Complaint Review: Primerica - Norwell Massachusetts

Above is the perfect example of why PFS is a bad choice. It amazes me how PFS apologists get on this site and try to defend it. The fact of the matter is you have to be seriously deranged to go for the PFS opportunity these days. I was a part of it long before the internet hits its stride and not too long before this web-site began gaining momentum. The main goal of PFS is to sell Life Insurance. Everything else revolves around that. All promotions, rewards and contests are based on Life Insurance premium in the end, renewals and business value is the amount of life Insurance an agent has on the books. Since no one wants to go any where near Life Insurance salesman let alone become one, an elaborate scheme was dreamt up by PFS as well as the industry in general. They were no more life insurance salesman, just now financial whatever. Just don't say Life Insurance. Since PFS (formerly A.L. Williams) goal was to grow and hire people it could not go out and say to potential prospects you can join me and sell more life insurance. The reaction of course by most people is they would rather be tortured to death. So over the years PFS tried to camouflage its main objective (and quite successfully) under the guise of a business opportunity. The business opportunity in itself was a lie. The pitch was that you can build your own business and make a lot of money. Scant references were made to the fact that you were just a life insurance salesman, you were now involved in financial services and entrepreneurship, but of course the less mentioning of life insurance the better. So new products were added, the FNA (financial needs analysis) etc all to put a smoke screen around the fact that you were really selling life insurance and a life insurance salesman/woman. That is the reality. Don't get me wrong life insurance is a very important part of a person's financial picture. Just nobody wants to be known as a life insurance salesman in the old sense. But these days you have the internet to contend with as you try to build your business. Building a business trying to recruit people to sell even more life insurance (under cover), is tough enough, it's just gotten a whole lot tougher in addition to paying for business cards, office expenses (if applicable); access to PFS, flyers, advertisements and brochures which come out of your pocket. Try to make enough money selling the life insurance to make a profit. Item: Selling Life Insurance (use FNA to get it). The primary goal of the FNA is to drive home the fact that you need life insurance and Term is the way to go, of course PFS's term insurance. The price alone should make you worry about the competition, but putting that aside lets say you sell a policy for $60.00 per month. And let's say you've made it to District Leader or whatever; by the way just what District are you leader of? The names are really bogus, and some PFS people after hiring 6 people and producing 6 sales or whatever the requirement is these days really believe they are District leaders. Of course when all 6 people quit and all 6 polices chargeback (will discuss below), the PFS agent is still a District Leader with no one to lead. But say his contract is 50%. This means for a $60.00 per month life application translates into $720 first year premium which PFS advances the agent in form of a loan. However PFS only advance 75% of the annual. Which at 50% contract is (720 x .50 x .75) = $281 for the agent. The remaining 25% will be paid in the last three months of the policy if it's still in force in the form of an earned check. There in lies the rub. If the client after paying the agent decides to go on the internet and does some investigating. Wow, up pops this site. Or the former agent realizes that a PFS agent is trying to replace their business, they can simply direct the client to this website. You as the PFS agent's job just got 10 times harder. You'll likely get a phone call from the client that says We thought about it, and we changed our minds, please cancel the policy and send us our refund. (Client did own research) Or We've decided to stick with what we have, thank you for time. (former agent came back). But PFS has already advanced your money. You will now experience a chargeback. This means you have a negative balance of -$281.00 and this amount will take away from future business. So if you work hard, go through another FNA, pick up policies and write another application lets say similar amount your check is now $0.0. So all your time and effort of writing two policies you made nothing. Isn't this great? Now if the second policy charges back for reasons stated above, you now owe PFS $562.00. Any future business must wipe out the $562.00 deficit in order to make a profit, in other words at least two more policies for a total of 4 policies written, and your profit is $0.0! Congratulations, oh by the way if you continue to write business that charges back and the amount of business on the book versus the amount that has charged back gets below a certain percentage PFS will penalize you even more by putting you on an earned status. This means no more nice advanced annual checks on submitted monthly business. This makes it even more difficult to reduce your chargeback balance. The result if you're full-time could be starvation. This is why I believe you read all these stories on this site of struggling agents who's offices look bad, and drive crappy cars etcThey are probably in chargeback hell. I know what you're (PFS agent) thinking. You think all insurance companies must have agents that experience the same thing. That could be, but somehow I think its worst at PFS because of the inexperienced people and lack of warning by recruiters and the home office. Plus PFS is forever stigmatized. I've gotten long winded here but it is clear, next time I'll discuss the effects this website has on recruiting people to build your business which btw PFS owns your clients and your recruits. Like my father use to say you need a check up from the neck up if you continue with this company. BTW I'm not an enemy agent nor am I in the industry anymore, I'm really doing this to help, and I really am. Choose not to ignore it. Regards,

The problem lies with this: It doesn't matter what company these people work for, their recruiting practices would be the same. Primerica is an awesome company that REALLY GETS PEOPLE OUT OF DEBT!!!!Believe it people,there is a financing company out there that shows you how to get out of debt instead of making you accumulate more.So many people are so used to living check to check and working a JOB where they are underpaid,underappreciated,and overworked,that the idea of financial freedom is unrealistic, even scandlous.This web site has been looking for a business owner of Primerica to monitor his or her progress within the company.Well,you found her. I'll be licensed in two days and I will keep all you skeptics informed as to the condition of my business.