Bankers Life
Reviews and Complaints

This interview started with a call informing me that my resume had been selected and matched up to a position within their company. The position was "Administrative Coordinator". After providing some details as to my work history I was told I was a good fit. The lady then told me some things about the company which prompted me to ask is this a sales position ? That if it was then I was not interested because I had been in sales before (5yrs) and was not interested in returning. She said no. The Coordinator position was "salaried". I got 3 emails to confirm and to dress professionally (DUH !) I did some research and read some reviews which got me to thinking but I thought I would check it out anyway. I arrived at the interview place and was in a classroom style setting with 5 other people. Listened to a man give a presentation on becoming a sales agent and selling products to Baby boomers and Seniors. Nothing about the coordinator position and nothing about being salaried only work hard and have a positive attitude and you will get great commissions. Ummm What the ?/! I so wanted to leave but I didn't want to be rude. He ended his presentation with that people who write bad reviews about the company are failures and should not be in the business world. Well I am no failure. I was in the the same type business this company is and I left it because it can be very exciting in the beginning and start off wonderful but it slows down after bit and can be stressful. Remember no sales no commission and no money ! There were 3 other people there that got calls and were told similar things. They thought like I did what a waste of time and misrepresentation. Overall, unless you want to sell healthcare, 401K, and retirement products to seniors then don't bother going. Oh yeah the presentation is suppose to be and hour and a half ummmm NOT ! Try over 2 !

Company send agents out to doorknock without permission. Many agents are rude and pushy. Reporting to State Insurance Commissioner.

Just so you can understand the breadth and extent of this scam, let me tell you about Bankers, and more importantly, a company called First LA Media, which is the company that calls people up trying to set up interviews for Bankers. HOW do I know about this? Until yesterday, I was working for FLAM. I was a manager.

So here is what I've gathered about Bankers. Go ahead and read the review right below me. Yes, it's true, they've been in business for over 135 years, have over 250 nationwide branches, over $14 billion dollars in assets. BUT. Here's their business model:

You'll get to the interview. It'll be a group interview, and boy do they love numbers. For good reason too, because from the research I've conducted on Bankers, you'll be so surprised to find out that, the ONLY position they're hiring for is for SALES people. Yeah they'll call you up (as I've done so so many times), and they'll tell you they're hiring for Managers, Management trainees, and Sales reps. That's simply not the case. They just happen to be looking for SALES people, and more specifically, sales people that have Management experience.

The "interview process", not the Hiring process because there is not really much difference, WILL TAKE TWO HOURS.

But here is Bankers business model that has made them so successful. You'll get hired on, just like any sales job, they'll give anyone a chance. But, here's where YOU get screwed. The position is a COMMISSION ONLY job. So in addition to having to pay $800 bucks out of pocket to go get schooled and licensed to sell insurance, you better expect to "deliver results" for 2-3 months without any kind of pay coming in. BUT here's there business model: They're hoping you can't make it that long, so that Bankers can confiscate all those new accounts you've gone out and sold, so they can put them (and the commissions you'd be entitled to otherwise) underneath the Bankers general ledger.

Oh, and by the way, the hiring manager gets kick-backs off the salespeople that he hires. THAT is why there are such large numbers of people being interviewed and hired. His name, for the Chatsworth and North Hollywood locations is Saeid Khadivian. His name for the Palmdale and Pasadena locations is Derek Serrano. His name for the Bakersfield and Pismo Beach locations is Jeff Hood.

This is a very lucrative hustle for these hiring managers. And for Bankers, for that matter. OBVIOUSLY.

But now let me tell you a little something about First LA Media, which is the company I was working for up until yesterday, which, by the way, lied to me all the way from when I applied to the job.

They hired me on oDesk.com, promising that "Over $10/hr is possible for the person who can deliver results". That's a lie. Upon hiring, I was forced to sign a contract that stated I needed to get at least 8 show-ups a week to receive $10 per show-up, and anything less would be $5 a showup. And upon fire or quit, there's a clause in there where he won't pay anything.

By the end of the first month, I was their #2 agent, with 30 showups for that week in question, but I had a total of 80 showups for the MONTH.

