Midland National review: don't trust them 11

I want everyone out there who is shopping for life insurance to know to stay away from Midland National Life of Sioux Falls, SD!

They are involved in unfair sales practices, in particular targeting the elderly.

Lawsuits have been filed in several states against Midland National Life! Minnesota, California, Rhode Island, Iowa and Hawaii have all filed suits related to Midland's sales practices. This has got to be an indicator of some sort!

Don’t do business with Midland National Life! Their history with their insurance sales practices is VERY worrisome. Midland National Life Insurance has had lawsuits filed against them in several states. You can see these lawsuits at: http://www.midland-national-life-review.com.

The Minnesota State Attorney General’s Office filed against Midland National Life in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 2007, alleging the company was making inappropriate long-term annuity sales to seniors. There have been similar class action lawsuits filed against them in California, Iowa, Hawaii, and Rhode Island. They have been fined in Arizona twice as well.

THINK and do some research before giving this company any of your money... make sure the insurance agent is NOT writing an application for one of Midland National Life's products. It seems that Midland National Life is like several of the other big companies in the news today…known to take your money and completely disrespecting their customers (and in these cases BLATANTLY RIPPING PEOPLE OFF!).

All of these Midland complaints should have one name on them: Eric Castaneira.

I'm writing just to offset this troll above who puts a negative review of Midland on every site he can get his grubby hands on. Now that Eric Castaneira is out of prison for holding the Midland VP hostage at gunpoint, and he has unsuccessfully tried to sue Midland, so now he's moved on to slander and libel. This bottom feeder is actually blacklisting Midland agents by name on his website.

Just search Eric Castaneira and you'll see.

Is that the same Eric Castaneira whose Family was threatened by Midland for blowing the whistle on them? The lawsuit he filed (Castaneira v. Midland National Life Insurance, et al; Civ #10-4039, United States District Court, Southern District of South Dakota) is posted at www.midland-national-life-review.com. Is this the same Castaneira that Midland signed a settlement agreement with and then broke their promise?

Here are a few excerpts from it:

Despite all of Midland’s claims of improper behavior on Castaneira’s part they offered to reinstate Castaneira’s contract and return all of the commissions they had withheld if he would drop his lawsuit against them. Castaneira refused to consider this until Midland agreed to objectively review and investigate their sales practices.

In mid August, 1991 Castaneira was made aware of a telephone call between two individuals that he believed to be Wilson and William Rigsbee (hereinafter “Rigsbee”), then president and CEO of Midland, in which the subject of harming Castaneira or Castaneira’s family was raised to prevent Castaneira from causing any further trouble.

In 1997 the IRS filed a tax lien against Castaneira for income on commissions he was supposed to be receiving from Midland; however, Castaneira had not received a check from them in over seven years.

An attorney contacted Midland on Castaneira’s behalf for an explanation and Midland, an insurance company that is required by law to know where every dollar is at every moment, took 42 days to respond that they had approximately $50, 000 in commissions they had been holding for Castaneira. They also could not explain why they had been served an IRS lien on any money in their possession over one year earlier but had not disclosed the money to the IRS in violation of the law.

In mid summer, 2003 Castaneira was made aware of a recording of a telephone call in which individuals affiliated with Midland and their private investigators openly discussed their frustration with Ligtenberg’s inability to “get the job done” and whether Castaneira “should be dealt with”. The tone of the conversation made it very clear to Castaneira that the context of the conversation was a discussion of serious harm or death, and he took preventive measures for his security.

In November, 2003 Midland again became serious about reaching a settlement, and in December Castaneira signed a settlement agreement titled “Mutual Release” (hereinafter “settlement”) with Midland that provided for structured payments of over $166, 000. As part of the agreement Midland agreed to advocate Castaneira’s ability to leave South Dakota and later qualified the extent of their efforts as “whatever was necessary”.

