Skip to main content
The largest online newspaper archive
A Publisher Extra® Newspaper

The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 53

Publication:
The Courier-Newsi
Location:
Bridgewater, New Jersey
Issue Date:
Page:
53
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

SUNDAY, DEC. 5, 1993 F-3 THE COURIER-NEWS Feds eye shady insurance sales Bankable rates Loan and savings rates offered by Central Jersey banks and thrifts. but call them the most serious effort to improve policy illustrations in years. In their view, a recent scandal involving New York-based Metropolitan Life Insurance the nation's largest life insurer in terms of policies, has dramatized the need for change. Last August, the Florida insurance commissioner accused Met Life agents in the company's Tampa office of selling life insurance disguised as retirement investments to nurses who didn't realize what they were buying.

Met Life said that office sold policies in 38 states. The Met Life scandal is a natural consequence of hard-to-understand illustrations, according to Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, who heads a subcommittee that has investigated the insurance industry. There's "a 100 percent link" between the alleged misrepresentations by agents and the jumble of numbers and terms that customers are handed by salespeople, Metzenbaum said. Changes recommended A working paper released last month by an NAIC task force suggests a number of ways to avoid such situations.

They include: Requiring all companies to use the same assumptions, definitions and formats. Banning projections a rule that currently applies to mutual funds, which can only show past performance. Disclosing the underlying guesswork about expenses and future death rates and interest rates, and telling policyholders when assumptions change. Providing better descriptions of exactly what type of insurance is being sold. But the Greenfields said they feel deliberately deceived and that the Guardian agent assured them the premiums would vanish as scheduled.

The footnote at the end of long columns of numbers was "remarkably unclear," said Scott Greenfield, an attorney. The company "could have said it clearly, but it chose not to." Consumer backlash A growing consumer backlash against marketing techniques used to sell life insurance is spurring attempts to regulate the reams of computer-generated tables that are supposed to explain policies to customers. Even some insurance professionals say they can't understand the multi-column, multi-page numerical illustrations used to show how policies build up cash value, phase out premiums or pay a death benefit. Policies are hard to compare because each company uses its own labels and formats. And consumer advocates say that the very material that is supposed to lead to informed choices can actually prevent them due to undisclosed assumptions, buried disclaimers, and omissions of data especially any data on the large commissions agents receive on cash-value policies, which are more profitable to companies than other types of insurance.

Next month, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which cannot compel insurers to comply with its rules, will unveil a "model law" expected to call for more disclosure in the illustrations, as well as a simpler format. Shady sales ploy Consumer advocates complain that the suggestions don't go far enough, Misleading payment schedules are costly to life insurance policy holders. By Newsday Scott and Terri Greenfield expected the combined $2,188 annual premium payments on their cash-value life insurance policies from Guardian Life Insurance Co. to vanish completely after 1992. After all, the charts the insurance agent had given them to show how the so-called "vanishing-premium" policies were supposed to work had zeros in both "annual outlay" columns by then.

That meant that dividends on built-up savings in the policies would take care of both premiums. So the Port Washington, N.Y., couple was shocked and angered when Guardian told them that they would owe two more years worth of premium payments on Scott's policy, and three on Terri's. When they complained, the company pointed to footnotes on the charts saying the numbers weren't guaranteed. Misleading example Armand dePalo, Guardian's senior vice president and chief actuary, said consumers don't understand that illustrations are simply supposed to show how policies work. "The problem is, people want the illustration to be a prediction of the future," dePalo said.

"It is just a mechanical tool." The Greenfields' premium failed to vanish as promised because Guardian, like many other life insurance companies, has earned less on its own investments in the 1990s due to falling interest rates and consequently has lowered dividends, dePalo said. MONEY MMDA 3-mo. CD 6-mo. CD 1-yr. CD Personal Auto Home Credit card Bank or yields yields yields yields Installment 4B-mo.

equity Rate Fee Amboy National Bank 2.63 2.50 3.10 3.50 12.75 7.50 7.50 NO NO Old Bridge. Anchor Savings Bank 2.35 2.53 3.00 3.30 13.95 8.95 4 99 NA 0 Wayne Berkeley Federal Bank 1.11 2.60 2.99 3.30 NO NO NO NO NO Millbum Carteret Savings 2.58 2.35 2.85 320 NO NO NO NO NO Mornslown Cent. Jer. Bank Trust 2.28 2.50 2.90 3.05 13.50 6.75 7.50 16.90 $15 Freehold Chemical Bank N.A. 2.10 2.00 2.25 2.10 13.00 7.75 4.99 16.08 $20 New Jersey Constellation Bank 2.10 2.25 2.60 300 12.20 7.50 775 NA NA Jersey City Collective Fed.

