Prudential Insurance Co. Roped into Wells Fargo Accounts Mess

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ClassAction.org has obtained the official complaint filed by a New Jersey consumer against The Prudential Insurance Company of America and others alleging the companies acted in tandem with Wells Fargo to sell low-cost MyTerm life insurance policies to customers without their consent. The 26-page lawsuit alleges the MyTerm life insurance scheme was devised by Prudential and its co-defendants, Prudential Insurance Company, Pruco Life Insurance Company of New Jersey and Pruco Life Insurance Company, to “prey upon” Wells Fargo customers.

The lawsuit describes Prudential’s MyTerm life insurance policies as linked to Wells Fargo bank accounts by design as an easier means of auto billing customers for policy premiums. After opening MyTerm life insurance policies, the lawsuit says, Prudential would then allegedly auto-debit monthly premiums from customers’ accounts. According to the plaintiff: “When Wells Fargo customers contacted Prudential to inquire about the MyTerm premium charges, Prudential misled and/or stonewalled the customers.”

Among the heavy allegations thrown at Prudential are claims that the company essentially did nothing (other than allegedly fire workers to keep the conspiracy quiet) once it was made aware of the alleged “underlying deceptive practices and fraud perpetrated on policyholders.” This was made clear after a survey sent out to policyholders to determine the cause of the “high lapse rate” of MyTerm policies found that more than 700 emails were returned as undeliverable, with 12 clients going so far to say they canceled their plans because they did not understand the policy terms or even know about the premiums. From the lawsuit:

“Defendant Prudential took no action to rectify the survey results and assuage consumer concerns. Instead, [Prudential] sought to silence concerns raised by members of its internal investigation teams and engaged in a series of retaliatory firings to mute all mentions of fraudulent conspiracy occurring with the help of Wells Fargo.”