Daily News from New York, New York • 591

LOOKING AHEAD Economists said Friday's surprisingly weak inhs rennrt i inpmnlnumpnt nrlcfprt MARKET NEWS' is expanding to include 18 new colors. The standards red, green, yellow, brown, orange and blue now will be accompanied by colors including white and black, pink and maroon, aqua and light yellow. Presumably the new colors will melt in your mOUth, not in your hand. The Associated Press up slightly last month to 5.2 would strengthen the hand of Federal Reserve Board mem bers who have been opposing any hike in interest rates on the grounds that the economy was already slowing on its own. ti Associated press mm wmmim mmrnrn but if still lias drawbacks YOU think your life insurance agent rooked you, what chance do you JANE BRYANT QUINN ing how the policy works.

There are two possible deceptions here. First, the agent may have illustrated a policy for a healthy non-smoker. But you might be a smoker or have a health problem that caused you to be a "standard," "rated" or "special" risk. If so, you're paying a higher cost of insurance and your policy can't accumulate as much have of getting proper restitution? Practically none, if you just write a letter of complaint. But a letter with the right evidence could actually get the problem solved.

Insurance companies typically stonewall. A manager "reviews the record" and the agent's story wins the day. This changes, how ia1 t4 Ja ft 'J ever, if you can prove you were deceived. Thanks to a class-action lawsuit just settled by Prudential Insurance, Pru policyholders with problems may get restitution without too much effort on their part although court hearings will delay the program's start. New York Life and Phoenix Mutual will be gearing up restitution programs, too.

Sales deceptions today fall into four main categories: Intellirhniro at IntelliChoice at i (800) 227-2665 provides reports with financial statistics to compare models. money as the agent showed. Second, the pages should be numbered "page 1 of 4," "page 2 of 4," and so on. Or the illustration might say "not valid without footnotes." But the agent may not have given you all the pages or footnotes usually, to hide a required disclosure. Check the sales material, if you still have it.

Was the sales proposal enclosed in a retirement-plan or college-plan binder? Was the policy called an "investment" rather than life insurance? Were your premiums called "contributions" or That's evidence of illegal deception, Sabo says. Were you presented with insurance-company illustrations, or illustrations the agent made up? Official company material will have a control number on the bottom of each page or on the back. Write to the customer service or customer relations office of the insurance company, asking for a copy of the "agent's report," which accompanied your application. The agent may have falsely said this policy wasn't a replacement. If you were piggybacked, ask for a copy of the withdrawal and loan history on your older policy or policies, and payment history on your new one.

They will show payments matching up. If you didn't realize that loans were being taken against your policies, ask the insurer for a copy of the loan-authorization document. Check the signature carefully. The agent may have forged it, by tracing your signature from another document. Or you may have signed the form in blank for another purpose, and later the agent Car Bargains at (800) 475-7283 will, for a fee, hunt around in your area for price quotes from dealers.

Churning: An agent persuades you to drop a perfectly good cash-value policy and replace it with something else. The agent gains a sales commission. You lose part of your cash value. Piggybacking: An agent for your present insurance company offers you another policy "free" or at "reduced cost." Without your knowledge, however, you're paying the full premium, using dividends and loans from your older policy. Eventually, that older policy runs out of cash and lapses.

Vanishing premium: The agent told you that you have to pay premiums only for a fixed number of years. But the deadline passes and premiums continue a risk you were never warned about. Investment: The agent claimed you were making a tax-deferred college or retirement investment. You didn't know you had plain old life insurance. You need hard facts to make your case, says Richard Sabo of Money Concepts in Gibsonia, an insurance agent who consults on fraud.

Sabo charges bilked policyholders nothing to write letters on their behalf. To get evidence of wrongdoing, here's where Sabo advises you to look: Check your original application, which should be in the back of your policy. One question reads, roughly, "Do you intend to borrow against, surrender or discontinue any existing insurance?" or "Is this replacement insurance?" The agent probably answered that for you. If he or she said no, when in fact you gave up a policy or borrowed from another, that's fraud, Sabo says. Your own bank and tax records can help substantiate that a replacement occurred.

II Check the policy illustration the pages with columns of numbers show- INVESTING The nonibers game Week ending Oct. 4, 199S filled in loan instructions. Indexes VTD Name Last Chg Chg iO Indus 5992 66 119 94 17 11 0 Transp 2102 14 35 10 6 12 1 5 Ulils 221 91 3 77 -1 55 55 Stocks 1690 07 35 41 11 63 YTD Name Last Chg Chg MYSE Comp 374 16 7 89 13 55 MEX Index 579 89 11 42 5 77 ASDAOComp 1247 56 17 51 18 57 tMaMyijaijaWigUaiBHiiaaiaH VTD Name Last Chg Chg 701 46 15 27 13 89 MidCap 245 68 3 41 12 78 Russell 2000 349 30 3 78 10 55 HEN you write to the company, ill I. New York Stock Exchange 6,000 17- send copies of your evidence, not the originals. Send a copy of ll 5,950 5,900 5,992.86 119.94 5,850 5,800 5,750 your letter to the state insurance department.

Even with evidence, a company ight blow you off i you write you rsel f. But if a lawyer, financial planner or other expert writes for you, Sabo says, "the insurer might decide to produce the documents, pay you and bully the next guy instead.".