Our family's experience with EquiTrust after the passing of both of our fathers has been incredibly disappointing and frustrating. Both of our fathers had annuities/accounts with EquiTrust. After their passing, we promptly submitted all required documentation for the beneficiary claims, including death certificates and claim paperwork. What should have been a straightforward process has instead turned into a prolonged and stressful ordeal. Communication has been slow and unclear, and the claim process has involved repeated delays and requests for additional information with little explanation of why the payouts cannot be completed. Families dealing with the loss of loved ones should not have to chase down a financial company for benefits that were specifically intended to help them during a difficult time. Unfortunately, our experience has made an already emotional situation even more stressful. Based on what we have experienced, I would strongly advise anyone considering doing business with EquiTrust to carefully research how their beneficiary claims are handled. How a company treats families after a policyholder passes away says a lot about their values, and our experience has raised serious concerns. read more

We have had excellent service with our agent. Very knowledgeable and looking to help us with our needs.

This is the most horrible company that I have ever delt with, my mother passed and a typo was was made on the claims form on my behalf. The taxes withheld for state with supposed to be .2% and the typo was 20%. I called the Equitrust and the representative stated that is should not be a problem because the typo happened with this year. She said that she would get back to me. I had to call back and they refused to help me and correct the typo and send the additional funds. I asked to speak with a manager and they would not allow me to speak a manage. My mother had been with this company since 1994. What a horrible way to treat people that are going through a loss of a parent. No compassion here at this company. read more

See the other reviews on WalletHub. This place reminds me, eerily, of a Ponzi scheme. If you haven't gotten your money out yet, do it. NOW. They give you the runaround about your withdrawals and expect you to hang on forever while they tell you they need this, that, and the other to put you off. They don't need anything else from us to process the request. This is FRAUD. And it ends today. We are sending a demand letter. If we don't have our money by the date/time we demand, they'll be hearing from the Iowa State Attorney General's Office. Get your money out now. And RUN. read more

We have money in a trust and are wanting to get it out. So far nothing we sent all the paper work in and we get the same paper work back stating it was filled complete. This has been a good 5 weeks doing the same paper work. Finally sent an email to them the last time and got a letter back stating everything was in order and we would be getting a letter to sign for the release of funds. That was 5 days ago today got the same paper work stating the last forms were not filled out right again. This time I am going to an attorney. That is our money and we have the right to get it back we invested in good faith. They are as crooked as can be. read more

This company is terrible. 1st, the guy who sold us this long term care policy told us we would get a 7% return on our money, ( we have not). 2nd, I have tried on many occasions to try to reach him because my husband is dis-abled now and we really need the money monthly, and he doesn't return my calls. 3rd, I am now writing a letter to report this company and John Nakao to the Insurance Commission to see if they can help me. read more

My elderly parents put a large part of their life savings in an annuity with this company and did everything right in terms of trying to get the money out when the due date came. EquiTrust tried to roll over the money for another six years even though we faxed and emailed paperwork before the deadline asking them to transfer the money.  My mother was told on the phone that they EquiTrust would now charge $11,000 to get the money out because the annuity was automatically renewed. Often we would be put on hold for 30 minutes or more at a time and would never talk to the same person. Letters would be sent from EquiTrust by regular mail to us, but the space for the customer service representative signature to sign would be blank. After months of calling, and getting the run around, we were able to get help from the annuity specialist who had set things up originally. The money is finally out of EquiTrust and we were ultimately able to avoid the charge, but this only happened at the point where we were getting advice from lawyers. I would suggest staying away from this company. read more

This is the most inefficient Company I have ever dealt with. They totally messed up the processing of our funds request, and we will now miss our closing for a new retirement home. We tried to use a fax with forms request to speed up the process. Forms faxed November 9. Today is November 17. They still have not sent the other forms that the original customer agent forgot to tell us about. No way we will make our close date now, and probably have to forfeit our purchase and earnest money. Time to call a lawyer. read more

