American Income Life Is A Scam

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Home < Insurance / Mortgage Scams ~ American Income Life Is A Scam

Guest

Posted: Sat May 07, 2005 6:00 am

Trust Me. Don't Fall Into The Trap - As An Insurance Agent Or As A Possible Client.

Guest

Posted: Sun May 08, 2005 3:00 am

Why? It's pricey but that doesn't mean it's a scam. And we don't know who you are, hard to trust a stranger without more details. My husband carries the disability insurance from AIF. Got it through the union. So, what's wrong with AIF?

Guest

Posted: Sun May 08, 2005 6:06 am

Interesting. I am in Waco several times a year (the site says that is where they are). I'll try to take a closer look.

Guest

Posted: Wed May 18, 2005 2:09 am

I am very leery of this company. GurlInvestigator, I sent you an e-mail asking you for more information if you have it.

ScamBuster, have you found anything on this yet?

Thanks,
Jeff

Guest

Posted: Wed May 18, 2005 5:37 am

Hi everyone,

I just got an email from this company saying they have a couple of positions open, and my resume looked like a good fit for the company. Having already dealt with Cornerstone and their scam, I looked at http://www.ripoffreport.com/results...american+income to see what people were saying about American Income Life. And, yes it seems to be a scam too. Luckily, I have already found a good, legitimate job, or I might have wasted my time responding to the email.

Caveat Emptor!

Ripoffreportreader

Guest

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2005 11:56 am

what do you mean by scam??

Ail is a legitimate publicly traded fortune 500 company...

and if you work very hard the benefits are tremendous.

do i work for them? yeah i do.... am I one of the managers making tons of money ...no... but its not a job its a career and a damn good one..

is it a waste of time? hell no... do i work very very very hard for right now not much money... no but I do work very hard... probably one hundred times harder than any regular 9-5 job but after 10 years with the company i can retire!! yeah thats right retire so while the rest of you work till your 65 i'll be 40 on some tropical island

the point here is not for me to be an asss.... simply to tell everyone thata scam is something that is untrue and dishonest... and AIL is none of that...

i choose to work for this position because i know that the harder i work the more money i make and its UNLIMITED income... and they give you ALLLL the tooks to becoming succesful and i get better and better everyday that i work for them. on average i make (average cause it is commision) 500 dollars per week.... but that does not include the monthly bonuses i get(300 min per month) the backl end checks..(extra money), risidual monthly renewals(its insurance they keep paying insurance then you get a percentage), overides ( money your agency makes for you) and overide bonuses(new trainee makes a bonus you get paid the same amount!) ..

dont ever feel sorry for our clients either... we provide the BEST programs to help protect families.. and you people were smart you would look into the products we offer as well... my clients are my life and I would do anything for them..

the point is dont call a company a scam when you have NO CLUE about it... noone can make comments about somthing that they have never done...

the men and women who are in labor unions like brick layers and steel workers makje TONS of money and there job sucks! they work damn hard for every dollar but thats not a scam and neither is this...

in any case i hope everyone on here becomes successful one day weather you work for AIL or any other career but just know that the only scam out there is when people close out their minds and their opertunities to rumors and hearsays

Guest

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 3:53 am

Here is why AIL is a scam: they don't tell you that, after paying for/going thru training, you must recruit others to join the company (and those others must recruit, and so on) before they give you any leads. Very few people actually do any selling. Like MLM, the money is in the recruiting of others, but they don't tell you that. I still get emails from them--they got my email address from their sponsor, who got it from their sponsor, etc.

