American Income Life Insurance
reviews and complaints

I worked for AIL. I can tell you things that would shock you. Some i am pretty sure is illegal. ok. i will start from the beginning.

I worked for AIL pittsburgh. When i was recruited I was told 1250 a week if i made enough for bonus. That never happened. When you go into the interview they say no cold calls, they supply fresh leads. Let me tell you about some of these leads. After 2 weeks of 12 hour days I got my lead pack. I had 80 "fresh" leads. I called my first 5 leads...each person told me the same thing. They all were just talked to 5 minutes ago or so by another associate from AIL and gave me their name. It was someone sitting 10 feet from me. After another 3 hours of calls I was chewed out a couple dozen times, hung up on a couple times and the rest were already talked to. Out of 80 FRESH leads. 30 were already talked too. 20 didnt answer. and the last ones sent the yellow card in 2 years ago and were policy holders that were lied to.

so then i worked off my referrals. That is the only business i had. The one man was charged more than the business i submitted.

Also while i was working there I was approached several times to take orals for fellow agents so they can submit their business on time. I refused, but people kept asking, do you smoke. oh can you do me a favor. Im pretty sure faking an oral and forging a signature is illegal.
Then one lady i had didnt have a checking account. only a savings. So on the paperwork my boss put someone elses account info in the paperwork then wanted me to send in a change of account form to block the other account. When she wanted to pay cash but didnt have the money yet. They wanted me to pay for her, then cash the check she would later give.

My friend was getting screwed over bad. so he decides he had enough. Once they saw me talking to him they started to hound me. I would get a couple dozen texts daily from them knowing where ever i was. I would be in the office. right there, and i would be getting asked where i was. When i would leave early. i was weak and not 100 percent in.
It was hell. do not waist the money there or your life. you never get it back. I worked 80 hours a week, and was still treated like crap. DOnt tell me i didnt work hard. I sold my soul to the company only to be told i couldnt go see my family and i was not committed to the job after i lost a family member to cancer.

I agree with most of these complaints I've read. I also received a strange phone call from a # I did'nt recognize, so I did'nt answer but instead attempted to call the # right back. No one anwered and there was no answering device to leave a message or at least find out who was trying to contact you. Instead, the caller left a message on my answering machine asking me to call them at a totally different #. I called that # to be greeted by a woman telling me that they viewed my resume on Career Builder's website and thought that I was perfect for what they were looking to hire. How they figure I was the right one I don't know. My resume indicates NOTHING about selling anything. My college degree says A.S. Private Investigations, not Insurance salesman. My interview is scheduled for today but thanks to your comments and complaints, that interview will be cancelled. Thanks again everybody.

I was suspicious about an unsolicited e-mail asking me to call a number because he had received my resume, I never sent one to them. I thought that perhaps, one of the recruiters sent my resume. His e-mail stated that he had a management position in his company, his signature looked to identify him as belonging to a recruiting agency, not an insurance company. Then during my call to him I was told that this person was in the 'corporate office' and that they would have one of the "hiring managers call me". A call from someone who identified themselves as a hiring manager with American Income Life Insurance seemed too much like a sales pitch. He claimed that the company was listed as one of the top 100 companies to work for on the Fortune 500 list and the #1 company to work for on Yahoo. I have not been able to verify this information. During our conversation I had already declined the invitation to interview, after reading these comments I am really glad that I followed my instincts.

You arent an employee of the compant, you're an independant contractor. Therefore, it's not AGAINST THE LAW!

