Plan holder appeals: Allow release of checks for school year 2011-2012

This has reference to the article titled “Pre-need firm told to stop payment of claims.” (Inquirer, 2/9/12)

I would like to appeal to the Insurance Commission to allow Prudentialife to release the check payments specifically allotted for school year 2011-2012. The processing of claims took longer than it normally would due to the company’s “operational constraints” like limited workforce, as stated in letters sent to all plan holders by company president Jose L. Alba on May 20, 2010 and Sept. 28, 2011. The company however, has always earmarked its available funds to cover the checks that are prepared and scheduled for release on specified dates.

The “stay order” was implemented so suddenly and abruptly that plan holders had no “grace period” to avert its impact on their family’s finances, thus compromising the status of the scholars currently enrolled. A number of plan holders’ checks that were dated January 2012 but left unclaimed due to “conflict in schedule” and distance were also unreasonably affected by the recent order.

Despite the cancellation of its license to sell educational plans in 2009, Prudentialife has practiced due diligence in servicing matured claims every enrollment period. The president of the company, through his letters to all plan holders, has responsibly and dutifully communicated to us updates on the company’s position and on the direction it will take and the changes it will make in the processing of claims.

Once again, I appeal to the Insurance Commission’s sense of fair play, to be more circumspect in its decision, and to kindly allow the release of the checks that have already been prepared for this school year and further on, and to discuss, deliberate and review the rehabilitation plan submitted by Prudentialife.

—ANNIE LOU S. CRUZ, plan holder, Prudentialife Educational Plan, [email protected]