Now let me tell you, I was about to quit after the second week, which, by that point, I only had less than 10 showups. But I think they knew, so they announced some Project 200, which is a project to get their agents making at least 200 dollars a week. And at the end of the project, we were told we'd be hired on as managers, get payed salary + $3 commissions off the salespeople underneath us for each of their showups. That was not the case either. Upon making it as their #2 agent, yes I was promoted to manager, but salary? NO. $3 commissions/agent's showups? NO. $1 commission/showup/agent. AND I still had to somehow find time to make my own calls. SO essentially, they wanted someone who would make sure the agents underneath them had new leads to call on, do conference calls and coaching three times a day with, manage all their backend administrative work, BUT they didn't want to pay anything for it. Those job functions required about 80-85% of my time.

Where is the humanity in this world? I don't think you'll find any @Bankers, and I know for FACT that you won't find it @FLAM.

I was contracted as an insurance agent with Bankers Life and Casualty. It was in my opinion that this company was violating some basic federal and state labor laws by requesting agents stay in the office for a full 8 hours without pay otherwise adverse action would be taken against these contracted agents. I sought legal counsel and spoke openly to other agents regarding their experiences, encouraging them to seek legal counsel if they felt their rights were violated. I did not make false statements or allegations, but I did communicate my intentions to agents to seek legal retribution if in fact they were violating any labor laws. Now, I'm getting a letter from Bankers Life and their attorneys to cease my defamation and false statements. In my opinion (because now all statements have to be preceded with "in my opinion"), it was a nightmare company to work for and now, a year after having left, I'm still dealing with this nightmare. In my opinion, stay away, far, far away!

I have a complaint about Bankers Life canceling me after they told me I would be reinstated if I sent a certain amount of money which I did right away. They then sent me a check back and said they chose not to continue to cover me and their decision was final.

In the meantime bills are starting to come in from services I had in August and September because they were declined by Bankers Life.

Can they refuse to cover me after I send the money they asked for to reinstate me?

I am in awe that this company is allowed to continue to do business! I worked for them for a short time. They are extrememly dishonest. They are taking advantage of seniors and no one is stopping them from doing it! Apparently they have been investigated many times. We constantly had complaints. My office was investigated and I know they were doing some really bad stuff and somehow they are still open! Stay away from Bankers Life and Casualty and report any problems you have to your state insurance department!

I worked for Bankers Life and Casualty and the branch manager basically let the few top producing agents do whatever they needed to do inorder to make a sale. They were very sexist. Several of the agents cursed while we were on the phones trying to speak to clients. This was all allowed by the branch manager. There were several instances of sexual harassment in the office that the branch manager would not do anything about. This is a fraudulent company all around. They are bad for their clients and bad for their agents!

I trained with this company and was taught to use a misleading script implying the company wanted to "explain" Medicare to those turning 65. What the company wanted to do was sell a medicare suppliment. We were also trained in how to use psychological intimidation (control the conversation, etc.) The company also told us to pass along complaints about do not call to our supervisors, who supposedly removed numbers from the call lists, except they did not do so, and people were repeatedly called again and again. The company required payment to train, payment for business cards etc. Leads were given out to the contractors most like the branch manager (young male) and not to the females or older workers. If this is the only way to brek into the insurance business, RUN! To top it off, the independent contractors were expected to work six days a week and had to sign that they would not reveal anything about the company for a period of time (which, yes, for me is over). I chose to work with this company because of it's link to Alzheimer's research, but that is the ONLY thing about it that is decent. I would not work for the OR buy from them. I now work at a REAL job with a steady paycheck, benefits and a five day work week. I urge anyone thinking of taking up this kind of work to think again. Being an independent contractor for shysters like this only means being used. I am sad, because I actually believe in good insurance products and would have been happy to sell them in a reputable environment.

My mother signed on the dotted line 15 years ago figuring that when she aged the long term care policy would take care of some of her health care needs. Now at 85 years old and needing assitance for daily living .least she forget the stove and burn down the house, she gets 24 dollars a day for care which is nothing by todays standards. But the kicker is Bankers still wants her to pay insurance premiums. We send money to the company they in turn do their processing and give about half of it back . If this isn't a croc I don't know what is. Stay far away from this company if you think you want to deal with them spend the money on a psychiatrist instead.

