Complaint Review: Primerica - Nationwide

Victor......if you are thinking of becoming a financial analyst consider what I have to say. Show some intellectual curiosity about whether what I am going to say is truth or a pile of beans and do what I will ask you to do. A financial analyst without intellectual curiosity will never be worth a pile of beans. 1.) Get a quote for you and your spouse from primerica for life insurance. Find out what your monthly premium will be. Disregard the propaganda primerica will feed you about how they are the only ones who do this or the only ones who do that. I've been at this for 30 years and I have software that quotes 600 different companies and believe me....dozens do exactly what primerica does. Now that you have your premium from primerica, call one of the national term quoting services you see advertised. I can't mention any names because the editors delete them. Ask the quoting service how much term life insurance you and your wife can buy for the premium primerica qoted you. Usually it is $75,000 to $150,000 more. 2. Get a quote (GOOD FAITH ESTIMATE) for a $MART loan from primerica for whatever you need, mortgage, debt consolidation, etc...... Once again, disregard all the propaganda about simple interest versus scheduled interest, blended interest, blah blah blah. Just find out what the payment is going to be and how many years before your house is paid off at that payment. Now go to any loan brokerage and give them your exact same information. They will give you a GOOD FAITH ESTIMATE and a payment. Ignore whatever payment they give you. Take the total of the 26 biweekly payments primerica will be asking you to make and divide that by 12 monthly payments. Ask the loan officer to figure out how many years it will take to pay off your loan if you are paying the same amount PER YEAR that primerica will charge. You'll see that the loan will pay off 3-4 years earlier than with primerica. That means an extra $60,000-70,000 in savings over the life of the loan. Now Victor, after finding out that you would be underinsuring your own family by $75,000-150,000 if you buy from primerica, and your family will be paying an extra $60,000-70,000 in interest over the next 20 years if you borrow from primerica.....ask yourself this question. "would I sell this to my Dad,...brother...sister...etc....). If the answer is yes, you'll make a fine primerica rep. By the way Victor, there are several other national brokerages (once again I can't say who because editors will delete them) that offer a similar opportunity to primerica...however with them you would be making 80-100% of the first year premium RIGHT FROM THE START.....and anyone you recruit would make 80-100% RIGHT FROM THE START!!!!!!! Yiou'd get paid about twice as much for loans too. If you're so insensitive to your clients you would sell them primerica anyway, then you deserve to get the horrible commissions primerica pays.

I can't say either way whether Primerica is a good company. I just started looking into it. I just sent my money in yesterday. I'm not to sure how this will work out. All I can say is that I checked the BBB under several listings in the San Diego area and a few other cities, and ALL of them had zero complaints in 4 years. Though I can't be certain this such a good company, I figure "what the heck", for $200 I get my insurance license and can later apply for my securities license. I don't agree with someone who said that Primerica reps are "posing" as financial advisors, they are licensed by the state to do that. If all I get for my $200 is my license, fine. My neighbor, who I've known since I was a child has been working for 25 years exlusively is pretty well off. He recruited me. As for recruiters using deceptive tactics, I question why they're in it at all if not because they're making money. They are'nt people from the corporation, per se, they're regular guys like the people they're trying to recruit. I also question this notion that there's something wrong with it because it's a so called "pyramid scheme". Donald Trump when asked what he would do if he were broke and on the street, said he would join a multi-level company. Sure, most people don't make money at multi-level. Those companies thrive on people who don't give it their all and just make a few sales. It's the guy at the top who makes the money. It's up to each individual to endeavor to be the guy at the top. Someone mentioned that Citibank is merely a sister company and doesn't endorse Primerica. It matters little that they're just sister companies, they still belong to the same organization, Citigroup. So, it's not so much that I'm vouching for Primerica. It's just that some of the arguments against it aren't valid. I'm not so sure I can make as money as with Real Estate, which I'm also looking into, because at Primerica you make around $150 for each life insurance policy when you start out and then move up to $250 when you recruit 3 people and make $75 for each sale they make. You move up in earnings each time you move up to another tier. There was one person who said that the people he saw working there were not qualified to work in the finance industry because of their attire. I don't see the logic there. These people are licensed, and after all they are backed by knowledgeable people in the corporate office. Zero complaints with the BBB in four years in the entire San Diego area is nothing to sneeze at. Betty said that "Someone openly admitted to working in the trucking industry" as if being a trucker means your some kind of scum. I beg to differ; I've met some pretty intelligent, fairly educated truckers Many of these arguments against Primerica don't seem solid enough to sway me against it, but I'll keep an eye out. I think most people are communicating their skepticism toward what I see as faulty reasoning, and it's not so much that I can vouch for the company. It's all just logic and the use of valid arguments as opposed to fallacious reasoning. I'm still eagerly awaiting a valid criticism of Primerica. If there's something REALLY wrong with the company, I certainly want to know aobut it. I can't swear by the company, but I'll try it out and then let you guys know. Hey and let's keep this respectful. Attack the issue, not the person. Thanks!

