Athene Annuity
This Athene Annuity review will cover Athene Annuity ratings by real users for overall satisfaction and claims, cost, billing, and service satisfaction. The Athene Annuity A.M. Best rating is A-, and the Athene Annuity S&P Rating is A-. To compare insurance rates from the best companies in your locale, enter your ZIP code below.
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Written by
Natasha McLachlan
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Reviewed by
Laura Walker
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UPDATED: Nov 19, 2011
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Horrible customer service
Our annuities were purchased from another company that was bought-out by Athene. Attempts to surrender a policy have met with repeated stall tactics by the company, claiming that the forms were illegible or filled out improperly. The policy owner is the retired agent for the policy and we know how to fill them out.
Although I was angry with the customer service rep, I don’t believe it is their fault. I believe it is the company policy to delay any action.
I will never recommend anyone to buy products from Athene.
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Crooks
Several years back red flags when up with my senior fathers policy. Bills did not come in and billing accumulated luckily I caught it before it got to far. By building up the bills they came after other seniors on fixed incomes to catch there policies up or get canceled. Being seniors other companies would not take them in so we and many others where stuck. Be ware young and old alike we all get old so dont purchase em. We are waiting for the bankruptcy and all to loss all. I cant say stay away enough. Check your companies and make sure they are not tied to em as well
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Never do business with these people
I have relied on this company for a month disbursement from my annuity… for several years it was great… in May 2019 they started shorting one account; now they are shorting both. I was told to be patient …
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Had the policy for 33 yrs. No going back
Service is so poor you would think that it is intentional. Have had the policy for 33 years. Have had premium withdraw automatic. Good thing I balance my bank account regularly. Next to impossible to fix payment when auto was dropped. Every time I get a competent service rep the next month when I have another issue they conveniently are no longer work there.
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Avoid This Company
Athene bought the company I had my life insurance policy with (for 20+ years), then they branched it off to some other division (Accordia) which totally screwed up my policy. They suspended” the policy while they tried to figure things out and for 2 years couldn’t accept premiums, loan paybacks or give me a policy status. When they tried to “unsuspend” my policy they couldn’t get the numbers straight yet they wanted me to pay around $4,500 in “back payments. I have been fighting with them for over a year trying to straighten this out. They’ll send me 2 separate letters in 2 days that have different dollar totals. They can’t connect me with anyone who knows what’s going on or how to fix this, including supervisors. I reported them to the Dept of Insurance and that hasn’t helped – I am going to report them again.
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They will lie when the truth would be better!
Athene took over AVIVA where my Lifetime Income Annuity so I had NO choice but to go with them, sad!
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They will lie when the truth would be better!
Athene took over AVIVA where my Lifetime Income Annuity so I had NO choice but to go with them, sad!
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These scum will not refund my money!
These scum will not refund my money. I have sent in the surrender paperwork 2 times. They are thieves who steal money and should be in jail
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Misleading and deceptive
My step father passed away February 2nd and had an annuity for 60k that we filed a claim for. It is now May and we have gotten so much run around for them not to pay us.
After the so called 15 day review and them kept telling us check is in the mail, we recently called back to follow-up and was told they are behind and the 15 day review is now a 25 day review and check was never sent out.
Got my lawyer involved now, stay away from this company. They are dishonest and misleading.
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Do not Do Business With Them
Cashed out two policies with them a year apart. Each time the 1099R I received was inaccurate. They amended one of them but cannot get them to review the other even though the policies were the same and the same mistake was made on each. They overstated taxable income on both, causing headaches when filing taxes and now having to amend both returns through the IRS.
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Awful Customer Service
Athene’s launched a new internal system and it has not been working properly for 4 weeks now. I could not view my account online for 2 weeks of that time. I can view is now, but documents are out of order. Hold times to call the company are 30 plus minutes. When you do finally get a representative they give you answers like I don’t know or put you on hold and the call disconnects. I will not be renewing my policy at Athene! Do not invest your money with them.
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Athene does 1 thing, Fixed Indexed Annuities.
What to see the #1, #2 and #3 performing fixed indexed annuities in the nation. Athene. Want to see an index that has been up 4 of the past 6 years, and returned double digits to all policy holders. Athene. Want the best income in retirement. Athene. Want to trust a company that that always has your best interest first? Call Athene.
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Terrible Customer Service
Never received 1099 for tax purposes. When I called they said it would take 7 business days. That was two weeks ago and I still haven’t received it.
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Do. Not. Use. This. Company.
