General Information Guide

Transcription

1 General Information Guide Page 1 of 7

2 INTRODUCTION GCU is a Fraternal Benefit Society that was formed in 1892 in Eastern Pennsylvania. Several years later, the group moved to the greater Pittsburgh area and now resides about 40 miles northwest of Pittsburgh in the community of Beaver, PA. The GCU s legal name is the Greek Catholic Union of the U.S.A.--A fraternal insurance company that is in the business of marketing life insurance and annuities. We have assets of over $800 million and over 40,000 members across the United States. On the surface that is what the GCU is, but there is more to our story. The GCU was founded by 14 independent lodges associated with Greek Catholic Churches (today they are called Byzantine Catholic and are members of the Eastern Catholic Church). The lodges were originally formed at each church as a means to offer some type of protection to the Rusyn immigrants that had founded these churches. Many of them worked in dangerous professions in the coal mines and early steel mills, where commercial life insurance companies would not provide life insurance to them due to their dangerous occupations. When a member was seriously injured or killed, the lodge would assess the members of the lodge a fee that was collected and then passed on to the family that suffered the loss. At a meeting of the Greek Catholic clergy in late 1891, it was decided to unite the independent lodges to form a stronger bond between the Rusyn people spread out in various towns of Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Illinois and New Jersey. The organizational meeting took place on February 14, 1892 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Since all of the lodges were associated with Greek Catholic churches, it only made sense to call the new organization the Greek Catholic Union. The GCU began humbly with 743 members and $600 in assets. We may have grown to a multi-million dollar company, but our goals today are still the same as the vision of our founders. GCU actively protects families by offering insurance products that insure the lives of our members, but also annuity products that protects a family s financial future as well. GCU offers fraternal programs that give our members the chance to collaborate in social, athletic and fundraising activities. Many of the fundraising efforts are aimed at improving services in the lodge s local communities. Many things have changed since our founding in 1892, but our fundamental goals remain the same. As our mission statement reads: Protecting Families, Promoting Faith and Fraternalism, Strengthening Communities. Page 2 of 7

3 Why Should I Consider GCU? As a Fraternal Benefit Society, GCU is an excellent choice for anyone interested in: 1. A higher degree of safety for their principal. a. Fixed annuity products. b. Conservative Investment Philosophy. c. An excellent track record throughout our history. No GCU member has ever lost one penny of principal, nor have we ever NOT paid the interest rate promised to our members. 2. Interest Rates that are EXTREMELY competitive. a. Compared to rates offered by other insurance companies. i. No phony rates hiked up by a big first year bonus and a low base rate. b. Compared to bank CD s or Money Markets 3. Tax deferred interest growth on personally held accounts. (One Plus Four, Triple Adv, Five Yr Adv, Flex 8) a. NO 1099-I each year if you aren t taking withdrawals! b. GCU compounds interest daily! You don t have to wait until the first of one month to get credit for the previous month s interest. 4. Being part of a company with a true Social Conscience. a. Our mission as a company is centered on Faith, Family, and Fraternalism. b. GCU supports youth and senior initiatives nationally, and through our many districts and lodges. c. College Scholarship programs for our younger members. d. Our members do thousands and thousands of volunteer hours in the communities they serve. e. A Member Referral program that supports YOUR favorite qualified charity. Combine all of this with the fact that we are a company whose Members are the true owners, and you can see why GCU is the right choice for tens of thousands of investors just like you! Page 3 of 7

4 How Can GCU Offer Such Great Rates? This is a question that we routinely get! While the rates are VERY attractive, many investors question how we can support the rates we offer. It s a fair question. 1. As a Fraternal Benefit Society, and based upon our charitable works, GCU is a nonprofit organization. 2. We do not have outside investors that don t personally have funds invested in one of our products. As such, while many stock companies have both clients AND investors who share in the company s profits, GCU s Members ARE our owners/investors. 3. We are a DEBT FREE organization. Our Home Office and the land it sits on were paid for DECADES ago. 4. We are committed to controlling expenses. Unlike many institutions that seemingly have offices on every corner, our Home Office in Beaver, PA is our ONLY office. And, you won t find a Corporate Jet here! 5. We manage the investments and service the needs of our members with a Home Office staff of around 30 experienced, dedicated employees. When you combine all of these factors, we simply have more left out of every dollar of profit that our investments generate, and that DIRECTLY impacts the interest rates we are able to offer! Page 4 of 7

