Generally, if you live in a state that regulates life settlements, you want to make sure your agent is a licensed life settlement broker. If your state doesn’t regulate life settlements, but regulates viaticals, make sure your agent is a licensed viatical broker. You can find links to your state’s insurance department at www.ambest.com/consumers.

You also can decide to work directly with a life settlement buyer. This would eliminate a middle man — and a commission for him. Commissions are generally 30% of the settlement — about 6% of the face value — and are negotiable.

However, most life settlements are done through an agent, who can ask for competitive bids from a number of providers and may result in what could be ultimately a better deal for you.

A life settlement can take anywhere from two to six months to complete.

If you are interested in pursuing a life settlement, you can go to the Life Insurance Settlement Association at http://www.thevoiceoftheindustry.com, which lists 170 member companies.

Cold Feet

Asking for life settlement quotes does not obligate you to sell your policy. If you don’t like the offers you receive, you can always keep the policy and decide not to sell it.

Also, where states regulate life settlements, there’s often a period of time, say from 10 to 30 days, after the transaction is completed that you can still give the money back and keep your original policy. Even where the transactions are unregulated, many companies offer such a period to change your mind.
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6