Savings 2.85 2.60 3.00 3.30 NA 8.25 7 75 18.90 $20 Egg Harbor Crestmont Federal 2.26 2.70 3.09 3.40 NO NO 7 00 NO NO Edison First Community Bank 2.79 2.53 2.79 3.30 14.50 9.75 6.00 NO NO Annandale First Fidelity 2.10 2.20 2.60 3.00 12.50 7.15 7.25 16.80 $15 Lawrenceville First Nationwide 2.02 2.42 2.57 3.190, NO NO 7.70 17.90 $12 Westfield Remington National 2.33 2.90 3.00 3.30 15.00 7.75 7.75 NO NO Flemington Growth Bank 2.53 2.40 2.85 3.15 14.00 8.00 7.50 NA NA Basking Ridge Hansen Federal 2.53 2.65 2.95 3.30 NO NO NO NO NO East Brunswick Investors Savings 2.80 3.00 3.30 3.55 NA NA 7.50 NA NA Millbum Midlantic National Bank 2.10 2.20 2.65 3.00 13.50 8.00 6.89 14.90 NO Edison Millington Savings Bank 2.69 NA 2.89 3.25 14.00 7.50 8.00 NA NA Millington National Westminster 2.38 2.56 2.65 2.90 15.50 10.00 7.75 NA NA Jersey City New Era 2.65 2.60 3.00 3.30 NO NO NO 17.50 $30 Franklin Township New Jersey Savings 2.58 2.57 3.02 3.29 NA 6.95 6.95 16.95 $20 Somerville Provident Savings 2.52 NO 2.89 3.20 NA 7.50 7.50 NO NO Jersey City Raritan Savings 2.58 3.03 3.04 3.350, 15.00 8.50 6.00 NO NO Rantan Borough Rock Bank 2.12 2.12 2.57 3.03 14.75 8.65 8.00 NO NO North Plainfield Somerset Savings 2.55 NO 3.00 3.25 14.00 9.00 7.50 NO NO Bound Brook Somerset Valley Bank 2.70 3.00 3.25 3.60 12.00 9.50 7.50 18.60 $0 Somerville Summit Bank 2.50 2.30 2.60 3.00 13.51 8.00 5.95 NA NA Chatham United Jersey 2.10 2.25 2.60 3.05 15.90 7.45 6.95 NO NO Princeton United National 2.35 2.40 2.75 3.05 15.00 8.25 7.85 NO NO Plainfield Watchung Hills Bank 2.78 2.94 3.40 3.56 NA 9.00 7.75 NO NO Warren Follow the rules to lease Rales and yields effective 12293. All yields and rates are subject to change without notice. NO not offered- NA not available. MMDA Money Market Demand Accounts. Town name denotes institution's headquarters; each institution has at least one branch in the area.

introductory rate. variable rate adjustable rate. A plus prima up to Syrs. ra(e is up to five years and applies to 90-94 models only. Source: The Meyers Report, Chicago a service paid by The Courier-News.

Institutions do not pay for consideration in this listing. I INVESTING no. New car loans 1,111 1 djfm'amjjasqn 11 1 1 i 1 1 1 i Money markets 3 I 1 1 I 48 mo. 7.67ya lease. The 24 months you have to reinvest your earnings from the sale of the home into a new home begins on the earlier of either the day you sell your home or the day you purchase a replacement residence.

The key to retaining your home's designation as your principal residence is your ongoing effort to sell it. The Internal Revenue Service recognizes that homeowners often face difficulty selling a home immediately upon a job transfer and thus makes allowances for a temporary rental of the home while you are marketing the property. The key word is temporary. The longer you lease the home and the fewer efforts you expend trying to secure a buyer, the harder it will become to make your case before the IRS. I have some stocks that I cannot find listed anywhere.

In the past you have mentioned the name of a company that will research what has happened to these companies. Could you possibly run the name of the company again? Because this piece of information is one of the most requested of this column, it will be reprinted here again. Prudential American Securities charges $40 per company to search what has become of the company in whose name you hold stock. Simply send a copy of the stock certificate along with a check for the correct amount to Prudential American Securities, 921 E. Green Pasadena, Calif.