I have been fighting with this company for 5 months over my family's trust money. I have sent 3 sets of forms to them, my agent ( their agent) also sent a set of forms. They always reject. I even filled out the forms with one of their employees on the phone and still rejected. They also will then ask for new, never brought up, forms. They just want to keep my family's money for themselves. Beware of this company! read more

I was invited to a free luncheon and investment presentation at a local restaurant. The presentation was interesting and sounded good. I displayed interest and invested money. Th presenter was also the person I signed up with. He had made a few friendly calls, but they all stopped after I actually invested. I do not recall ever being told this was an annuity until I had already signed up. In short the warm cozy presentation turned out to be an investment into a very controlled "Annuity" with limited availability to my own money. I am now trying to salvage as much of my investment as possible in spite of their deductions for pity self imposed rules. read more

Equitrust Life Insurance Company This company did nothing for me. The first time I talked to Agent John Anthony Sellas , I told him specifically I wanted a "SELF DIRECTED IRA," simply because I wanted to invest in real estate. He told me he would get in contact with me in a few days. What I found odd is that when we finely met, Mr, Sellas originally wanted to meet at my house, I did not feel comfortable about him meeting me at my house in New Jersey. He had no office because he stated that he usually did business in Florida. Instead of an office, we met at a restaurant. John Sellas told me he found the perfect match for what I wanted and asked me to sign the paperwork. Mr. Sellas deceived me though; he did not put my money into a self-directed IRA like the one I wanted. Mr. Sellas put my money into a fixed deferred annuity, fixed for 14 years. He never explained this to me nor did he do what I asked him to do. I was unaware of this and when I went to get my money, they then told me I was locked into fixed deferred annuity for 14 years and that I could only take out 4 thousand a year for the next 14 years. I explained to the company who I talked to that I am 56 years old and that I never asked for this. They simply said I would be charged a surrender fee of 20%, which means they would take anywhere between 5,000 to 10,000 dollars if I wanted to roll it over to what I initially wanted, which is a SELF DIRECTED IRA. This company did not have my best interest at hand and I am going to complain until I am blue in the face. DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY OR Agent John Sellas 813-282-3486. DO NOT TRUST THIS INDIVIDUAL! I have filed a complaint with FINRA, "financial Industry Regulatory Authority". I am a woman from Trinidad, here on a Visa and all John Anthony Sellas kept telling me is that, "He would take care of me." He never took care of me, he was out for his own gain only. I am 56 years old, why would I want to keep my money in an annuity for 14 years, and wait till im 69 years old? Ramah Alexander read more

I have had a substantial account with this company for a number of years. I submitted my form to close my account and receive my money in order to close on a new home. They dragged their feet and dod not start the process in a timely manner, putting our closing date impossible to meet.After contacting their so called customer service twice and explaining my plight to a supervisor i was told there was nothing they could do because of their procedures. They were unwilling to do something as easy as faxing or emailing a form to me. I plan on investing again in the near future, but it wont be with this company. This is ridiculous its my money. read more

I am a current client of EquiTrust, and have tremendous regrets for investing with this company. I was informed by an investor that EquiTrust was a difficult company to work with, and I have learned a costly lesson. Having invested for a six year term, once completed, I opted to transfer my funds to another investment company. EquiTrust has deliberately held my money for 25 days, claiming false errors in the paperwork, refusing to release the funds. All the while, EquiTrust is making gains on my money and refusing to pay me a penny of interest earned since the day my annuity matured. I have made multiple phone calls regarding the delay and each representative tells a different scenario as to why the funds have not been released. I am fully aware of the deception on their part. They have the wrongful terms embedded deep in the contract, which leaves the client in a hopeless situation when the client decides to withdraw funds and interest that is rightfully theirs. I have multiple annuities with various companies and never have I experienced such an issue with a 1035 Exchange. I would advise anyone considering EquiTrust as a safe place to invest, to look closely at this company...the evidence is out there. read more