This was not acceptable to our office and we decided to “dig a little deeper” on behalf of Mr. Pate.
We contacted Terry and let him know that he was approved preferred and that his premiums were going to be roughly $100 a month more than what he was anticipating. Even though preferred was still a decent rate, he was obviously disappointed. We reviewed the issue with the polyp that was removed and we suggested to Terry that he contact his urologist for a “pathology report” on the polyp. He called his doctor immediately and within an hour, he had the medical reports from his urologist faxed to our office.
Upon review of the medical information, it was clear that the polyp was benign and that the presence of such polyps at his age is normal and routine. Terry had also been very compliant in his follow-up with his urologist and he did not have another colonoscopy scheduled until the next year.
Once we secured this information, we went back to the underwriter in charge of Terry’s case. We petitioned her to reconsider with the idea that the polyp that was removed had no impact on his life expectancy and in fact was completely benign and quite normal. Based on the additional work we did for Mr. Pate, the underwriter agreed and commended us on doing a little extra for our client. She approved Terry at the best health class (preferred plus) and the result was a savings of $24,000 over the 20 year level term period.
You can see the testimonial from Terry Pate here.
