comments
Beware Bank-paid Complimentary AD&D Insurance
Email
 Print
|
I remember a few years ago when credit card companies would send out $5 checks to customers. The catch with the $5 check was that it enrolled you in some sort of service, usually identity theft or employment related, that was free for a month. After a month, there was a monthly fee that was either flat, in the case of the identity theft service, or a percentage of your balance, in the case of the employment related service.
Last week, I received two letters from two banks reminding me of their complimentary offer of Accidental Death & Dismemberment AD&D insurance. It’s clear in both cases they’re marketing promotions trying to get you to buy AD&D insurance from their partners. However, the two offers are very different in how they approach the customer.
The first letter was from M&T Bank and they offered $1,000 of complimentary bank-paid AD&D insurance coverage through The Hartford. I had the option, but not the requirement, to increase that coverage up to $300,000 at the cost of $1.10 a month per $10,000.
The second letter from Bank of America was a little different. It stated that I could get “$10,000 of Permanent and Total Disability coverage for one full year, at no cost to you. *” The asterisk goes on to explain I actually get $1,000 of coverage per month for 10 months, which makes it a 10-month version of the offer from M&T Bank.
There’s one little catch to the Bank of America offer that isn’t a catch in the M&T Bank offer:
Coverage increases to $240,000 for $9.95 per month which is automatically billed monthly and remitted to National Union from your Bank of America checking account at the end of your one-year complimentary coverage period.
Ahhh, the 2009 bank version of a 2007 credit card marketing technique. Instead of $5 checks to customers who may unwittingly sign up for some service, Bank of America customers may be getting $1,000 AD&D insurance for ten months but put themselves on the hook for $9.95 in a year (or is it ten months?)… when they may have forgotten they signed up for this in the first place!
If you’ve been thinking about taking advantage of the free AD&D insurance, be sure to read the fine print to see what you’re committing yourself to.
(Photo: thetruthabout)
{ 22 comments, please add your thoughts now! }Related Posts
 By Jim |
 Stumble It! Bookmark reddit.comTags: Accidental Death & Dismemberment, Bank of America, M&T Bank Oct 15, 2009 | Read more in Insurance |
Like this article? Get all the latest articles sent to your email for free every day. Enter your email address and click "Subscribe." Your email will only be used for this daily subscription and you can unsubscribe anytime.
I’ve received The Hartford’s offer many times but never signed up. Has anyone ever signed up for something like this? I’ve always thought that a free $1000 policy would come in handy if I needed it. I can imagine the amount of junk mail I’d get forever while they try to sell me more insurance, plus there is always the chance they work something in to the terms that I miss like the BofA offer.
I signed my husband up for this thru BOA – it’s cheap and it supplements the paltry amount we get at work ($25K). Private life insurance was pretty expensive for my husband.
Just watch out when they autobill you.
You mentioned “life insurance” so be sure to cgras that this is ins for one thing only accidental death / dismemberment. Death by disease, illness or natural causes is not covered.
How can the BoA offer not be fraudulent?
1) 10 months is not the same as a year
2) $1000 coverage for 10 months is not the same as $10,000 of coverage. That would be like the FDIC saying your bank account was insured for 100K during 2009 – $8333 in Januarym $8333 in February …
Luckily, the AD&D I get through work is cheaper than either of these options.
Anything that is complimentary probably isn’t as good as the real thing.
They have insurance for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons?
That’s the first thing I thought of when I read the title too! Haha! ^_^
It would be expensive, my wizard only has 20hp at max health, he’s high risk!
Thanks for explaining what AD&D was – I had no clue. Which gives me an idea for a future article – What is in your insurance portfolio?
I’ve got Auto, Home, Umbrella, and Health.
I’m self employed, and went with a cheap health plan that will kick in for major emergencies, but small ones probably won’t get up to the deductable. My mom recommended the Umbrella policy incase someone breaks their leg on my property and tries to sue the pants off me.
The Hartford seems to like to piggyback on existing bank and credit union customers. I got (and accepted) the same $1000 offer through my local credit union.
My eyes automatically detect fine print these days.