91106. However, before opening your Prime rate O'j'F'M' A'M'rf'J'A'S O'N' Personal loans 16 0 A A Source: The Meyers Report Chicago 6.00 -6 114.57 y- 15 A A your home checkbook, vou might consider doing a little sleuthing for yourself. First check the Stock Guide published by Standard Poor's; although your company may not be listed in your local newspaper stock listings, it may still be quoted on one of the nation's stock exchanges. You should also check the "Pink Sheets" published by the National Quotation Bureau in Cedar Grove, N.J. Finally, you should go review the "obsolete securities" section of the Financial Stock Guide Service published by Financial Information Inc.

All three of these publications are usually found at most full-service brokerages, although you should be warned that these offices may not make them available to anyone but their reeular customers. Carta Lazzareschi cannot answer mail individually but will respond in this column to financial questions of general interest. Please do not telephone. Write to Money Talk, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, Calif. 90053.

Help with elder care More workers are confronted with the challenge of balancing work and family obligations to care for an elder relative. Help, however, is available from the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging. For assistance in identifying community resources for eldercare services across the country, call (800) 677-1116. Gannett News Service Others 1 Credit card 17.82 17.80 18.35 Car 7.90 7.92 9.13 Personal 15.23 15.31 16.15 1 2.39) rr MMDAI Funds 2.71 1 d'j'f'm' a'm1 'j Vs'o'n! Money funds shed S575M Total money market assets stood at $588.63 billion for the week. NEW YORK (AP) Assets of the nation's 649 retail money market mutual funds fell by $575.1 million in the latest week to $396.78 billion, the Investment Company Institute said Thursday.

Assets of the 406 taxable money market funds in the retail category fell by $962.2 million to $309.99 billion for the week ended Wednesday, the Washington-based mutual fund trade group said. The 243 tax-exempt fund assets rose by $387.1 million to $86.78 billion. Assets of the 274 institutional money market funds fell by $4.96 billion to $191.86 billion for the same period. Among institutional funds, the 220 taxable money market fund assets fell by $5.15 billion to $169.75 billion; assets of the 54 tax-exempt funds rose by $192.1 million to $22.10 billion. Total money market assets stood at $588.63 billion for the week.

The seven-day average yield on money market mutual funds rose in the week ended Tuesday to 2.69 percent from 2.67 percent the previous week, said Money Fund Report, a trade journal published in Ashland, by IBC-Donoghue. The 30-day average yield rose to 2.67 percent from 2.66 percent, IBC-Donoghue said. IRS offers advice on record keeping Money scoreboard Security number appears first on the account. Otherwise, their interest income may appear on your tax account. Keep a list of your employers during the year and be sure to get a W-2 from each before filing your return.

Tax records should be kept for at least three years after filing a return or two years after the tax is paid, whichever is later. It's a good idea to keep major financial records, such as those for the sale or purchase of a home, indefinitely. More details are available in IRS Publication 910, "Guide to Free Tax Services." It's available by calling (800) 829-3676. By CARLA LAZZARESCHI Los Angeles Times QUESTION: I have a new job that requires me to move. Due to the depressed real estate market, I have leased my home and given the tenant an option to buy it at the end of the two-year lease.

I am currently renting an apartment. Does this lease change the character of my home from a primary residence to a piece of income property? Am I forfeiting my right to defer my gain on the home when I finally do sell it? And what about the 24-month replacement period when does that begin? ANSWER: So long as you have not purchased a new house and are actively trying to sell your old home, you should not face any problems. The fact that you have leased the home should not change its character as your principal residence or undermine your ability to roll over your sale profit to a new home. Although you are no longer living in your home, our experts believe you can effectively argue that your lease-purchase option deal amply demonstrates your intent to sell the home and yowr ongoing pursuit of that goal. However, it would be easier, our experts note, if the lease were shorter or if it had been written to give your tenant a guaranteed first right of refusal if you found another buyer during the lease, rather than a simple option to purchase at the end of the MONEY SUPPLY Key measures post increases NEW YORK (AP) The two broadest measures of the nation's money supply rose in the week ended Nov.

22, the Federal Reserve Board reported. The Fed said the measure known as M2 rose to a seasonally adjusted $3,548.6 billion. An even broader measure, M3, rose to a seasonally adjusted $4,201.6 billion. The narrowest measure of the money supply, Ml, rose to a seasonally adjusted $1,124.8 billion. Ml includes cash in circulation, deposits in checking accounts and non-bank travelers checks.

M2 is Ml plus accounts like savings deposits and money-market mutual funds. M3 is M2 plus less-liquid accounts, such as certificates of deposit in minimum denominations of $100,000. In judging its monetary policy, the Fed monitors the money supply, the value of the dollar, commodity prices and the difference between short- and long-term interest rates. So far this year, M2 has grown at an annual rate of 1.5 percent, within the Fed's target range of 1 percent to 5 percent. The growth rate in M3 in 1993 has been 0.7 percent, within the Fed's target range of 0.0 percent to 4.0 percent.

