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Apr 9, 2018 by |

Alameda County, San Francisco and California Life Insurance and Annuities Attorneys: Transamerica Annuities

ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER

Transamerica Life Insurance Company Variable Annuities

The California annuity attorneys at Evans Law Firm Inc. represent clients who have suffered losses from surrenders and fees on all types of annuity contracts, including fixed, indexed, and variable deferred annuities. These contracts charge sales commissions, rider fees and other benefit charges, and penalties on full or partial surrenders. Many carriers offer deferred annuities with riders and a list of leading providers in California appears below.  Among the carriers, Transamerica Life Insurance Company issues variable annuities with a living benefit rider (also known as an income rider) under the tradename Transamerica Retirement Income Max.® Transamerica recently announced adjustments to this rider. The Evans Law Firm, Inc. annuity attorneys want to share some observations on surrender charges and fees under this complex product and rider.  If you or a loved one is a California resident over age 60 who made a full or partial surrender of a Transamerica annuity, call the annuity lawyers today at Evans Law Firm, Inc. (415) 441-8669 for a free evaluation of your particular policy.

Surrender Charges and Results

Fees and expenses on Transamerica annuities, similar to contracts issued by other carriers, include upfront sales commissions, rider fees, separate account fees on indexed policies, death benefit rider fees, and subaccount fees for each of the mutual funds that are inside of variable or indexed annuities. In addition, you may be charged for any full or partial surrender or withdrawal from the policy for up to ten years. Any partial surrender will adversely lower the base on which your guaranteed income (under the rider) is based.  A full surrender will eliminate the benefit of the income rider entirely. If you are over 60 and surrendered a Transamerica annuity in California, call Evans Law Firm Inc. today at 415-441-8669 for a free review of your particular policy.

Transamerica’s variable annuity contracts are complicated and fees and charges may erode returns. The charge for the Transamerica Retirement Income Max® rider alone is 1.35% annually which is a direct hit on the contract’s rate of return. Remember also that any deferred annuity is illiquid for long periods – up to ten years.  Sales commissions are paid out up front, however. Fees and other charges may increase over the life of the policy so that actual returns may be less than advertised.  The subaccounts you elect for your annuity investment also charge fees that will diminish your return. Annuities are not insured by the FDIC.  All guarantees, including for any optional benefits, under any annuity contract are based on the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.

Contact Us

If you or a loved one is over 60 and made a full or partial surrender of a Transamerica annuity in California, contact the Alameda County, San Francisco, and California annuity attorneys at the Evans Law Firm for a free evaluation of your policy and surrender terms at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. Our attorneys have experience with complex financial contracts including life insurance and annuity contracts. We can help guide any litigation through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement.  We also handle cases involving physical and financial elder abuse, qui tam and whistleblower law, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.

Other variable annuity issuers in California are listed below. We do not suggest in any way that any of these carriers, including Transamerica, has done anything wrong.  Rather, the list is provided solely for our readers’ reference.

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America

Allstate Life Insurance Company

American Equity Investment Life Holding Company

American General Life Insurance Company

American National Life Insurance Company

Ameriprise Financial/RiverSource Life Insurance Company

Athene Annuity and Life Company

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company

Bankers Life Insurance and Casualty Company

EquiTrust Life Insurance Company

Fidelity & Guaranty Life Insurance Company

Forethought Life Insurance Company/Global Atlantic Financial Group

Genworth Life Insurance Company

Global Atlantic Financial Group/Forethought Life Insurance Company

Guardian Life Insurance Company

Guggenheim Partners/Security Benefit Life Insurance Company

ING USA Annuity and Life Insurance Company

Jackson National Life Insurance Company

John Hancock Life Insurance Company

Life Insurance of the SouthWest/National Life Group

Lincoln Financial Group/The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company

MassMutual/Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company

Metlife/Metropolitan Life Insurance Company

Midland National Life Insurance Company

Mutual of Omaha/United of Omaha Life Insurance Company

National Life Group/Life Insurance of the SouthWest

New York Life Insurance Company

Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company

Pacific Life Insurance Company

Principal Life Insurance Company

Pruco/Prudential Life Insurance Company

RiverSource Life Insurance Company/Ameriprise Financial

Security Benefit Life Insurance Company/Guggenheim Partners

Symetra Life Insurance Company

Transamerica Life Insurance Company

United of Omaha Life Insurance Company/Mutual of Omaha

Unum Life Insurance Company of America

Voya/Reliastar Life Insurance Company

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