Wow. I have been up, down, and around the internet for the last two hours checking up on American Income and I have to tell you, when it's 30 to 1 odds that you will find something bad on this company, it can't be a good sign. I recieved a call from them out of the blue earlier today and was told I had an interview. I am glad I decided to look them up. For one, I live pay check to pay check and don't have the money to even get started with them. Two, like most other corporations they lie, lie, lie to their employees. That is a huge reason I am looking for another job. I work with home depot and they treat their employees horrible. It's amazing the stuff these people can get away with. But there is another reason I am writing. Anyone can challenge me on this if they would like and I am sure you will. Truthfully I don't care though because I won't be back to read this. This is merely for the sake of the hard working American. Say you have a commision job and you work 65 hours a week but make only $5.50 an hour after it is all said and done (I live in CA where the minimum wage is $8.00/hr). YOUR EMPLOYER IS BREAKING THE LAW! You can contact the BBB or Labor Board and they will gladly sue the ### out of them and compensate you for your losses. An employer, no matter what you sign, no matter what your commission is has to at least pay you minimum wage for your work. If you work overtime, they have to pay you overtime (Unless you are paid a salary no less than 32, 000). They CANNOT make you put in the time and not pay you, NO MATTER WHAT! So, if you do work for this company in California and you are not making the commission but you are putting in the hours, they have to at least pay you for those hours, unless of course you are making more off the commission than you would minimum wage...even if it's only cents more. Don't forget to add your overtime. Anything over 40 hours is considered time and a half. Two, an employer HAS TO pay you 52 cents to the mile for any job related driving if the company does not insure your car under their own policy. If they are not, THEY ARE BREAKING THE LAW! The reason I know all this is because I have had the opportunity of getting my hands on a CA Employers Handbook and have been to a few seminars on the laws and regulations on how employers must treat their employees. So, keep track of your hours people and the miles you put on your car between clients. Just a little heads up to help keep some of that money in your pocket. Oh, and as for not paying you for the training, well it sucks but they don't have to pay you. If you aren't on the books but you show up anyway, don't expect to get paid. That is your own fault. As long as their is no record of you being an employee, you are screwed when it comes to getting paid for the training. But, if you fill out a W4 and sign all the other crap that comes with getting hired onto a new job before the training and they still don't pay you, then THEY ARE BREAKING THE LAW! Remember if they are doing any one of these three things contact the Labor Board or BBB, or both, and they will take care of the rest for you. It's sad to live in a world where every single job offer you get you have to look up and make sure it isn't a scam. I have had three job offers this week, and all three were scams. That's pretty sad. Whatever happened to being able to walk into a business and talking to people face to face? It was much simpler that way. If anyone wants to question my facts, look it up. You can find all of it here right on the internet. As for the other states, I am not so sure what the laws are on employee rights.

R Clement: How am I not supposed to take that as an insult? You pretty much said that I'm not an intelligent person. I would hate to hear what you have to say when you mean to insult someone! I understand what your saying but I guess I don't care! I'm doing whats right for me and I can give a ### what anyone else has to say about it. The point is that I didn't just jump into it. No one ever lied to me about what I was getting into. I knew what to expect. Just because this opportunity isn't for everyone doesn't mean people need to come on this site and bash AIL. This is not an easy job and it takes a lot of self discipline, self motivation and sacrifice. If someone doesn't possess those attributes then THEY WILL NOT MAKE IT! I'm an MGA for the company and I love what I do. I'm honest and up front with everyone I talk to. These comments ruin it for managers like me that are trying to build a team of honest, hard working people.

And your right for people like you life insurance isn't lucrative. But fortunately it is for me, maybe because I know how to sell it.

I see your comments on here all the time. Don't you have something better to do?

Katie:

I hope you know that you don't have workers comp as a 1099 employee. I really hope you have E&O insurance as well, i'm not trying to start an argument but when I worked for AIL I didn't have that coverage. E&O is very important, if you don't have it please look into getting it because you will be held liable in Court if you are charged with anything-all sales people should have E&O insurance but AIL never told me that. ALso, many agencies provide expense accounts, in fact most do. Learn a little more about insurance and you can branch out and sell P&C products, life insurance really isn't that lucrative. Try and become a broker if you are serious in your industry. As someone who worked for AIL, I realized I didn't know anything when I was with them but I took that experience as a stepping stone onto much bigger things! I promise you AIL is not a good place for any intelligent person to work. If you are a former convict or have very little education (not trying to be insulting, seriously) then it may be a good thing for you because of the limits of obtaining a better job somewhere else. Do not limit yourself to AIL if you have an education and a clean record!

Lauren- I love it how people come on this site and bash a company they know so little about! I am one of those "dedicated employees" and I make more then 10.00 an hour. In fact my first year with the company I cleared 75K. Instead of wasting your time talking about things you have no idea about, spend it looking for a job. Oh and please tell me what insurance company provides a cell phone, car and a lap top. I am in business for myself it's not AIL's job to provide that stuff for me. Every company is different. AIL does great things for the families we work with. How do we use a "ruse" to get into people's homes? Buy giving them free stuff that their family will use? Yeah I can see how that's a ruse! Do you know some of the unions we work have NO health care? So the things we're able to provide is all they have. I am proud to work for this company!

NOT A SCAM

First of all Cindy, if you are a true recruiter, you would know that people do NOT have to put graduation dates on resumes. Do you know the reason why? It is to prevent discrimination based on age. But being the successful HR person that you are, you knew that I'm sure, but would like to know peoples ages so it would save you time from calling high school students and or other parties who don't meet certain "criteria".

