Life Insurance

Allowing banks to sell life insurance could save consumers billions of dollars, but the regulations needed to protect against abuse could wipe out the cost advantage, the Consumer Federation of America said. The federation said a study shows that in those states where banks are allowed to sell insurance, the banks tend to be more responsive to their customers than regular agents and to offer policies that cost less.

Acknowledging extraordinary medical advances against AIDS, an Illinois insurer has become the first in the nation to offer life insurance to people infected with HIV. Guarantee Trust Life Insurance, a Glenview, Ill.-based company that specializes in insuring high-risk individuals, is test-marketing the coverage.

Anyone who has a checking account and is over the age of 21 has probably been approached by an agent who wanted to sell them on the many benefits of life insurance policies. The pitches can be impressive. In addition to death benefits, life insurance can provide consumers with safe, tax-deferred investment earnings, they'll say. And, with charts full of projections, they can show how relatively small investments can multiply.

General Electric Co. dropped out of the race to buy Sony Corp.'s life insurance arm after talks foundered, officials at the Japanese firm said. The failure opens the way for Dutch insurer Aegon and Prudential Financial Inc. of the U.S. to buy a stake in a company Sony values at as much as $6.4 billion, the officials said. The winner would get a sales network of 4,500 agents in the world's biggest life insurance market. Sony Chairman Nobuyuki Idei wants to sell Sony Life Insurance Co.

If you're in good health and you haven't shopped for life insurance lately, you might want to think about it now. Prices have dropped, so there is a good chance you could save money by replacing your current policy, or get more coverage for the same cost. Just ask Alexander Auerbach, a healthy, middle-aged public relations executive from Los Angeles.

Let's face it, buying life insurance can be a drag. Most consumers assume they must buy it through an insurance agent--and prefer to do so anyway. But if you are willing to bear the extra burden of shopping for yourself and buying directly from an insurance company, you could save big bucks.

Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi took on some of the state's top insurance companies for the second day in a row Wednesday, ranking health and life insurers by the number of justified complaints filed against them last year. Just as he had done Tuesday, when he released similar reports on the biggest 50 auto and homeowner insurance sellers, Garamendi had harsh words for large firms with the highest complaint rates. He took special note of Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.

Question: In a recent column you answered the question of a lady, married to a 65-year-old, who was concerned about being responsible for his $25,000 credit card debt (and with no assets) and his lack of concern about it. Yes, this could be, as you say, a grasshopper-and-ant problem, but on top of the other suggestions you made, would it not be wise for her to take out a $25,000-plus life insurance policy on this deadbeat? It might be money worth spending and I'd appreciate your comments.

The widow of a studio owner suspected of ordering an employee's murder said in court papers Friday that she wants none of the $2.5 million from the victim's life insurance policy, which named the studio as sole beneficiary. Barbara Dale Allen maintains, however, that the studio should get the proceeds, which have been deposited in an interest-bearing account under the supervision of the Los Angeles Superior Court, according to court papers. "It goes to her business. There's no doubt about it.

Insurance is America's fourth-largest household purchase--after food, housing and taxes--yet those who buy insurance "are among the least knowledgeable consumers" in the United States, according to the National Insurance Consumer Organization. That's not entirely the consumer's fault. Insurance, particularly life insurance, is a complicated product sold by thousands of companies nationwide in nearly limitless variations. There are no federal disclosure standards. And the U.S.