What is happening to Athene

[AnnuityGuy63]

Not sure about anyone else here but they are on my Do Not Use list, no matter how good there indexes look and they really don't look like anything special. But their customer service hold times are ridiculous with no acceptable excuse for the lengthy hold times.

Does anyone know the reason for this?

I cna't even get the rep on the phone anymore to move cases along so i have actually withdrawn applications and moved them elsewhere.... anyone else?

 

[Tahoe Ray]

Not sure about anyone else here but they are on my Do Not Use list, no matter how good there indexes look and they really don't look like anything special. But their customer service hold times are ridiculous with no acceptable excuse for the lengthy hold times.

Does anyone know the reason for this?

I cna't even get the rep on the phone anymore to move cases along so i have actually withdrawn applications and moved them elsewhere.... anyone else?

The hold times and processing times seem to be ridiculous with several carriers.

We've seen the same with Athene but it seems like it's bad with a lot of carriers. One large carrier was taking up to 17 business days to process NIGO corrections up until recently.

That's almost a month! Crazy. It feels like stuff is starting to break loose a little but the summer was especially rough.

I'm not sure if it's the WFH world we now live in or if the staffing was down during COVID and never was replaced.

It certainly is frustrating.

 

[LostDollar]

Not sure about anyone else here but they are on my Do Not Use list, no matter how good there indexes look and they really don't look like anything special. But their customer service hold times are ridiculous with no acceptable excuse for the lengthy hold times.

Does anyone know the reason for this?

I cna't even get the rep on the phone anymore to move cases along so i have actually withdrawn applications and moved them elsewhere.... anyone else?

Caveat, NOT an agent.

(Following comments relate to MYGA's, not FIA's)

In 2020 and 2021 my IRA and 401K both paid RMA's and increased in value. In 2022 they have both dropped over 20% in value after RMD's and market decreases.

The Athene MaxRate 5 (low band) had an interest rate of 2.05 in Jan and its interest rate is now 4.05.

The current Athene MYG MVA 5 (low band) (bank only?) rate is even higher.

That suggests to me a possibility of dramatic money movements to the annuity market going on right now that may not have been anticipated and staffed for at the beginning of the year.

 

[walthamny]

Athene changed/automated their suitability recently and they also raised their rates. And they clearly did not hire sufficient staff. If you submit a new annuity with a check attached it sometimes takes 3 weeks to issue. Before you submit anything to Athene check your app, any NIGO will mean another 6 weeks delay. Athene and Banner Life are so backed up in processing, they should get downgraded on their credit rating as a penalty

 

[goillini52]

Athene changed/automated their suitability recently and they also raised their rates. And they clearly did not hire sufficient staff. If you submit a new annuity with a check attached it sometimes takes 3 weeks to issue. Before you submit anything to Athene check your app, any NIGO will mean another 6 weeks delay. Athene and Banner Life are so backed up in processing, they should get downgraded on their credit rating as a penalty

Damn. I recently submitted one to Oxford with a check attached and it was issued and commissions paid the next day. I guess Athene does a lot more business than Oxford. I'll stick with Oxford.

 

[Whammer1249]

I recently had a withdrawal request take Athene 8 business days to process. Had another request with AIG and it was processed the next day.

 

[scagnt83]

I recently had a withdrawal request take Athene 8 business days to process. Had another request with AIG and it was processed the next day.

In all fairness, 8 business days is fairly standard in the annuity industry. Next day processing for an IRA transfer is extremely rare.

The main issues with Athene right now are in new business. Normal Customer Service seems to be business as usual.

 

[AnnuityGuy63]

In all fairness, 8 business days is fairly standard in the annuity industry. Next day processing for an IRA transfer is extremely rare.

The main issues with Athene right now are in new business. Normal Customer Service seems to be business as usual.

25 minute hold time then being hung up and starting over to wait another 20-30 minutes is not acceptable practice in my book. Athene has lost all future business untilt hey hire an acceptable workforce

 

[scagnt83]

25 minute hold time then being hung up and starting over to wait another 20-30 minutes is not acceptable practice in my book. Athene has lost all future business untilt hey hire an acceptable workforce

I agree. But that has nothing to do with the comment I was responding to.

Athene should be ashamed of the current wait times for new biz and customer service. My last FIA case went to a different carrier specifically because of the current mess at Athene, and it easily could have gone to Athene. My last Athene case took 60 days to complete, 50 days of that was waiting on suitability/processing (had 1 nigo item that was resolved next day). It took 10 days to issue once they had the transferred funds... never in my career has it taken that long.

Never in my career have I experienced new biz processing that was so piss poor. They should be ashamed.

But I do believe its a temporary issue. Sure it should have been expected and they completely dropped the ball. But I do not feel its the end of the world, or makes them a terrible choice if they provide the best benefit for the situation. Prep the client mentally, prep yourself mentally, an extra few weeks is not the end of the world if its the best solution.

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It sounds like you had a bad experience with being hung up on... which was probably just a complete accident. I have never had that happen before with them. A 20min wait time is annoying, but not the end of the world. The wait times for new biz is much more of a concern for me. But I do agree that Athene needs to expand their workforce to make up for this HUGE lack of support.

 

[Dix86]

Yep, I'm on business day 9 waiting for a myga to issue. Hard pressed to keep telling the client its normal when they saw the money come out of their account 9/21.... Hard for me to understand how this process takes so long.