Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Life Insurance Pitch to Marines Violates Instruction 1344.07

A Pentagon audit found that local Marine leadership allowed young enlistees to be ensnared by insurance salesmen.
A Pentagon audit found that local Marine leadership allowed young enlistees to be ensnared by insurance salesmen.

A new audit by the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General has found that military brass here didn’t do enough to halt illegal life insurance sales practices on San Diego County Marine Corps bases, thereby threatening the “financial stability” of junior enlistees.

“Sales of unsuitable life insurance products sold by insurance agents for two companies continued on or near five of the six military installations we visited,” according to the August 23 report that investigated insurance sales to junior enlisted service members on military bases, both in the United States and Asia. According to the audit, “Certain life insurance products offered to members of the Armed Forces were improperly marketed as investment products, providing minimal death benefits in exchange for excessive premiums that are front-loaded in the first few years, making them inappropriate for most military personnel.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Sales pitches on base are supposed to be closely regulated to protect service members from unethical agents and bad policies, but auditors discovered that hadn’t happened in the case of 11 leathernecks interviewed at Camp Pendleton. “Before our visit in June 2010, we provided a list of 265 individuals we wanted to interview and have complete questionnaires. The Camp Pendleton Legal Assistance Office was able to locate only 11 of those Marines.… They said their first contact with the insurance agents was during a sales presentation at a personal finance class sponsored by their battalion, from March 2009 through June 2009. The insurance agent’s sales presentation and the base personnel responsible for the presentation’s approval were in violation of [Defense Department] Instruction 1344.07. As a result of our review, the 11 Marines filed complaints through their Legal Assistance Office to the insurance company and obtained a refund for their premiums paid.”

At Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, “A Service member complained that a life insurance agent solicited insurance sales and passed out business cards after a mandatory financial class in September 2009.… The Marine said that the agent contacted him several times, which eventually resulted in his purchase of unsuitable life insurance. He then related his unfavorable experience to a financial counselor, who forwarded the information to the command for investigation, which resulted in Marine Corps officials refusing to renew the agent’s pass. Additionally, the Marine received a refund of premiums paid after he filed a complaint with the insurance company.”

Multiple violations of Pentagon policy and regulations were found during the investigation, including solicitations by insurance agents of Marines and soldiers “in a ‘captive’ audience where attendance is not voluntary”; “soliciting in barracks, day rooms and unit areas”; and “soliciting door to door without an appointment.” Additional prohibited practices uncovered by the auditors included “use of an agent as a participant in [a] Military Service–sponsored education or orientation program” and “using oral or written representations to suggest or give the appearance that the [Defense Department] sponsors or endorses any particular company, its agents, or the goods, services, and commodities it sells.” The report calls for better tracking of state insurance regulatory records of agents and their companies before they are issued base passes. It adds that as a result of the investigation’s findings the Marine Corps has taken “corrective actions” regarding “enforcement of existing commercial solicitation activities and practices on base Camp Pendleton and Marine Corps Camps in Okinawa, Japan.”

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

OSHA rules wall falls our fault

Who, U.S.?
A Pentagon audit found that local Marine leadership allowed young enlistees to be ensnared by insurance salesmen.
A Pentagon audit found that local Marine leadership allowed young enlistees to be ensnared by insurance salesmen.

A new audit by the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General has found that military brass here didn’t do enough to halt illegal life insurance sales practices on San Diego County Marine Corps bases, thereby threatening the “financial stability” of junior enlistees.

“Sales of unsuitable life insurance products sold by insurance agents for two companies continued on or near five of the six military installations we visited,” according to the August 23 report that investigated insurance sales to junior enlisted service members on military bases, both in the United States and Asia. According to the audit, “Certain life insurance products offered to members of the Armed Forces were improperly marketed as investment products, providing minimal death benefits in exchange for excessive premiums that are front-loaded in the first few years, making them inappropriate for most military personnel.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Sales pitches on base are supposed to be closely regulated to protect service members from unethical agents and bad policies, but auditors discovered that hadn’t happened in the case of 11 leathernecks interviewed at Camp Pendleton. “Before our visit in June 2010, we provided a list of 265 individuals we wanted to interview and have complete questionnaires. The Camp Pendleton Legal Assistance Office was able to locate only 11 of those Marines.… They said their first contact with the insurance agents was during a sales presentation at a personal finance class sponsored by their battalion, from March 2009 through June 2009. The insurance agent’s sales presentation and the base personnel responsible for the presentation’s approval were in violation of [Defense Department] Instruction 1344.07. As a result of our review, the 11 Marines filed complaints through their Legal Assistance Office to the insurance company and obtained a refund for their premiums paid.”

At Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, “A Service member complained that a life insurance agent solicited insurance sales and passed out business cards after a mandatory financial class in September 2009.… The Marine said that the agent contacted him several times, which eventually resulted in his purchase of unsuitable life insurance. He then related his unfavorable experience to a financial counselor, who forwarded the information to the command for investigation, which resulted in Marine Corps officials refusing to renew the agent’s pass. Additionally, the Marine received a refund of premiums paid after he filed a complaint with the insurance company.”

Multiple violations of Pentagon policy and regulations were found during the investigation, including solicitations by insurance agents of Marines and soldiers “in a ‘captive’ audience where attendance is not voluntary”; “soliciting in barracks, day rooms and unit areas”; and “soliciting door to door without an appointment.” Additional prohibited practices uncovered by the auditors included “use of an agent as a participant in [a] Military Service–sponsored education or orientation program” and “using oral or written representations to suggest or give the appearance that the [Defense Department] sponsors or endorses any particular company, its agents, or the goods, services, and commodities it sells.” The report calls for better tracking of state insurance regulatory records of agents and their companies before they are issued base passes. It adds that as a result of the investigation’s findings the Marine Corps has taken “corrective actions” regarding “enforcement of existing commercial solicitation activities and practices on base Camp Pendleton and Marine Corps Camps in Okinawa, Japan.”

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

OSHA rules wall falls our fault

Who, U.S.?
Next Article

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.