Midland insisted on a “non disclosure” clause in the settlement that would prevent Castaneira from making public Midland’s payment and the fact that the settlement included the following language “There have been…disputes and differences... Castaneira and Midland have now agreed in consideration of the terms hereinafter set forth in this agreement, to settle all disputes and differences between them."

Yep, that’s the kind of life insurance company I would defend!

Has anyone seen ONE WORD anywhere on the internet of Midland National denying any of these complaints or allegations? With as much damage as this story is causing them, and with the army of lawyers they have hired, why haven’t they gone to court to stop all of these complaints if it they weren’t true?

While you were ranting about Castaneira being a “do gooder” you failed to mention that Midland has been sued by thousands of its customers in at least six different states for ripping them off. The Minnesota Attorney General sued them for the same thing.

Midland National agents have been given the opportunity to make this public pledge:

ETHICS PLEDGE

I will not promote, endorse, or sell any life insurance, annuity, or investment products for, or on behalf of, Midland National Life Insurance Company, North American Company for Life and Health, Midland Annuity, or Sammons Financial Group until those companies agree to resolve in a fair and equitable manor all outstanding policy and contractual litigation and disputes with their current and former policy holders and agents.

How can any HONEST life insurance agent have a problem with that?

Perhaps you should spend less time complaining about people that have made an extraordinary personal sacrifice in warning consumers and spend more time becoming an ethical insurance agent.

Is that the same Eric Castaneira whose Family was threatened by Midland for blowing the whistle on them? The lawsuit he filed (Castaneira v. Midland National Life Insurance, et al; Civ #10-4039, United States District Court, Southern District of South Dakota) is posted at www.midland-national-life-review.com. Is this the same Castaneira that Midland signed a settlement agreement with and then broke their promise?

Here are a few excerpts from it:

Despite all of Midland’s claims of improper behavior on Castaneira’s part they offered to reinstate Castaneira’s contract and return all of the commissions they had withheld if he would drop his lawsuit against them. Castaneira refused to consider this until Midland agreed to objectively review and investigate their sales practices.

In mid August, 1991 Castaneira was made aware of a telephone call between two individuals that he believed to be Wilson and William Rigsbee (hereinafter “Rigsbee”), then president and CEO of Midland, in which the subject of harming Castaneira or Castaneira’s family was raised to prevent Castaneira from causing any further trouble.

In 1997 the IRS filed a tax lien against Castaneira for income on commissions he was supposed to be receiving from Midland; however, Castaneira had not received a check from them in over seven years.

An attorney contacted Midland on Castaneira’s behalf for an explanation and Midland, an insurance company that is required by law to know where every dollar is at every moment, took 42 days to respond that they had approximately $50, 000 in commissions they had been holding for Castaneira. They also could not explain why they had been served an IRS lien on any money in their possession over one year earlier but had not disclosed the money to the IRS in violation of the law.

In mid summer, 2003 Castaneira was made aware of a recording of a telephone call in which individuals affiliated with Midland and their private investigators openly discussed their frustration with Ligtenberg’s inability to “get the job done” and whether Castaneira “should be dealt with”. The tone of the conversation made it very clear to Castaneira that the context of the conversation was a discussion of serious harm or death, and he took preventive measures for his security.

In November, 2003 Midland again became serious about reaching a settlement, and in December Castaneira signed a settlement agreement titled “Mutual Release” (hereinafter “settlement”) with Midland that provided for structured payments of over $166, 000. As part of the agreement Midland agreed to advocate Castaneira’s ability to leave South Dakota and later qualified the extent of their efforts as “whatever was necessary”.

Midland insisted on a “non disclosure” clause in the settlement that would prevent Castaneira from making public Midland’s payment and the fact that the settlement included the following language “There have been…disputes and differences... Castaneira and Midland have now agreed in consideration of the terms hereinafter set forth in this agreement, to settle all disputes and differences between them."

Yep, that’s the kind of life insurance company I would defend!

