Our hearts are with everyone affected by Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma and National Life is doing what it can to help in a variety of ways.
We already know that the company made a $50,000 contribution to hurricane relief to agencies in the Houston area.
And just this past week a group from the home office who were in Dallas for meetings with general agents traveled to Garland, Texas, to volunteer.
They helped at Trusted World, which is a nonprofit that receives clothing and food donations, which are checked for quality and then sorted and inventoried for distribution to where they’re needed.
In this case, people who lost so much during the floods after Hurricane Harvey are receiving the help.
We are also focused on helping our customers, and here is a summary of that assistance:
For our Life Insurance Customers:
The Texas Department of Insurance encourages insurance companies to provide relief for policyholders who reside in the counties included in Governor’s Disaster Declaration. This relief includes premium payment relief, which means we will accept premium payments for those within the impacted areas up to 120 days from the due date.
The Texas counties in the disaster declaration are: Aransas, Atascosa, Austin, Bastrop, Bee, Bexar, Brazoria, Brazos, Burleson, Caldwell, Calhoun, Cameron, Chambers, Colorado, Comal, DeWitt, Fayette, Fort Bend, Galveston, Goliad, Gonzales, Grimes, Guadalupe, Hardin, Harris, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jim Wells, Karnes, Kerr, Kleberg, Lavaca, Lee, Leon, Liberty, Live Oak, Madison, Matagorda, Montgomery, Newton, Nueces, Polk, Refugio, San Jacinto, San Patricio, Tyler, Victoria, Walker, Waller, Washington, Wharton, Willacy and Wilson.
As of yet, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has not provided specific guidance regarding Hurricane Irma. We will accept premium payments for Florida residents up to 120 days from the due date.
Please Note: The relief does not mean the premiums are being waived. Policies will lapse for nonpayment of premium, those premiums must be paid and we will accept those payments up to 120 days from the due date.
It should be also noted that late remittance, grace period letters and lapse letters will be mailed for both Texas and Florida residents. The policies will lapse and we will accept premium payments up to 120 days from the premium due date without the normal reinstatement requirements.
For our Annuity Customers:
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is providing relief to retirement plan participants in the FEMA declared disaster areas for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. How NLG is helping:
- Escalation of loan and hardship withdrawal requests
- Relaxed documentation requirements for hardship withdrawal and loan requests
- Postponement of loan payments until January 31, 2018
- We will work with TPAs to expedite loan and hardship withdrawal requests.
It is important to note that postponed loan payments are not forgiven and must be paid before the end of the five-year loan period.
FEMA Texas Counties, Hurricane Harvey: Aransas, Austin, Bastrop, Bee, Brazoria, Calhoun, Chambers, Colorado, DeWitt, Fayette, Fort Bend, Galveston, Goliad, Gonzales, Hardin, Harris, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Karnes, Kleberg, Lavaca, Lee, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Newton, Nueces, Orange, Polk, Refugio, Sabine, San Jacinto, San Patricio, Tyler, Victoria, Walker, Waller and Wharton.
FEMA Florida Counties, Hurricane Irma: Broward, Charlotte, Clay, Collier, Duval, Flagler, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Putnam, Sarasota and St. Johns.