I want to see CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, not flaming spelling rebuttalsboth are abusive reading. I am writing this more as a series of questions than a specific rebuttal. Since I just recently signed up with Primerica and have only taken the Life class and been to a few of the training sessions I don't have a distinct opinion about the long term feasibility for me. I earned a computer science degree, so I don't have a significant financial background, but have been watching my career choice sold out to off shore people for slave wages that I don't want to compete with. So, I've been looking for a legitimate Plan B and thought I've been hearing the kind of thing from my Primerica trainer that has hope of success. That is, there should be' standard financial products available to the average person without the money to afford personal money managers. There has to be something more specific than a penny saved is a penny earned' for people currently earning less than six figures. Mutual funds and 401k plans (not to mention scandals) over the last few years have inflicted huge losses on the average person's retirement plans. Who is out there to provide education to make better choices for the little guy besides Primerica I'm asking? Bank CDs are paying far less than the cost of living; so how else can you save for retirement and stay safely ahead of inflation without some affordable and credible advice? Personal stock trading is far more risky than it should be'. This, in part, is where I see the financial industry, in general, has short changed the majority of Americans. Even a one size fits all' or five or more sizes with some basic strategy advice should be' better than taking chances with ones retirement and continuing to be dependant on the government for personal security. I see the recruiting option simply as a plus to share with others IF they are so inclined. Not everyone is cut out to be a teacher. Rocket scientists, or computer scientists, should not have to resort to flipping hamburgers if there really are tried and true standardized solutions that serve the general public. So, my main question is: Does Primerica offer better or more competitive solutions for the average person or not? Is family financial advice a worthwhile service or not? If not, then EXACTLY why not? Where is better advice available?

I've come to learn that the majority of people who have nothing proper to say, are really rambling to get attention. First of all, IF Primerica was as much of a scam that you purport it to be, wouldn't it at least occur to you that there are tons of regulating bodies and governing commissions which would agree with you? Huh? None? Oh what? Instead we get praises and recognition? MONEY MAGAZINE names Smith Barney one of it's top fund performers? Primerica named one of Gwinneth's best companies? The book "ABCs of Making Money" by Cauvier and Lysaght, chooses Primerica as the ONLY company that fits their requisites for the ideal money making, multiple source of income, "after reviewing and analyzing THOUSANDS of business opportunities around the world"??? page 200. (These are independent authors, by the way.) Check for yourself how Standard and Poor's rates us, or Fitch, or AM Best... The same people who would complain here, are likely, the same people who would gripe at life itself. I'm not going to say that Primerica is all it's "imagined" to be. It's a real opportunity. The reality comes when you realize, like anything, that it takes work. I'm a testament. Stop making excuses, and maybe you won't have time to be pissing and moaning, trying to pull people down from a chance to really make it. Bottom line: if you want to find out the credibility of a company, why not go to credible sources? Kiplingers, fitch, am best, s & p, money.com, forbes.com, etc.

Mr. Johnson, You stated that Primerica allows anyone with the appropriate backgound, along with the drive and ability to fill one of these seemingly unlimited positions. My question to you sir is, what exactly is the appropriate background? I can't tell you how many times I've been contacted about one of these wonderful opportunities. I have no background in financial planning/advising. I truly believe they just pluck numbers from the phone book if they run out of chumps, I mean leads from new recruits. Now when they call, I merely ask them who gave them my name. If they don't say, which they haven't so far, I tell them I'm not interested, thank you and have a nice day. No ifs, ands, or buts. I know they didn't get my name from one of the sites, such as Monster.com, because I don't post it online, anywhere.

Marvin, I understand that you do not want to comment for a company you never worked for, but if its primary source of business is hiring new recruits, then indeed is a pyramid scheme by its very definition. Carlos, if you were a true financial analyst, you would at least know how to spell better as no company would tolerate such bad spelling. Carlos: Here's a test for you. If you answer these correctly, I will be satisfied. 1. What's the difference between Basic EPS and Diluted EPS? 2. What should be used for calculating exchange rates, the real, nominal or effective rate of interest? 3. Give me two standard ways of calculating the effective rate of interst. 4. Are businesses taxed on their accounting income? (here's a hint, read the question carefully) 5. What's the standard formula for the present value of any monetary asset? 6. If a bond coupon rate is 6 % and the current interest rate is 8 %, was it sold at a discount, premium or neither?

Primerica was unknown to me until I was contacted 2 days ago to come in for an interview. As I was desparate for a job, i signed up during that day of the interview. then I did a web search for the company the next day and found out all I needed to know about this company. From what I learned: It is a legitimate organization that does what it says it does. but how it does it, put me off. I was once an amway distributor, so I know how PFS uses recruits. I contacted them the next day to let them know that I no longer wished to be part of their organization. Since it is too early to know if I will receive my $199 refund, I may need to dig further on my rights to see any information they get from the $40 background check. My previous job required that I had to get a security background check because of the government installations that I worked in. But in any case $199 is not a large sum for an increase in common sense. As I mentioned, Primerica is not evil or deceiptfull. It caters to those who are willing to manipulate others to make them money. Thats how the corporate world works on the top level. Also, the product they sell is secondary. Their main source of revenue are the new recruits.

My name is Carlos Johnson, and I am a Personal Financial Analyst for Primerica Financial Services. I am writing regarding this outrageous presumption that Primerica is a scam. This is a rediculous claim. The writer of this report did not do any real research. She simply used her own skepticism to support her claims. Primerica has been in business for almost 30 years. Primerica is indeed an umbrella company of Citigroup, the largest financial company in the world. Anyone can go to http://www.citigroup.com and click on the link for "Businesses". Primerica allows anyone who's background is appropriate and who has the drive and ability to do the work. Skeptics are not convinced that a system exists that allow average people to be successful and help others correct the rip-offs traditional banking has inflicted on people. This system exists. This system works. I have seen it happen.