Guest

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 12:13 pm

I considered working for them a few years back..but how are they a
scam exactly? The AIL office I contacted said I need to be licensed
to sell life insurance and other types of insurance. AIL is a subsidiary
of Torchmark Corporation, which is in the Fortune 500. They provide
the leads, but you have to service existing accounts, as well as new
ones, and they have a niche working with union members. Aren't
many people who work in the financial services industry in sales,
what agents are, working on a commission basis? I guess what
might concern some is their association with http://www.altig.com,
which delivers insurance produce under the American Income Life
name in 19 US states and 7 Canadian provinces. Hoovers
(http://www.hoovers.com) is a good place to find information
about US-based businesses.
I'm wary of Primerica though. They have been in trouble with
the SEC in the USA, with a lawsuit filed against them. Getting a
bad or good review from an indepedent website is one thing, but
it lends more credibility if someone as powerful as a government
or trade organization or regulatory body is involved. Another thing
that makes me wary about Primerica is the office I went to didn't
think much about industry desiginations like CFP, CLU, ChFC, and
the rest, since they had their own training programs. Since many
in the financial services industry have to taking CEC (Continuing
Education Credits), this concerned me as well. At least with AIL,
they understood about the financial services industry where
I lived, and the CEC, and the various financial designations. They
were more in line with the industry than Primerica. Primerica's
approach seemed to be rather arrogant and belligerent in
comparison to other insurance firms that I have visited
(Met Life, AIL and London Life) about possible job openings.

Guest

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:00 am

Quote: Originally Posted by jgg Here is why AIL is a scam: they don't tell you that, after paying for/going thru training, you must recruit others to join the company (and those others must recruit, and so on) before they give you any leads. Very few people actually do any selling. Like MLM, the money is in the recruiting of others, but they don't tell you that. I still get emails from them--they got my email address from their sponsor, who got it from their sponsor, etc.
That sounds like Primerica, where you have to recruit other people. I
don't know about how other insurance companies operate with regards
to paying their agents, but I'm assuming it's on a commission-basis.
Is there any area in financial services that is not accounting, where
you can receive some type of guaranteed minimum income (like a salary
orhourly wage) instead of a commission-based income. The problem
with 100% commission-based income it's feast or famine usually.
You can hear about people who make a very income, or those
who make barely anything at all. I doubt there's too many people
in the middle income category for commission-based pay.

Guest

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 9:59 am

Labor and sales practices at American Income Life are shady. As one who was nearly conned into believing their sales schemes and quit before any significant financial damage hit my pocketbook, I can say that I am one of the more fortunate ones. The others who are tearing up their cars and working leads that date from 2002 are the ones I have pity for.

Most of American Income Life's schemes are highly scripted, from the employment "interviews", to the sales pitches, and "policy servicing". Each and every question is designed to get person answering the question to say "yes", a highly psychological ploy for you to "buy in" to their company and its services. If someone from American Income calls you, listen very carefully to the voice of the person who calls you. The tone of voice should tell you this person is working off a script, or has memorized a sales pitch.

I looked into being employed with this firm, and went through their interview process. The interviewers, who call themselves managers, read off a script of questions. They are not particularly interested in your responses. However they are interested in "slamming" you, getting you to join the organization with promises of bonuses and trips. One red herring they put out is the promise of "unlimited income". How can one say no to the prospect of "unlimited income", unless it is too good to be true.

American Income apparently does presentations to various unions, offering "no cost" accidental death and dismemberment benefits to union members who mail in a card printed with that particular union's letterhead. These cards are sent to American Income and are sent to various AIL offices as "leads". These "leads" are used by various AIL agents to contact, either by phone or in person, obstensibly to deliver no cost accidental death and dismemberment benefits.

The problem with this is that these leads are presented as "free" benefits, when they are used as a tool to get their feet in people's doors. They will contact people and state that they are dropping off "free" benefits. These agents, while reciting a memorized presentation, suddenly shift to asking for the names and numbers of friends and relatives so they could offer the same type of "benefits" to them (more like a ruse to get in more doors).

Even though some of these people AIL agents visit may need life insurance, their sales tactics are highly questionable. In the same presentation, they ask about what would need to be covered in the event of the passing of a spouse. From there, their presentation goes into marketing seperate term and whole life insurance products as one product. This is three-card Monty at it's finest.

