Tan Kin Lian's Blog: FISCA Service

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

FISCA Service

FISCA (Financial Services Consumer Association) has been registered. I will propose that FISCA create a website to allow customers to post their personal experience on the following:

1) Bad service
2) Good service

The customer has to be identified to FISCA and should have documentary evidence to back up their statement They should be prepared to face the business entity. FISCA will give the business entity the right of reply.

With this service, I hope that businesses will be encouraged to provide good service and look after their customers.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...: MR TAN KIN LIAN
We need more people like you who are willing to EDUCATE ordinary man, so that they can fend for themselves. They arrays of products, selling technics, exclusions technics ... really makes ordinary man lost in the sea of confusion!

Also, GOOD products and organizations should be highlighted too!

FROM CASHEW NUT; June 16, 2009 10:07 PM
zhummmeng said...: Hope FISCA can provide review service of existing insurance policies for consumers to check for mis=selling, and misrepresentation.
1. Consumers should use this service to see if their insurance agents have cheated them. More importantly to see that they have suitable insurance and in the right amount for peace of mind.
2. Widows who are left with insufficient insurance proceed money should also use the service if they suspect that their deceased spouse had been mis-sold by the insurance agents because of conflict of interest and malpractice.
3. FISCA should have a panel of contigency fee legal service lawyers to take up cases for aggrieved members or the public.; June 16, 2009 11:49 PM
Anonymous said...: Good, have a insurance review service for consumers who are wondering whether they were sold correctly by their insurance agents.
This is a must to stop unethical and unscrupulous agents.

I am 57 and recently met an insurance agent who told me I needed a whole life living policy to take care of my concern for critical illness and the premium came to $12000 a year. The agent explained that I needed this amount and this type of plan , not only to take care of critical illness but also legacy. Needless to say I was shocked.
I met another one who was an IFA and he told to go for term until 65 years old and to consider renewal after this. The premium was a fraction of the wholelife. I was advised that legacy was inappropraite and there wasn't a concern for it.
I am sharing to show the inconsistency between an insurance salesman and an adviser.
One was trying to sell me an expensive insurance and the other was concerned for my needs.
In my opinion the IFA had no conflict of interest as he stood to gain very little from the deal whereas the other agent tried to convince me on the legacy to justify selling me a whole life.I know that whole life gives a very high commission and if I were to buy the idea the agent would earn a hefty commission of first year commission $6000 compared to the IFA a mere $55.
I am concerned about other consumers who would have been conned and fleeced by insurance agents who would stoop to this unethical practice.
It is timely that Mr. Tan has set up this association to help consumers who are at the mercy of the salesmen. MAS seems to be sleeping and FISCA should fill this gap to protect unwary and trusting consumers.

Almost retired; June 17, 2009 9:44 AM
Anonymous said...: Look at the way they sell annuity, they tell you if you leave your money in CPF it will run but never tell how long. They only say that their annuity is for life and it is only half truth.
Someone told me if you leave with CPF and start at 65 you can receive good and higher payouts till 87 years old. With ntuc annuity to receive the same total amount you have to live till 95 assuming a 2.0% bonus. This is inferior and ridiculous but ntuc agents are still selling. How can they do that when they know theirs can't beat CPF. Is this unethical? Isn't agents supposed to put customers' interest first? or their own interest?
Hope consumers will come forward to expose their unethical practice.; June 17, 2009 2:55 PM
Anonymous said...: To "Almost retired",

The IFA did a good job for you but he or she will eventually fade away in the industry because he/she earns very little for giving you this good advice. The one who misled you to buy a WL at such an old age will continue to stay in the industry and more of such will remain in the industry.

If you want the IFA to continue to earn a living and serve you, I suggest you pay the IFA a advisory fee so that he can go back and feed his family. How much to pay him? For this case, the IFA saves you a huge about of money. You can pay him the difference in the first year saving. If the term he offers is say only $2000 and the WL you say cost $12,000 a year. If you pay the IFA 12000-2000=10,000 in fee, not only will the IFA be very encourage to do a good job for you and for others but you still get to save a HUGE amount of money. Imagine if you go along with the insurance agent's recommendation of a $12,000 premium WL, you will be paying 12,000*25=300,000 in premium ! So what is $10,000 in fee for the IFA compared to the huge $300K in WL premium?

Consumers like YOU can make a difference in the industry by deliberately reward generously those who did a good job. Of course, most consumers are ungrateful and will not reward those advisers who did a good job. Are insurance agents to be blamed for all this mis-selling? I believe consumers play a 50% blame for causing the industry to be in this state. Make a difference today.; June 18, 2009 11:38 AM
zhummmeng said...: June 18, 2009 11:38 AM

You make the IFA very happy. $10K for a very simple advice is too much. $200 is more than enough. $200 is already more than the term premium .Moreover, any man at this age with commonsense wouldn't have bought the wholelife, so talking about saving him the $12K is out of the question.
Anyway, the anecdote attests to the fact insurance agents would stoop to anything and this case is another classic case of greedy and unscruplous agent trying to rip off a customer. He should be jailed for making mockery of the old man, 'almost retired'
There are plenty of this type of insurance agents.
Old folks are easy victims. I remember anticipated endowments cashbacks disguised as annuity are being pushed to old folks with lot of hard earned retirement money..For the young this cashback is packaged with wholelife and promoted as buy one get one free.
MAS should send people like them to jail and strike off their license like the RM who is jailed for 3 months.
I agree consumers are to be blamed too for allowing themselves to be conned. The problem is many customers think they know when they actually don't know, trying to be smart, and this is how everything can go wrong. If they are smart they should not use insurance agents and pay them commission for nothing, they should buy directly. I think this is why MAS wants the insurers to have a portal for these smart people to buy directly so that these smart aleks can take ownership and responsibility instead of causing and tempting the agents to commit mis-selling and frauds.
MAS should consider removing options 3&4 from the fact find form
and force all agents to do fact finding so that old people like the above ' almost retired" would not be victim because the agent has to justify the recommended whole life for this age. The agent can write anyhting but it will not escape the scrutiny like the RM who was jailed. Hope at last a new landscape would emerge.; June 18, 2009 10:31 PM
Anonymous said...: The RM who was jailed is just the tip of the iceberge. If you consider insurance agents you will be shocked at the malpractice that is rampant in this industry. Mis-selling, misrepresentation, fraud churning, twisting, you name them these agents are doing them.
Wonder why MAS is slow to tighen up the regulations. Obama is doing it. UK is doing it. MAS seems to believe that self regulation is better. MAS, you are wrong. Don't trust the insurance companies and the banks. They will do what is best for themselves, their agents and not the customers. It is this self regulation that caused the debacles, the break down in the processes; agents cheated, fraud and so forth.
Must have more RMs and insurance agents hung from Benjamin Sheare's bridge or in Shenton Way to deter the would be crooks.; June 19, 2009 1:21 PM
Anonymous said...: if you have ntuc insurance policies get somebody to review. sure got mis-selling.; June 20, 2009 2:21 PM
Anonymous said...: Check the buy one get one free package and you will find the churning and twisting of policies.
Also check CPF investing growth policy; June 21, 2009 6:15 PM