My ex husband purchased life insurance for myself and our three children. He had the Athene policy for me and used Symetra for our kids. After he passed away Symerta paid the policy in three days. They automatically deposited it into their bank accounts. As for Athene they waited 90 days to send a letter saying they had decided not to give me the money because we weren’t still married. After consulting a lawyer we all agreed to let them pay my kids instead and they could just reimburse me as opposed to fighting them. We faxed the paperwork from the kids within a week. They waited an additional 90 days (the time they have to pay the policy) to tell us they were missing a page of the paperwork. Mind you the page they were missing was an informational page that had zero to do with us or our policy. We then resent the fax and sent the same information in the mail. It then took them 30 more days to pay the policy (only after threatening to turn them in for insurance fraud). So to recap SYMETRA paid out three times as much money in THREE DAYS while PUKETHENE, oops I mean ATHENE paid one policy in SEVEN MONTHS. I wish I could take out an ad to warn people how horrid they are. They don’t listen, take notes, remember anything previously discussed, answer the phone in a timely manner or send your money without much effort on your part when you’re already so sad. I cannot discourage you enough. Don’t use this company unless you like being frustrated and angry.
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A nightmare to deal with
They send letter after letter requesting more and more info that is not on the change of ownership form. We send them the info they ask for and then they keep asking for something else. This has been going on for 4 months. They are nightmare to deal with Please stay away and do not buy annuities from them.. They will also lie to you and tell it is all taken care of when it is not.
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Death benefit on mortgage paid off
Date of death 11/2018 It took 50+ days waiting for a check. All docs were sent including original death certificate & W9 within 10 days of notice..Avoiding paying me for almost 2 months. Apparently 5+ calls later they sent a check. A lot less after continuing to decrease the amount after the death?? –$2000.00?? It was set up in auto pay monthly. They never missed taking it out!! Not happy with the way they conduct their business.. I won’t have anything else with them now. About as close as you can be to be deceptive..
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The Best annuity
I am glad that one of my friend show me the one of the best annuity plan so that I can roll over my 401K. I got 5% bonus when I have roll over my money.
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Great annuity Plan
my dad wanted to invest some of his saving for retirement so I contact one of the Financial Service provider and he suggested me Performance Elite annuity 9 yrs ago. His money is almost double now.
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One of the Best Annuity
I own Performance Elite since last 3 yrs and I have very good experience. My Cousin has advised me to roll over my IRA money and I am so glad I did. Losing money is not an option with Index annuity.
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Best annuity
I own Performance Elite 15 since last 5 yrs and I have very good experience. I do not have any complains.I got very good return in last 5 years and the is 0% floor which is no loss guarantee.
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best service and best policy
I have annuity contract since last 3 year. When I have roll over my 401K , I got 8% bonus and it have zero floor. First years retun was almost 8 %.
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best service and best policy
I have found that Athene has best policy with competitive premium and service is great. I am very satisfied after having this policy contract.
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Athene FUCKED UP BIG TIME
Athene purchased life insurance accounts form another company, but all they wanted were the Annuity accounts. They wern’t set up to process Life Insurance Accounts, so they just ignored the life insurance accounts and didn’t do automatic bank withdrawals each month when they should have. Now they want us to pay all the withdrawals they didn’t make in one big lump sum. If you have the same problem and would like to sue them along with me . . . email me at [email protected]
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Awful communication/service
Had an annuity policy for over 10 years. Tried to request a 10 yr annuity pay out. Web site, email, phone- none worked to get what we needed. They kept insisting they’d mailed the info; we never received it. They wouldn’t even communicate with our local agent. Truly awful service. They act as though they don’t want to give us OUR money. Will never deal with them again in any way.
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policy cancelled, poor customer service
this company cancelled (2 of my 4) my policies during the conversion process… I need to re-instate my 2 policies and have gotten no communication.
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poor comunication
I have requested a form to begin regular payments the response has been awful. The rep says they have sent the form four times, but I have never received it.
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really miss CGU!
Horrible, they acquire my annuity I’ve had for many years. @14 years I have never had an issue receiving my payment. First time they,52 days between checks!Now you can’t get info, just attitudes. All they say is it’s processed the 26th.I have never received it on the 26th.My bank was confused too, said once they process, they would see it?!If 26 is a weekend/ holiday, who knows when you will get it Today is Sat. 27th @3:04pm, no payment yet tomorrow is Sunday.Lovely trying to paying bills now! In previous months if 26th was Friday,I had it Saturday.Well usually…
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AWFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE
Called main office in Des Moines, IA for re-allocation. ARROGANT, RUDE, SNARKY rep –Carolyn. Asked for the manager in charge and was offered a supervisor. Eeked out the name of VP –Kevin Christianson. Was told You cannot talk to him.” Called in a 2nd time.
Got Yolanda. Same dance! Would NEVER do business with these assholes again!”
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Death Benefit Annuity
Athene wouldn’t let me take out any money. I needed surgery this March and I needed 20K, at the time there was over 70K in the Annuity.
They stated I checked a box March 2017 that I checked a box on the death claim form to receive it quarterly. I was trying to get monies together and pool whatever resources to pay off my Mom’s debt and try to pay her Mortgage. My Mom died of Leukemia in Feb. 2017.