Sometimes an agent is able to close a sale, motivated by promises of "unlimited" income and a trip to the company's convention at some resort. However, and quite frequently, AIL agents are working off union leads that are months or even years old motivated by a mirage. You are expected to work late into the night, foregoing time with family and friends, while being "motivated" by a "manager" or another agent who calls you on your cell phone that they scored a sale. Worse yet, I have seen AIL agents working on notebook PCs while driving from appointment to appointment to drop off "free" benefits (and squirm into the door). I have even heard managers and agents boast how they slammed customers into purchasing pricier insurance policies so they could be that much closer to going to the Bahamas or Cancun.

This firm strongly encourages its employees to maintain a six day, 10-12 hour workday, and even more if the branch needs a "power" weekend to reach some arbitrary goal. If not, you're just considered to be lazy. That's fine if you don't have a life, or a family.

I quit this firm because I felt that there was something highly suspicious with their practices. From memorizing scripts, to deceptive sales tactics, and workaholic cult worship of the almighty dollar, American Income just stunk to the high heavens.

Guest

Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 2:26 am

I have read what a few people are saying about American Income. I work at a Pennsylvania office as a recruiter for the HR dept. I know when we receive resumes from the different posting sites, monster, career builder, etc, some people are really suited for the position. Others are not so. I am required to call everyone, whether they are looking for a sales position or not. That is my job. As a recruiter, I tell the applicant everything that they want to know. I answer any question that I am asked, even if it would not benefit the company. I figure you may as well be honest with people and not waste both mine and their time by having them come out for an interview if they don't want to do sales. I know there are other recuiters that don't tell the applicants anything. Every office is different. The office I work at is great. They have a great state director and agent managers. Yes it does take dedication. I know alot of people that wouldn't take an agent job with us because they don't want to simply work. I'm sorry, in order to get any where in life, you have to work at it, everyday. The agents like their jobs. They get to see their family too. Agents work in the afternoons and evenings. They come to the office twice a week, for the sales meeting and to pick up their leads. Otherwise, they are at home or out in the field in an area close to home. There is flexibility in the schedule that if you want a day off, just don't schedule any appointments that day. Simple as that. You are your own boss. It is a job where you get out of it what you put in to it. If you only work two days a week, your not going to make as much money as the guy that works 5 days a week. They only schedule appointments 5 days a week, the other two days are in the office. It works for some people, not others.

It is not a scam. I would say a scam is where you show up and there is no job, they just want your money. That's not the way it works. I guess since I grew up with my parents owning their own business, I have more business sense then some people. It is a business, not a job.

Guest

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 10:45 am

Im currently in the process of getting my Insurance License with AIL up here in Canada. To be quit honest I had no idea people felt AIL is a scam. Am I wasteing my time? Are there any Canadians who have worked for AIL?

Guest

Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 3:07 am

Is it a scam? Is it legitimate? It's a PYRAMID SCHEME. It's designed to be a scam that doesn't seem like a scam. This means that in order to make money, you have to have people below you.

The problem with a pyramid scheme is that while you're working your ass off (7 days a week from the person who was trying to vouch for the company) for some money, most of the money you're bringing into the company is moving up the pyramid to those few guys at the very top. They are making ****loads of money for doing very little.

In addition, the more people that get added on, the more people get screwed as the market gets saturated. It's like a chain letter. When each level of people recruits more people, the number of employees multiplies exponentially. So the company gets bigger and bigger. The problem is, there are only so many people who want life insurance and only so many people who don't want it whose information was somehow obtained by the company and who are susceptible to getting pushed into buying something they don't want. But whether the leads do or don't want the product, there are only so many people. As the company grows and grows, the number of leads can only grow so much, and so new employees get shafted and sent to old, used leads.

PYRAMID SCHEME! Stay away! Unless of course, you're one of those few guys at the top, then congratulations! You're the ******* taking everyone's money! This is from
http://www.armydiller.com/financial-scam/index.htm :

At the scammer firm, success is always just "around the corner." Scammers convince the rep that he's one of the "elite" who can make it and pound into him that it's his fault when he can't. Lures of cash bonuses and trips are dangled, constant "you-can-do-it" rah-rah meetings are mandatory, and reps are told that quitters just "didn't have what it takes" (unlike you who are sticking it out!) or "violated major securities laws and were fired" (but we know you wouldn't do such a thing!). A real cult mentality of false hope develops among reps who buy into this reasoning.