5 General Information Contact Information Our goal for the various procedural guides is to assist you in properly completing the various annuity and life insurance forms for GCU contracts. As you can imagine, individual situations are going to dictate what forms will have to be included in each case, but we will do our best to cover the most common cases. Should you have questions or need clarification, please know that we are here to assist you if you aren t able to find your answer within this guide. For questions regarding forms and procedures with new cases, please direct your calls ( ) or direct your s to us in Marketing/Business Development: George Lopata Director of Marketing Ext 3921 GLopata@gcuusa.com Marilyn Dyrwal Ass t to the Mktg Director Ext 3801 MDyrwal@gcuusa.com Scott Luster Director of Bus. Dev. Ext 3922 SLuster@gcuusa.com Tom Dowlin Ass t to the Dir of Bus. Dev. Ext 3802 TDowlin@gcuusa.com Agent Web Access We continue to develop this resource, but at present, once you are registered at our website, you will be able to see a list of your clients, their accounts, account values, etc. It is essential that agents become registered at the site, and use this resource before calling into our Home Office for contract values. If you are not registered, you ll need to contact Scott or Tom who can assist you in the process. Addresses We communicate with our agent force almost exclusively via . As such, it s very important for agents to check their inbox for the account they ve given us. We strongly urge all agents to also give us the address for an assistant or other person who would be able to receive s in their absence. Page 5 of 7

6 Commissions All commissions are paid on the 3 rd business day of the following month for business PRODUCED in the previous month. In order for commissions to be paid the contract must be issued and settled, meaning that all necessary forms are accurate, complete, and money has been received and applied. NO contract will be produced and mailed pending a form that will be obtained by the agent at delivery. All commissions are paid via direct deposit, without exception. Life Insurance premiums MUST be received before the contract will be mailed. Annuitants Due to the way our by-laws are structured with regard to membership, our contracts do not permit co-annuitants on a deferred annuity application. Co-annuitants are possible with our Option B Single Premium Immediate Annuities where a Joint & Survivor settlement option has been elected. Also, the annuitant MUST be a person. Ownership can be assigned to a nonhuman entity, and we ll cover that under Assignment of Certificate later in this guide. In situations where another company s annuity is set up with co-annuitants, be aware that such an account CANNOT be transferred into GCU. It would require the existing account to be changed to a single annuitant PRIOR to being transferred to GCU. Existing contracts need to transfer to GCU on a like to like basis. GCU membership is extended ONLY to the annuitant/insured, and never to any assignee. Membership is individual and does NOT extend to any family member. In the case of a husband and wife, if they both wished to be members, it would require 2 separate contracts with each listed as the annuitant/insured on their respective contract. Membership There are no separate applications for membership, and no annual membership fees. One becomes a GCU member by having an annuity with at least a $300 balance or by being the insured on a life insurance policy. While an insured on a term policy is a GCU member, they are not eligible to participate in certain fraternal benefits. (See Fraternal Benefits section) Contract Production It is our goal to have all contracts produced and mailed to the agent within 5 business days of receiving the application (with a deposit), providing all necessary forms are properly completed and signed. Transfers and 1035 Exchanges will not be produced until the funds are received Page 6 of 7

7 from the prior company. Once approved by Underwriting, Life Insurance contracts will not be mailed until a premium payment has been received. Checks Checks for deposits should be made payable to GCU when written by your client. We do not accept third party personal checks. Account Statements We issue 2 paper statements per calendar year following the end of the second and fourth quarters. Clients who wish to see quarterly statements MUST register online at our website AND request quarterly E-Statements. If they register online and DO NOT request E-Statements, they will receive the aforementioned 2 paper statements during the year. Clients who ARE registered online and who HAVE requested E-Statements will NOT receive paper statements. Rating At this time, GCU is not rated by any ratings institution such as A.M. Best. While we did participate in the Best Ratings for a period of time, it became clear that, among other things, GCU, as a Fraternal Benefit Society with under $1 Billion in assets and the majority of our members residing in a concentrated area, we were not going to be provided a rating that was commensurate with our long history, and financial stability. As such, we withdrew our subscription with A.M. Best in In our history since 1892, the GCU has weathered one major depression and multiple recessions in the U.S. economy. No GCU member has ever lost even a penny of their principle, nor have we ever failed to credit the promised interest rate to any of our members. State Guaranty Fund As a Fraternal Benefit Society, GCU is not permitted to participate in a State s Guaranty Fund, due to the open contract we issue and the protections afforded to us by way of the Maintenance of Solvency Provision that is in all GCU contracts, as well as all contracts issued by any Fraternal Benefit Society. Page 7 of 7