Has anyone seen ONE WORD anywhere on the internet of Midland National denying any of these complaints or allegations? With as much damage as this story is causing them, and with the army of lawyers they have hired, why haven’t they gone to court to stop all of these complaints if it they weren’t true?

While you were ranting about Castaneira being a “do gooder” you failed to mention that Midland has been sued by thousands of its customers in at least six different states for ripping them off. The Minnesota Attorney General sued them for the same thing.

Midland National agents have been given the opportunity to make this public pledge:

ETHICS PLEDGE

I will not promote, endorse, or sell any life insurance, annuity, or investment products for, or on behalf of, Midland National Life Insurance Company, North American Company for Life and Health, Midland Annuity, or Sammons Financial Group until those companies agree to resolve in a fair and equitable manor all outstanding policy and contractual litigation and disputes with their current and former policy holders and agents.

How can any HONEST life insurance agent have a problem with that?

Perhaps you should spend less time complaining about people that have made an extraordinary personal sacrifice in warning consumers and spend more time becoming an ethical insurance agent.

Hey "Let's Get Real"...
How about "getting real" about who you are.

Let me ask everyone reading these: If the same person has posted all these complaints under different names, can you trust that person to be honest with you?

No, Eric Castaneira is a lying liar and his entire life is a fraud. Eric, the next time you go down, I hope you go down even bigger than before.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a Midland National Life insurance agent.

NOW you can understand why HONEST life insurance agents are refusing to sell Midland National products anymore.

There was a little boy named ERIC CASTANEIRA,
His mind had always been funny.
He tried to sue, but it didn't go through,
And he just had to have all that money!

So he took him a gun and went to the top
He said "This will get their attention!
I'll act like I'm sad!" (We all know he's mad)
And they put him in state detention.

Well now that he's out and older and "wiser"
He's learned about website promotion
He's making a killing, happily stealing
With slander, libel, and coercion.

And to make it all more despicable, he promotes his website in the name of helping the elderly. You really are a POS, Eric Castaneira.

The mind of a Midland National Life Insurance Company agent.

No wonder nobody trusts them.

I recently bought life insurance through ING/ YourLifeSolution.com, before that some agent from Midland National came around my home acting like Midland National was the one and only,

here is the comparison:

ING from YourLifeSolution.com $57.58 per month on a 20yr term for 1, 000, 000
Midland National $73.58 per month for same term and amount

seriously what benefit do I, as a consumer, get from buying from Midland, NY Life almost had me with their, "we have the highest ratings", but seriously who cares if one is A and the other A++?

I am Eric Castaneira's brother and the bottom line is Eric started a agency selling Midland Ins. products and for five years in a row was "Agent of the Year" for Midland Ins. Eric discovered (he told me this before all hell broke loose) agents from Midland were crossing the MD/PA line and selling Ins. products which is illegal.
They (the agents) were also telling the new customers to fudge on their Ins. app, like saying they were not smokers when they were. This was brought to the attention of Midland VP Alan Spenser and within 24 hours Eric was terminated and his commissions frozen. Along with all of this Eric's wife and child were in a very bad car accident and the family money ran out. This resulted in Eric's trip to Souix Falls and his confrontation with the late Mr Alan Spenser. Eric swears to this day that in the office he did have his Baretta 9mm but not directed to Mr Spenser, but held to Eric's head saying to Mr Spenser tell the truth or explain why my brains are all over you office rug. I have been in law enforcement and have very good street smarts and know this. Eric was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Elections in a one horse mid western town, a pending legal action against the largest business concern in that area and a company with no honor. as for the late Mr Alan Spenser, he was dirty all day long and tried to cover his butt and his companies assets. A lying dirt bag alive is no better than a lying dead dirt bag. My relationship with Eric has been harmed over the situation, but I hope Eric finds peace and sues the living hell out of that den of thieves called "Midland Ins.
Sincerely,
Warren Castaneira
macmedic@hotmail.com