I can't believe how many people from that company respond to my resume indicating that I have skills to sell. I get at least 1 e-mail a day. ROFLMAO - I have never been, nor will I ever go into sales. These people don’t read your resume. They select everyone on the page, send out a “mass e-mail” and move on to the next page. Being a recruiter I have access to all job board postings and can review resumes. Mass e-mails are unprofessional and not personalized. It takes about 10 minutes to send out 100 letters. It’s a numbers game for them. Throw out a line and leave in the water long enough you’ll eventually get a bite.

No one should ever pay someone to find them a job or maintain their job. If you are really interested in insurance sales, yes you have to have training and licensure which cost money up front. However, reputable companies provide, cell phones, laptops, toll free numbers, business cards, license reimbursement, some even provide company cars and/or car allowances and/or mileage reimbursement. They don't use a "ruse" to get into peoples homes either.

I'm sure if you deducted the mileage, wear and tear on the car, the cell phone bill, number of hours worked per week, etc., (are employees covered by workers comp if they are involved in a car accident on the way to a client or sales call?) you would see there is not that much money to be made. The dedicated employees would see they are making about $10.00 hr. You can make that in retail sales and get commission on top without having to drive all over town and work 65 hours a week.

Get a real insurance job with a reputable company. Any company that cannot answer all your questions on the phone doesn't deserve your time or your skills. The next thing is they would want you making those same calls to people to get them in the door.

Lauren

I see more and more resumes come through with no graduation dates, no completion of anything and when we call 9 times out of 10 the person has been out of highschool at least 5 years and graduated. A resume is supposed to be a document to impress possible employers to want to make them call you. Most can not even type a sentence without spelling errors. We all make mistakes, but have someone double check your work. I work for AIL and we take our recruiting very seriously. We review each and every resume before we contact that person and we do not contact everyone. I do not call anyone that can not complete a template on monster or career builder. It is amazing how many people believe what they read. I guess that is why so many people don't have a career or a job and their resumes have been posted for over 6 months. Stuck at the same place and still trying to get out? An interview wheather good or bad is not a waste of time, but consider it a learning experience. If you don't take a chance and experience how will you ever know if that was for you or not? Just because I read a book does not mean I can write a book or could I. Never know unless I try.

This place has terrible management and expect you to work your a** off. Even after giving notice and completing my two weeks they kept my commission check and I've now filed a complaint with the Labor Board. Stay far away there are many legitimate companies to work for with excellent ratings. Believe all crap reviews because I worked here...terrible company

I interviewed with them 3 times and was told there would be continuous training and you would always have the support from trainer's and managers Ha! What a joke my trainer was arrested and in Jail for 2 days, I was passed around like a yo-yo . I was also told that there was base pay. I never did understand the payouts of bonuses I think they did that on purpose. If you want to work NON stop trying to make appointments and use your gas trying to make it to appointments only to be stood up. I was always honest about showing them benefits that where what we sold to the police unions and the child safe kits were legit.. I think the policies were good, it was just the greediness of the managers and the weekly expectations from agents that made this company bad, they bring people in like herds of cattle and if you are not prime they kill you off, Just Be honest about hiring policies Tell people there is NO base pay.

I wouldn't have any complaints against them, except that I responded recently to a job advertisement looking for a customer service representative. That's what I do. I don't do outside sales--nothing wrong with it--it's just not my thing. they called me back...and it was for an outside sales position. The guy I talked to was very nice and said it was listed as customer service and called such "because that's part of it, but most of your job would be setting your appointments and going out on sales calls." Again, I have nothing against outside sales: when done ethically, it's legitimate work. What I dislike is that they felt a need to misrepresent the position. Why, in this crappy job market, would a well-established company like this one feel a need to blatantly lie in a job ad? It left a very bad taste in my mouth that they would do this.

Let me make clear again: they did not contact me out of the blue, stating honestly what the job was and saying they thought my skills would be a good fit. They posted an ad for what they said was a Customer Service position in an office setting, and I responded with that in mind. It's like hiring someone to deliver pizza, but you maybe deliver once a week ad the rest of the time you spend running errands for the manager.

I interviewed with the company and common sense told me you have to have a license to sell insurance. I looked at the cost of going to school to do this and taking the test. Way more than what they charge. This was not a scam. No you won't make money at first you need some clients. You are not as someone previously posted cold calling strangers. You call current clients who have not had an agent visit them in over 6 months to 1 or more years. You don't get gas money. This is a career change and they can train you and give you the leads. It was not for me as most of the hours are evening and weekends days and nights when families are at home together. It is hard work and takes time to build yourself up and make money. It is not a scam it is real.

I showed up for an interview, on time and well-prepared. The suite I was to go to didn't exist, the company was not listed in the directory even though it was the exact address I was given. I waited in the lobby assuming that someone would direct me to the new meeting space (The original one was under construction and had yet to be assigned a number) and no one ever came to greet or meet me so I left.