For the latest 13 weeks, M2 averaged $3,535.1 billion, a 2.3 percent seasonally adjusted annual rise from the previous 13 weeks. M3 averaged $4,182.2 billion, up 1.8 percent, while Ml rose 11.2 percent to an average of $1,112.7 billion. In other reports: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported commercial and industrial loans at major New York City banks fell by $276 million. Bank Rate Monitor's survey of the 10 largest banks and in the 10 largest metro areas. Mortgages are conventional loans at 80 percent loan-to-value.

Car loans are for $9,000, 20 percent down, 48-month, new car. Personal loans are for $3,000 24-month unsecured loan. Mortgages 1-year Date 30-year 15-year ARM 120193 7.13 6.60 4.06 Last week 7.12 6.59 Last year 8.25 7.76 4.05 5.20 Offerings that will music to your ears! By The Courier-News Staff J.J. Jennings, director of the Internal Revenue Service's Newark district office, offers these preventive maintenance suggestions to taxpayers: File receipts and records of taxes withheld during the year on additional income sources such as gambling winnings or backup witholding amounts taken from interest payments. Keep pay stubs.

They are important in reconstructing income and withholding if you have a problem getting your W-2 form early next year. When banking for a child or dependent adult, be sure their Social EOtjAL HWftiWj AND OPPORTUNITY UN01B MAIN OTHER FLEMINGTON ofS't 1 8 Month 30 Month Interest Rates 3.80 4.35 Annual Percentage Yield 3.85 4.42 Bank Rate Monitor's weekly survey of the 10 largest banks and in the 10 largest metro areas. Date MMDA 6-months 1-year 5-year 120193 2.35 2.80 3.08 4.67 Last week 2.36 2.81 3.07 4.65 Last year 2.74 3.04 3.33 5.41 Money Market Deposit Accounts Here are the 15 biggest money-market mutual funds open to individuals with their current seven-day annualized yields. New Jersey Savings Bank reintroduces the 18- and 30-month Certificates of Deposit that let you maximize your earnings potential. Now you can get a better CD rate without locking up your money too long.

With a minimum deposit and balance of only $500, and FDIC insurance to $100,000, we are offering two competitive CD options. Stop by your New Jersey Savings Bank office for the latest details. Rales are subect to change without prior notice Interest Is compounded and credited quarterly. There is a substantial penalty lor premature withdrawal from CDs before maturity date. IMEW rffl JERSEY HJJ SAVINGS A subsidiary BANCORP NEW JERSEY, INC.

Fund (ranked by size) Merrill Lynch CMA Money Fund Smith Barney Shearson Daily Div. Vanguard MMRPrime Port Fidelity Cash Reserves Dean WitterSears Liquid Assets Schwab Money Market Fund Prudential MoneyMart Assets Merrill Lynch Retir. Res MF Merrill Lynch Ready Assets Dreyfus Liquid Assets Fidelity Spartan MMF PaineWebber RMA MFMM Port Kemper MMFMoney Market Port Dean WitterActive Assets MT Daily Cash Accumulation Fund Avg. of 607 taxable money funds Tax-free funds 1201 Last 6mos. 1993 week ago 2.77 2.76 2.68 2.74 2.72 2.64 3.00 2.97 2.87 2.87 2.82 2.82 2.68 2.60 2.53 2.65 2.64 2.56 2.64 2.62 2.55 2.78 2.78 2.72 2.70 2.69 2.67 2.58 2.56 2.57 3.07 3.01 2.99 2.79 2.79 2.73 2.84 2.83 2.75 2.80 2.74 2.61 2.69 2.69 2.61 2.69 2.67 2.62 1.94 1.96 2.20 Gannett News Service OFFICE: 1 0 WEST HIGH STREET, SOMERVILLE, NEW JERSEY (908) 722-0600 LOCATIONS: BASKING RIDGE BEDMINSTER BRANCHBURG BRIDGEWATER HILLSBOROUGH PRINCETON SOMERSET SOMERVILLE WHfTEHOUSE FDIG Source: Money Fund Report I.

Get access to Newspapers.com

  • The largest online newspaper archive
  • 300+ newspapers from the 1700's - 2000's
  • Millions of additional pages added every month

Publisher Extra® Newspapers

  • Exclusive licensed content from premium publishers like the The Courier-News
  • Archives through last month
  • Continually updated

About The Courier-News Archive

Pages Available:
1,999,994
Years Available:
1884-2024