The company got into the Michigan Works Talent Bank after they had been RED FLAGGED and DEACTIVATED by the State of Michigan Talent Bank due to numerous complaints about interviewing, hiring, illegal employment practices, and scams pulled on their senior citizens insurance policies. Bankers Life and Casualty is getting informati0n about JOB seekers getting into the Talent Bank somehow and are being investigated as I write this. BEWARE! I responded 2x by email, 1x by voicemail to cancel my interview and never contact me again. The Michigan Talent Bank told me DO NOT GO TO THAT INTERVIEW! the company still called me to remind me to come to interview and I for a second time told them I was not coming and to never contact me again. The Talent Bank told me they WILL find out how Bankers Life and Casualty is getting confidential information on Michigan JOB seekers when they have been denied access to the site, calling on the Attorney General's Office to stop them if necessary. DO NOT accept interviews, HANG UP on them…Report them if you are on a Talent Bank sytem.

Wrongful Termination: My prior complaint filed 8/23/10 about Banker terminating me in 2005 after 26 years of service.The Federal Court in Maine has just ruled my lawsuit against Bankers Life & Casualty will go to trial on Novenber 1, 2011! Read all about it - who and what - by googling - Maine District Court - Rulings and Opinions - Judge Woodcock - 2011 Decisions! Now they will pay for their lies and fraud that has ruined my life! What goes around, comes around!

I received a call for a job interview. Thanks to this website and comments regarding the scam, I was able to avoid a loss of time and funds. My question is why the Attorney General has not put this people in prison? I can only conclude that enough money is made by this scam to pay off the regulators of our Insurance Industry. It might be best to eliminate Federal Regulators all together and save billions of tax dollars. I am hard press to find an industry where they really protect the American Citizen. We should all be aware, we are the only ones that can protect ourselves from the wolfs of this world.

Just received a call from a barely understandable woman obviously from a call center in India. Said that they saw my resume on line and would I come in for an interview. It is a cattle call for sales agents. I resent the fact that Bankers Life has outsourced their work to another country when so many people here in the USA need and want work. It is made even worse that it is to a region that supports terrorism. Oh yeah, I most definitely want to do business with a person in a region where lying is an accepted practice. Especially in view of recent events concerning Pakistan and Bin Laden. Do not support Bankers Life or any other company that outsources their work outside of the U.S.A. by purchasing their products. If they are willing to hire people in a region like this, can you really rely on their accountability or honesty in business?

I have received multiple phone messages and emails from Bankers Life & Casualty. Company found my contact information from a resume I posted on Monster.com. I was able to successfully avoid contact with the company until today. I ended up speaking with a representative, a cheery young woman with Filipino accent with noise and chatter in the background I associate with call centers.
What legitimate insurance firm hires an overseas marketing firm to contact resumes from Monster.com? I am hoping these unsolicited overtures will stop.

I was recruited by this Company in late Dec. I have been a stay at home mom for the last 6 years. I went to an interview with this company and they made every thing sound so simple, so wonderful. They said for a small investment of 300. You can have your own business and make a fortune in no time, of course with a little hard work. Well, I consider myself smart, however these guys played me and played me hard. I did everything they asked and they kept asking for more, always with the promise that the money was coming. well guess what? I have never worked so hard for nothing and I have never heard so much bs in such a short amount of time as I did with this Company. So, please do yourself a favor..do not even consider this company for anything.I did get my license and do believe in insurance but this Comp. is bad, bad, bad. Don't even pick up your phone for them or answer your door. PLease...They are horrible. :(

My elderly aunt bought life insurance, an annuity, health insurance, and long term care insurance from this company. They deducted premiums directly from her checking account. She passed away in May, 2011 and as of now, March, 2011, I have as of yet to resolve her policies with this company. Bankers Life continued to deduct premiums from her checking account for months after her death (they were notified immediately). Closing the account resolved this issue. Now there has been almost one year of stall tactics, every Bankers Life representative stating different policies, rules, etc. Each rep contradicts the previous one. I could go on and on and on, but the bottom line is, THEY ARE NOT ACCREDITED WITH THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU for a reason! Beware!

Lori Walczak of the Milford, Ct. office promised me a refund check if I changed my mind about switching Health Ins. to Bankers. This was almost 2 mos. ago now and have not rec'd. my check. I will be calling the Ct. Insurance Fraud Office and if that doesn't work, will tell our Channel 8 TV news so that other Seniors will not be duped by this Company. Also when I called Lori Walczak to complain about the check, she blamed it on "The Weather" - no one else across the USA had that problem! I just want to warn other Seniors, thanks.