ComplaintsforWoodmenLife

• Initial Complaint

  06/13/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  When my father‘s health and eyesight were deteriorating, he contacted Woodman of the world to inform them that if they had any problems to please call him because he could not see to read his mail. I’m 49 years old and he has had the same policy since I was a child. I know this because I went to Woodman of the world camp for children when I was young. Right after him for them, his health was Rapidly deteriorating. They canceled his policy now he had two policies open. For me and one for him. They were automatically deducted from his banking account each month. After he had told them about his health, they stopped taking the money from his account for his policy, but not mine. he had received a letter in the mail stating he did not make payment and they had canceled his policy. No courtesy phone call as they agreed on nothing. Almost 40 decades of paying money each month without missing payments they pull the stock when they found out from him that he didn’t have much longer to live. now he has passed away recently and I believe part of his passing was due to all the stress he was under like losing all that money he worked so hard and construction, his whole life to make. They did him wrong and they did him dirty and something needs to be done about this. This is definitely bad business, and needs to be addressed. Idk how much money he lost from this business but it was in the tens of thousands. So I will guess at the amount in y’all’s next question.

  

  Business response

  06/18/2024

  Attached is letter advising additional information is needed for our review.

• Initial Complaint

  05/21/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have had a life insurance policy with Woodmen of the World for 50 years.  The policy was initiated to be in effect until age 96 with a monthly premium of $140 automatically withdrawn from my bank account each month. Because the premium has increased to over $300/monthly, I decided to surrender my policy as I cannot afford the increased premiums.  The surrender value was $8,229.26.   I contacted a representative at Woodmen on May 9.  She faxed the required forms for termination and I immediately filled them out and faxed back with a copy of a voided check to have the surrender value deposited directly into my bank account.  I followed up on May 14 with another Woodmen representative.  She asked if I could email a copy of the forms as she could not find the fax and she would remain on the phone to assure me she had received the forms, which she did.  She assured me she had received the required documents and it was complete with the voided check. On May 17 Woodmen withdrew $140 from my bank account.  I called today, May 21 to ask why Woodmen was continuing the withdrawal after my request to surrender my policy.  She said the email forms I sent were blurred and nothing had been done to process my request.  After putting me on hold, she came back and said she had sent the forms to another department and they were able to see them and they would be sent to their processing department but it would not be processed until May 30.  The longer Woodmen takes to process my surrender request, the less my surrender value becomes.  On the $140 withdrawal from my account she said I never asked Woodmen to stop withdrawal. There has been no attempt to communicate with me during this process. No one seems to take action or accountability and my attempt to surrender my policy has become part of an endless loop to continue the policy until it has no value.  I am only asking for the surrender value of $8,229.26 plus the $140.

  

  Business response

  05/30/2024

  Attached is the response letter from WoodmenLife. Thank you!

  Customer response

  06/03/2024

   
  Complaint: ********  
  I am rejecting this response because:  i have had no communication from Woodmen.  The monthly premium of $140 should not have been withdrawn from my account.  It is elementary to contend that I never asked Woodmen to cease withdrawals after surrendering my policy.  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** ******

  

  Business response

  06/06/2024

  Good morning,

  A letter was mailed to **** ****** on May 30, 2024, the same day that we responded to you at the BBB. We ask that *** ****** please wait for receipt of our response in the mail. We also received a letter directly from *** ****** on June 3, 2024 and have mailed another response letter to her today, June 6, 2024.
  
  Please advise if anything further is needed and we are happy to help.
  
  Thank you,

  
  ***** ******, WoodmenLife
  

• Initial Complaint

  03/19/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In 2023 my family borrowed against my life insurance policy, using it as a loan which we would pay back with interest. We have been making monthly payments as agreed. In February I received a 1099R reporting the loan as taxable income after I had filed our taxes. Upon reaching out to my agent we discovered my life insurance, which we had updated in 2020, had been placed in a Modified Endowment Contract. Neither my agent nor my family knew this had happened, nor that we would have to count my loan as income. My agent has been working tirelessly to figure this out but continues to get conflicting information from the home office. This additional tax that I will have to pay (even though we have made consistent monthly payments) will cause significant hardship for my family. Had we known that we would have to pay taxes ($6,000) plus pay back the "loan" with interest we NEVER would have done so. My agent and I had lengthy discussions before taking out the loan and I was always assured this would not be counted as income as long as I paid it back monthly. I need some help and don't know what else to do.

  

  Business response

  03/20/2024

  Attached is our response on ID ********.  Thanks

  Customer response

  03/27/2024

   
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The issue has already been investigated and researched by the home office and my agent since February.  I am willing to allow them to further investigate the issue, however I am hoping for a full resolution before I need to file an amended tax return.

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******* *******

• Initial Complaint

  04/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  When my daughter was born, I purchased life insurance on myself and a small policy on my baby girl. A* * ****** ******* I struggled and needed some extra money and was told by the insurance agent that I could take out some money from the policy. As time went on, I kept paying the policy until my daughter was working fulltime and had a policy of her own sometime in 2017/2018. I then stopped paying the premium and was under the impression the insurance would cancel, but all of a sudden my daughter got a 1099 for the money I took out when she was a CHILD. That's when I found out it was a "loan". My daughter did NOT take the money out. I DID and I had no idea I had to pay it back. Honestly, I was clueless when it came to life insurance and I still don't understand it all. I assumed the money I got was from the built up cash and when I stopped making payments, the policy would just stop. My daughter called their office and was told that I could pay the money back. We also talked to two CPA's (hers and mine) who both said I needed to just pay the money back. I did and now they are holding my money and want to reinstate the Certificate so I will have to pay monthly premiums for another year. See attachments.

  Customer response

  04/26/2023

  Attached is a copy of the certified check I sent to Woodmen and they accepted the payment. 

  

  Business response

  05/02/2023

  Attached is our response to the complaint from Sharon *********. Thank you!

  Customer response

  05/03/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because there was no resolution to the problem. 

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  Sharon *********

  

  Business response

  05/03/2023

  The response letter of May 2, 2023 from WoodmenLife is our final response to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) in response to the complaint from Sharon ****************. As stated in our letter, a full and complete response from WoodmenLife will be provided to the ********* Department of Insurance. Once a complaint is initiated with a state insurance department, WoodmenLife communicates with that insurance department regarding the complaint and the complainant will also need to communicate with the state insurance department regarding the complaint. WoodmenLife submits a general letter to the BBB as the full response includes personal information which we cannot give to the BBB. Sharon **************** will need to make contact with the ********* Department of Insurance regarding this complaint.

  Thank you,

  Megan ******, Complaint Escalation Specialist, WoodmenLife

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