Avoiding pressure, misleading offers, and scams
Most insurance professionals are honest. This market also attracts a smaller number who are not, and older adults are targeted deliberately. Knowing the standard tactics makes them easy to spot and easy to end.
How a legitimate agent behaves
- Gives you their name, license number, and the issuing insurance company's name without being pushed.
- Lets you take documents home and read them before signing.
- Answers "how are you paid?" plainly.
- Encourages you to include a family member in the conversation.
- Explains what the policy does not cover as clearly as what it does.
- Accepts payment only to the insurance company, by check or authorized bank draft.
- Accepts "no" without escalating.
Tactics that should stop the conversation
Manufactured urgency
"This rate expires tonight." "Only a few policies left in your area." Insurance rates are filed with state regulators. They are not one-day offers, and there is no allotment of policies per county. Urgency exists to prevent you from reading, comparing, or asking a relative.
Implied government or benefit affiliation
Mailers and calls sometimes use official-looking envelopes, seals, or language about "benefits you may be entitled to," "final expense program," or "new state law." No government agency sells final expense insurance, and Medicare and Social Security do not call to sell you a policy. If contact claims a government connection, treat everything that follows as suspect.
Requests to omit or shade health answers
An agent who says a condition "doesn't count" or suggests leaving it off is exposing your family to a denied claim during the contestability period. Answer every question truthfully; if you're uncertain, say so and let the insurer decide.
Unnecessary replacement of existing coverage
Being urged to cancel a policy you've held for years and replace it with a new one deserves scrutiny — replacement restarts contestability and any waiting period, and may cost you accumulated value. Most states require specific replacement disclosure forms. If you are considering it, ask for those forms and have someone independent look at both policies.
Unusual payment demands
Premiums are paid to the insurance company. Gift cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrency, payment apps, cash, or a check made out to an individual are not how insurance premiums are collected — those requests indicate fraud.
Pressure to sign electronically without reading
"Just click here and we'll go over it after" is backwards. Read first. Ask for the documents by email or mail and take the time you need.
"I don't make financial decisions on the phone. Please send the information in writing and remove me from your call list." Then hang up. You are not obligated to stay on a call, to explain yourself, or to be persuaded. You can also register at donotcall.gov, and report calls that continue.
Verify before you buy
- Verify the agent's license through your state department of insurance. Every state offers a public lookup, and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners maintains consumer tools and a directory of state departments at naic.org.
- Verify the insurance company is licensed to do business in your state — also through your state department of insurance — and look up its financial strength rating from an independent rating agency.
- Ask for the policy form number and confirm the product is approved in your state.
Where to report a problem
- Your state department of insurance — the primary regulator for agents, insurers, claims disputes, and sales practices. Find yours through naic.org.
- Federal Trade Commission — reportfraud.ftc.gov, for fraud, deceptive advertising, and unwanted telemarketing.
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — consumerfinance.gov, for related financial products and services.
- National Elder Fraud Hotline, operated by the U.S. Department of Justice — 833-372-8311, for elder fraud reporting and support.
- Adult Protective Services in your state, if you believe an older adult is being financially exploited.
- SHIP (State Health Insurance Assistance Program) — free, unbiased counseling; useful for Medicare questions and for finding local, non-commercial help.
We list these because they are free and independent. We have no relationship with any of them, we receive nothing if you contact them, and we are not able to intervene in a dispute ourselves.
If you already signed something
Look immediately for your state's free-look period, which begins when the policy is delivered and commonly runs 10 to 30 days. During that window you may generally return the policy for a refund of premium — read the policy's first page and follow its instructions for doing so in writing. If the free-look period has passed and you believe you were misled, contact your state department of insurance; they take complaints from consumers directly and can require the insurer to respond.
Last reviewed: August 12, 2026