West Virginia Annuity News

Denn Bars Company From Doing Business In Delaware

An Ohio investment company has been barred from doing business in Delaware and agreed to pay a $15,000 administrative assessment to resolve a complaint brought by Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn.

In August 2006, the Department of Insurance began an investigation of Investors Union, LLC of Medina, Ohio doing business as the “Annuity Service Center.” The complaint was based on  postcards sent to Delaware residents that directed the recipients to call about “an annuity that has reached the end of its surrender period,” even though the firm that sent the card had no connection with any annuity a resident may have had.

Under a consent order finalized Monday, Investors Union agreed not to “engage in any business in Delaware without written prior approval of the Insurance Commissioner” and agreed to pay $15,000 to defray the cost of the investigation and prosecution of the case.

“The tactic used by Investors Union was misleading because the company did not, in fact, have any information about the recipients’ insurance or finances. The purpose of the postcard was simply to cause seniors to call the company, which would then refer the caller to an insurance agent that had paid Investors Union for leads,” Commissioner Denn said. “I will continue to take a dim view of solicitations like these, especially when senior citizens are the target.” Read more at delawareinsurance.gov.

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	Did You Know?
	A variable annuity has two phases: an accumulation phase and a payout phase. During the accumulation phase, you make purchase payments, which you can allocate to a number of investment options. For example, you could designate 40% of your purchase payments to a bond fund, 40% to a U.S. stock fund, and 20% to an international stock fund. The money you have allocated to each mutual fund investment option will increase or decrease over time, depending on the fund's performance.