We purchased a Variable Life Policy for my wife in case of my death. I was retiring at the time and wanted security for her. The Financial Advisor was extremely nice and seemed to understand what I needed. He suggested my wife relinquish all rights to my pension upon my death and purchase the American Express policy. He made a great presentation about the policy that was mostly false. He had us invest $18,000 up front to reduce the premium for life, this was totally false. He collected $6000 as a commission. We moved shortly after purchasing this policy and were assigned another advisor who was shocked to hear our expectations for this policy. He quickly informed us that we were very mistaken and wanted to know who told us this.
He quickly put us in touch with a compliance officer at AMEX who also was shocked at what we told him. They conducted a year long investigation and in the end offered a settlement. It wasn't much but we thought it put us on the track of what we were told initially. One of the things we were led to believe is that our premiums would stop at age 62 and the policy would remain in force. We signed the agreement not realizing that there was some weasel wording involved.in the end after 13 years of payment we gave up the policy we could no longer afford because the premiums keep rising quickly the older you get. Thirteen years of investment with nothing to show for it.
The other sad part was that the compliance officer told my advisor he could no longer talk top me about this matter. I am paying for an advisor and he can't talk to me?
My attorney will not pursue this because he says AMEX, because of attorney fees, will bleed me dry of money before resolution.
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