Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/01/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My husband died last September. *** ******* of ********************* Life Insurance, also known as #FEGLI (Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Program) refuses to return calls, letters, faxes or pay my husband's life insurance policy (passing in 9/2021) after we paid monthly premiums for almost 30 years. They paid the wrong beneficiary. When I sent a letter explaining with beneficiary papers, they froze the account and holding over $220,000. Weekly calls, hundreds of hours on hold. They refuse to connect me with their legal department. Say they did not receive certified letters. No one will return any calls.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/26/2022

  September
  23, 2022

   

  Dear Ms. Sampson:  

  
  Why we’re contacting you 
  
  We
  write in response to your inquiry to the Better Business Bureau that is dated
  September 2, 2022.  You write to ask about your claim, , for federal
  benefits under the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) Program
  following the September 23, 2021 death of ****** ** *******.   We
  have re-reviewed the claim and your submissions.  Our records indicate
  that, on or about November 17, 2021, our office paid you $229,200 plus
  applicable interest, in FEGLI benefits.  Under the applicable federal law,
  the remaining FEGLI proceeds above the amount you have already received are not
  payable to you.
  
  What you need to know
  The
  FEGLI program is governed by the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance Act, 5
  U.S.C. §§8701 et seq. (FEGLIA”), the regulations at 5 C.F.R., Part 870 and the
  FEGLI Policy.  The Office of Federal
  Employees’ Group Life Insurance (“OFEGLI”) is an administrative unit of
  *******, responsible for administering the claims process of the FEGLI
  program.  All recordkeeping for the FEGLI
  program is done by agencies of the federal government for active employees or
  by the policyholder, the ****** ****** ****** ** ********* ********** (“***”)
  for compensationers and retired employees.
  
  The
  payment of FEGLI benefits is governed by federal law, namely the Federal
  Employees Group Life Insurance Act, 5 U.S.C. §  8701, et seq., the
  contract entered into (the FEGLI Contract) and the regulations promulgated
  thereunder by the ****** ****** ****** ** ********* ********** (***), and the
  *** FEGLI Handbook.  See e.g., the Code of Federal Regulations at 5 C.F.R.
  Part 870, and ****************************************************************************************  
  
  Congress
  set forth under FEGLIA, at 5 U.S.C. section 8705, for a beneficiary form to
  govern the payment of benefits, all that is required is that the beneficiary
  designation be in “a signed and witnessed
  writing received before death”.   FEGLIA states that FEGLI Benefits “shall
  be paid, on the establishment of a valid claim, to the person or persons
  surviving at the date of his death, in the following order of precedence: First,
  to the beneficiary or beneficiaries designated by the employee in a
  signed and witnessed writing received before death in the employing office or,
  if insured [as a retired federal employee] in the Office of Personnel
  Management.”  We paid you $229,200 based on
  an *** Standard Form (SF) 2823 dated May 24, 2019.  The May 24, 2019 SF
  2823 form is a valid form because it satisfied the strict requirements of the federal
  statute; it was signed and witnessed and received by *** prior to the death of
  the insured.  Here, this Congressionally-mandated
  statutory requirement is met regardless of any pre-claim administrative letter. 
  OFEGLI is required to adjudicate claims pursuant to FEGLIA.  Accordingly,
  the form and the related federal statute govern the payment of the
  proceeds. 
  
  *** ******* completed beneficiary designation forms naming
  you and another party, and these forms met the requirements noted above.  Your portion of the insurance is $229,2000,
  which has been paid to you
  
  Please
  send any subsequent correspondence regarding this complaint to the following
  address:
  
  ****** ******, Compliance Consultant
  *******
  Corporate
  Customer Relations
  *** ****** ****
  *** *****
  Warwick
  RI  *****
  Fax:  ###-###-####
  Email: 
  *********************.com
  
  
  For more information
  on FEGLI policies, please visit the ****** ** ********* **********’s
  website
  at: ***.gov/life
  
  We’re here to help
  
  You can reach me by:
  
  Phone: ###-###-####
                                                                                                                                                            Sincerely,
  
  
                                                                                                                                                            Jessica
  T*****
                                                                                                                                                            Senior
  Case Management Specialist