So I recieved a call from this company saying that my resume fits what they are looking for. The whole point of me looking for a new career is so that I can make more money to give my kids the things I never had. But why would I pay money to make money? That takes the purpose out of it. Im hearing from more people than not that this is a scam. If I had $750 to just throw around I would not be sitting here looking for a new career choice. I would be on vacation. I think I have seen and heard enough to know that I will not be calling them back. Glad I was on here first. Nate, Denver CO

Funny thing, my resume on CB reads that I was a school custodian for years and then a nurse aide. They call me up and tell me I would be a good fit for them after reading my resume, HUH? Really. I can go from cleaning toilets, cleaning rear ends to selling ins. Wow, only in America.

My name is Anthony Osborne, CFO of American Income Life and Regional Manager in Southeastern TN. Need help learning how to work your way up in this company? shoot me an email: anthony-osborne@utc.edu... I collect a salary of over a million per year and I can teach you the tricks!

I worked for AIL. I can tell you things that would shock you. Some i am pretty sure is illegal. ok. i will start from the beginning.

I worked for AIL pittsburgh. When i was recruited I was told 1250 a week if i made enough for bonus. That never happened. When you go into the interview they say no cold calls, they supply fresh leads. Let me tell you about some of these leads. After 2 weeks of 12 hour days I got my lead pack. I had 80 "fresh" leads. I called my first 5 leads...each person told me the same thing. They all were just talked to 5 minutes ago or so by another associate from AIL and gave me their name. It was someone sitting 10 feet from me. After another 3 hours of calls I was chewed out a couple dozen times, hung up on a couple times and the rest were already talked to. Out of 80 FRESH leads. 30 were already talked too. 20 didnt answer. and the last ones sent the yellow card in 2 years ago and were policy holders that were lied to. They cancelled their policies. Then one couple was from a shut down office and forgotten about. They called every number they had and they were forgotten. I felt so horrible for them i met with them, told them about their policies and left. THen was yelled at for not selling more to them. They didnt need it. In order to meet with the future clients you are told not to tell them you are trying to sell insurance. You are told to tell them they have an accidental death benefit that they are entitled to for whatever reason and child safe kits (a brochure and ink strip) and a health services dicount card that i tried to find local providers. Closest one. harrisburgh. I live in pittsburgh. I get there are explain the benefits and then tell people i will use an expert simulator thats uses 3% of their net pay.

so then i worked off my referrals. That is the only business i had. The one man was charged more than the business i submitted.

Also while i was working there I was approached several times to take orals for fellow agents so they can submit their business on time. I refused, but people kept asking, do you smoke. oh can you do me a favor. Im pretty sure faking an oral and forging a signature is illegal. My good friend who left with me after working there was hounded twice as hard as i was. His job was threatened if he didnt do it.
Then one lady i had didnt have a checking account. only a savings. So on the paperwork my boss put someone elses account info in the paperwork then wanted me to send in a change of account form to block the other account. When she wanted to pay cash but didnt have the money yet. They wanted me to pay for her, then cash the check she would later give.

My friend was getting screwed over bad. so he decides he had enough. Once they saw me talking to him they started to hound me. I would get a couple dozen texts daily from them knowing where ever i was. I would be in the office. right there, and i would be getting asked where i was. When i would leave early. i was weak and not 100 percent in.
It was hell. do not waist the money there or your life. you never get it back. I worked 80 hours a week, and was still treated like crap.
They have a terrible turn over rating. because it is impossible to work for a place that does lie.

If my bosses are sooo rich and the MGAs are soooo wealthy. then why did they all live together. If they did not play football together. I doubt they would be where they are.

For all of you posting on this page whether pro or con for AIL, the claims of the salary that you can make is not worth the trouble working for them anyway. Come on, $800.00 to $1200.00 a week, that is nothing after taxes and all your other misc. deductions. You can’t raise a family or lead a decent life on that kind of income. Most of AIL’s employees couldn’t even pay my mortgage note with their entire monthly paycheck, much less all the other things that it takes to survive. Also I have not heard any responses on retirement plans, 401K, medical insurance, dental insurance or any other benefit that is offered to their employees. If this is such a good company, I would think that the benefit packages would be a very lucrative one. The only reason I have taken the time to sit down and write this is because my son has fell for the “sales pitch” that AIL gives, not an interview. All I can say is that we all work for the same reason, to make money and survival. For all the young people that AIL recruits, if you are happy with $1000 a week, more power to you. You will find out pretty quick it takes more than that to live well.