Appears that all this is good for is ACCIDENTAL death. If you die from disease or natural causes, which most people do, this will not pay off. Also I am sure there are limits for dismemberment, like your hand gets cut off.
Note that “life insurance” is not exactly what this offer is. The offer I received is for: accidental death / dismemberment. Death by disease, illness or natural causes is not covered.
If you are young, you most of the time pass from an accident. When you are older it is most of the time illness. So if you are young and not ready to commit to a whole life etc. the accident would be good for your parents so they can bury you…
Was dumb enough to sign up for the AD and D in 2009. Asked them to stop coverage and stop raiding my checking account a yr and a half ago. The Hartford always said ok but next quarter charged me and bounced me. It takes M and T 5 days to notify you via mail of an overdraft and darned if that isnt the time allowed for them to take MORE money from you. Cancelled Hartfords A D and D 5 times now. Still paying for it and another overdraft!!!
Sounds Like I don’t have a lot of money and no I dont. Disabled with Parkinsons. Every dime counts, just like you.
My Dad took out the Hartford AD&D insurance, Hospitalization, and Dr. Visits. He had an accident at home and was not found for 3 days. My sister and I live in another State. I got a call from the county hospital that he was in intensive care and that my Sister and I needed to come now. 7 hours and 400 miles later we were there and he did not know who we were. Intensive care for 2 weeks, nursing home after it was determined he could never live alone again. My sister stayed and got him into the nursing home. He was at the home for 2 months and we went back every 1 to 2 weeks. We spoke to the home every day. My sister called on July 2nd and for the first time they got him to the phone to speak to her. She noticed he was raspy when he spoke and told the nurse. She called back and advised her that he was going by ambulance to hospital at the doctors order. The ambulance brought him back to the nursing home that afternoon at 3:30 saying that he had a UTI. At 4:30 the home called back and advised our Dad had passed. Hartford has determined that the original fall at his home was not an accident and have denied all claims. This is a legal scam. It is against the elderly and Hartford needs to be held responsible for this. But they will not be. Nor the nursing home. Nor the Doctor. Nor the Hospital. The Coroner determined his death was due to age and prior surgeries that he had over 2 years earlier.
Are there any Attorney’s out there that want to take this on contingency? Rest Well Daddy!!!
That happened to my deceased mother. She got this policy for 250k and she had a brain hemmorage after bumping into a wall while medicated from hospital emergency room and the only paid 1/4 for her death. When my mom bought policy After age 80 she was not told this policy was not really worth that much because of her age. If you ever get a lawyer to help you out please post so I can do the same this companies take advantage of senior citizens.
Margie, They have finally worn me down. Claim was denied, attorneys will not take on a contingency, and the State said they could do nothing due to my Dads decision to take the AD and D policy. There is no protection for the elderly. If it was an elected official they would pay with no hesitation. Our elderly are vulnerable and look for anyway to save money monthly. The income does not keep up with the costs. I give up.
Yah, this “complimentary $1000 coverage” was sent to us as well. They mentioned our credit union as if their was a business partnership between them.
As a couple, my wife signed and sent in the paperwork.
Later, we receive from The Hartford a letter stating that we had signed up for the max $300,000 coverage, and that they would be extracting ~$150 from our bank account every quarter.
Hold on… wife called in, they claimed we signed up for the maximum and promised to mail us a photocopy of our signed agreement. Also, we canceled the policy stating that this is not what we signed up for.
They charge our bank anyway. We receive our photocopied agreement a week later. Clearly checked were $300,000 max amount, and authorization to pull from our bank.
Except, my wife never checked those boxes; they are not the way she ‘X’s checkboxes.
We believe this fraudulent company just signed us up and checked the boxes for us after receiving a signed document!
Caveat emptor indeed.
I recieved a notice from The Hartford stating that I have complimentary AD&D insurance provided by Bank of America . I was puzzled because , 1. I had no option to accept , 2. No bennefisiaries , 3. No statement of explanation to describe coverage was ever sent to me . I am going to go to the bank & find out if I am being charged , if so ,,, I will post here … And cancel the scam