Check it out. It has a lot of good info about a scamming firm vs. a legitimate firm. The only difference is that he talks about a list of family and friends whereas AIL seems to rely on "leads" to people who don't really want it.

Here's a good one: http://www.ripoffreport.com/results...can+Income+Life
or go to ripoffreport.com and find their top rip-off links.

And here's an organization dedicated to bringing down pyramid schemes:

http://www.pyramidschemealert.org/P...psabstract.html

Guest

Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 8:28 am

Quote: Originally Posted by vega21 Im currently in the process of getting my Insurance License with AIL up here in Canada. To be quit honest I had no idea people felt AIL is a scam. Am I wasteing my time? Are there any Canadians who have worked for AIL?

This company is definately not a scam, I just happened upon this link while doing some research and was very suprised to see it listed here. AIL has been around since 1921, and has very strong union ties. I worked for the company for 5 years and left to be a stay at home mom. I earned more money my first year alone than I earned the 3 years prior. I started as and agent and was eventually promoted up to a Master General Agent. I spent a great deal of time recruiting, training and managing new agents. Each agency is a bit different, but in Canada you will likely be working with the Altig agency. I personally know Rick Altig and know there is no one better in the company to work for. He has a much more strucutred approach to the business than other agencies do, which is designed to ensure success in his new agents.

That being said, this is not a career for everyone. I was very successful and know that this wasn't the case for everyone. This is a sales position. Every insurance sales job is about production, leads and commissions. It is the industry. I have friends that are agents with other companies, and I know for a fact that AIL pays better and quicker that the competition. I left 3 years ago and still receive renewal income from the short time I was there.

In a prior post there was talk of trying to get in the doors of friends and family, these are called "referrals" and are part of every other successful business.

Someone mentioned the leads being old. The leads are handwritten by the union member rather than simply a mailing list, this is the only way you will contact them, by request. The leads, regardless of age, are still better than anything else any other insurance company has to offer, and they are free to the agents. My friend at another insurance company pays up to $900 per month for leads, which is required by her manager. AIL has a great thing going, so just be teachable and have fun!

Good luck to you!

Guest

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:58 am

Yeesh.

I just had my first interview with this company. They are opening an office here in Baton Rouge.

They called me after seeing my résumé posted online. They said they were looking for a Public Relations Assistant.

I went in for the interview this afternoon. I had a cover letter, copy of my résumé, and a sample press release. There were two other women there for interviews. One was older and looked like she's smart enough to not fall for this. The other girl was young and had no personality.

I had a ten minute interview with "Nathan" who gave me endless compliments on my cover letter, and he asked me if I wrote it myself. Now, not to be demeaning or make light of my skills, but I'm only a high school graduate. If he really wanted to make it seem like this was a Fortune 500 company with real professionals, he wouldn't have acted like my cover letter was equivalent to reading the Holy Gospel for the first time.

Before I could ask any questions about compensation, work hours, or nature of the actual job itself, he told me there would be a second interview ("Q&A session") I'd have to come to on Thursday afternoon. Having been led down the destructive interviewing process of Dunhill Enterprises a few years ago (also known as DS-Max) this was a major warning signal for me... Then, added to that, were the countless compliments, the lack of questions about my experience, the promise of "unlimited income" etc.

Just like DS-Max or any other cult/scam corporation out there, there will always be those devoted employees who will check up these boards and all that kind of stuff in defense of their cause. To those who are checking up on THIS discussion in defense of AIL, allow me to ask you the following:
Did you really have to pay for training? Did you not see anything wrong with that?Did you get paid commission only, or was there also a base salary? How often did you get paid? did you have to fill out an I-9 and W-4 upon hire? If not, why not? This is illegal in most states, is it not?
I don't have a degree in business practices, but there was just something totally wrong about this place. There was also the fact that I was called "sweetheart" during my interview, but I'll let that slide for now.

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