There is no way I would’ve checked that box. My question is this: How come when I checked with a company that could get my Athene Annuity and charge me a percentage, why can’t I do that???
I can make decisions as to whom gets this Annuity if I die before it runs as to who the Primary and Contingent are. I find this to be unethical.
Sherrie Kelly
470-304-5370
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Still trying to get 2018 1099R for taxes
A long held life insurance policy was acquired by Athene several years ago and we’ve had nothing but trouble. First they didn’t bill us saying it was a systems issue. Our agent said he can’t get them to pay him. Finally cashed it out last fall. After weeks of calling finally got a 1099R the end of March which was definitely inaccurate. Asked for a corrected one or explanation of their numbers, and after a month received a copy of the same inaccurate 1099R we got in March. Now the end of May, still trying to get a corrected 1099R. They won’t let you talk to tax department” on the phone.
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Stay away from this company!!!
This company is such a joke. I’ve been an insurance agent for 20 years and I have never seen a company operate like this one has. My husband and I are in the same group that got scammed by this conversion nonsense. They stopped pulling out our monthly payments and are now telling us that we owe them over $1000 to be paid in a lump sum. Unbelievable!! I have never seen a life insurance company operate this shoddily. Stay away, stay far away from Athene.
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Stay away as far as you can
This company is a joke. They are out to scam ppls, stay away. For those that already signed up wit this company I feel bad for all ya. They don’t care about their customers, don’t listen to you all they want is your money. If you have ANY problems with them good luck trying to resolve.
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TOLD ME MY DAD IS DEAD! HE'S NOT!
My father had a policy with them. He and my stepmom received a letter in the mail offering condolences about his death.?!?! He had a policy with them. My dad called them the same day to correct them. Despite this and an apology from Mike B.”, a couple weeks later, my sister and I got a FB message from one of their agents asking if we knew him because he was deceased! My dad lives thousands of miles away. I had the worst panic attack of my life. What kind of company makes these kinds of mistakes?!?!”
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I would give NO stars if I could
Went to file a death claim for my father.
My father had the policy from 1972 until his death in 2017.
The prompt that you will receive for calling them does not even align with their company name and you will think it is a different company.
Please be aware:
* They send the bills MONTHS AFTER they are due. * When you call you will ALWAYS have issues. I have been calling them for 3 years and each and every time I have had a hassle.
* They will bill you even after you FILE A DEATH CLAIM on the file for the deceased.
* They will try to cheat you. Always know the face value of the policy and look over every single deduction they send on the pay out.
* Always keep notes of the days you call on. If they pretend they do not know what you are talking about you can have them reference the audio tapes from those calls. IF THEY SAY THEY CANNOT… ask to speak to a supervisor. They can listen to an audio recording of every call made to them.
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a rip off company
DO NOT use this company for annuity’s RIP OFF
Sell you on program with a bonus then change to another wording of selection when receive contract (One word change) so you do not get bonus. No way to find out until 1 year later then its too late for refund RIP OFF
Only way to find out what you have or your big 1 1/2 % interest is when they send your letter at 1 year , no calling them they will not give any info over phone
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Run for the hills
Athene purchased the company that underwrote my life insurance policy. They have major issues (they blame on the conversion) and they really don’t seem to care to fix them. I received a statement showing i had a loan balance against my policy. When I called to ask why…..the customer service rep had no idea”. Two weeks later I got a letter stating i had not paid my policy and therefore a loan was taken against my policy to prevent it from being cancelled (that is the option i had chosen on the policy). I called them….gave them the check number, date it cleared my bank account……they said i needed to send them proof by submitting a copy of the cancelled check. I did that the very same day……2 months later nothing has been done. I called them 2 weeks ago and the rep said they had all the information they needed….she had no idea why it was not resolved but she would put a “rush on it”. Called yesterday…..still no resolution….no idea why the “rush” was not completed. Spoke to a “team lead”…..she will put a “rush on it”. I laughed telling her they already tried that trick and 2 weeks later it still is not resolved. He answer basically was……we will work on it and eventually get it fixed. I suggested they need to credit my account now and suspense the amount on their books until they figure it out. I am now waiting for a “manager” to return my call. I am not holding my breath. I spoke to someone else who happens to have a life policy with them……they told me they got the same letter saying they did not pay their policy. The amount was small enough that instead of validating…..they just sent another check. Sounds like the “conversion” from Aviva is a mess and a lot of customers are being taken advantage of with no urgency to resolve. STAY AWAY from this insurer if you are smart!!!”
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Awful. Poor customer service.
This company is playing games with customers. They will tell you they are going through a conversion”. The conversion have been going on for over two years. They have forgotten who the customer is and that they have customer $$. Their customer support is terrible…the worst. I have not received a statement in over two years. My annuity account is a mess and I cannot get any help from them. Who runs this company?”
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