INSURANCE - DIRECT SELLERS
"This section
contains additional data that supplements basic information contained in
Your
Money Matters
and should be used
in conjunction with the material contained in Your
Money Matters."
LOWERING INSURANCE COSTS BY BUYING INSURANCE DIRECT
OR USING A QUOTATION SERVICE
If you are comfortable buying insurance without the advice of an insurance agent, there are a growing number of ways to do so, particularly for life insurance.
Direct sellers. A growing number of life insurance
companies are selling life insurance directly to the public without
involving an agent. The premiums on so-called
“low-load” life insurance policies are generally, but not
always, lower than the premiums you’d pay through an agent-sold
policy. Here are the phone numbers of two leading direct
sellers of low-load life insurance:
v Ameritas (800) 552-3553
v USAA Life (800) 531-8000
Internet sites. Several Internet sites are now offering insurance products direct to the public at a lower cost than you can usually obtain similar coverage through an agent. These sites started by offering term life insurance, but some have added other categories of insurance, including cash value life insurance, auto insurance, and homeowners insurance.
Here are some sites to consider:
Special note to people who live or work in Connecticut,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Rhode Island.
You can take advantage of low-cost Savings Bank Life Insurance in
those states. Even if you don’t reside or work in those
states, you still may be able to obtain the coverage if you can have
your policy application delivered to an address in Massachusetts and
you can take your insurance physical examination in
Massachusetts. (You may also be able to do this in one of the
other above mentioned states, but you’ll need to check with the
Savings Bank Life Insurance administrators in that state.)