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What Is Transamerica?
What Is Transamerica?Everyone needs insurance and financial security; turns out, it’s possible to make money selling insurance and financial plans.
Why not recruit people, have them sell plans, and collect a percentage of their earnings?
That’s what Transamerica is all about, it’s an insurance company that also has a money making opportunity for anyone who is interested.
Anyone can join the team and earn commissions on sales or new recruits.
Before we dive into the details, it’s important to understand how this company came into existence, so as to give you a little insight into the companies founder.
You can also check out the step-by-step training that helps me earn over $10,000+ per month working from home.
Unlawful Marketing Practices
Hubert Humphrey founded a company named World Marketing Alliance in 1991 which was dedicated to providing investment options with minimal taxes.
This company was a complete multi-level marketing scheme.
Hubert admitted to using motivational marketing techniques to gain more recruits and build an army of passionate salesmen.
But it didn’t work out as he planned, the company was routinely fined for various reasons, such as failing to report complaints, and unlawful marketing practices.
Still, he managed to sell it in 2001 competing firm Aegon.
The new company adopted similar but less controversial marketing techniques and the firm’s name was change from World Marketing Alliance to Transamerica.
However, both companies are a part of World Financial Group Subsidiary but the company also uses several other names, such as: Global Equity Lending, Global Realty Marketing, and Hegemon Group International.
Interesting fact: Hubert Humphrey saw massive success with these companies and invested most of it into building a massive 47,000ft mansion.
The mansion boasted 7 bedrooms, a home theater that cost $1 million to build, 82 rooms, 62 televisions, a diner, a bowling alley, and a private lake.
Not bad.
The total price for this mansion came to $50 million!
But, the mansion was seized by the bank, and eventually sold for $11.5 million to an anonymous couple in 2005.
One of the reasons World Marketing Alliance’s name was changed was because the company had built itself a bad reputation based on fraud.
Hubert Humphrey basically created a multi-level marketing company that had very little structure which meant people would use unlawful marketing strategies to gather new recruits.
When the company was bought the new owners did their best to clean up the mess and implement strict guidelines.
But some of the same techniques are used today but on a much smaller scale.
So if you’re confused, here’s the rundown: Hubert Humphrey founded World Marketing Alliance, scammed a bunch of people, collected a bunch of cash, and sold the company to Aegon. Aegon then changed the company’s name to Transamerica.
How Do You Make Money With Transamerica?
Transamerica is still built on the same multi-level marketing system but with a few more regulations.
The company uses similar recruitment practices as other multi-level marketing systems such as home presentations and ridiculous claims of wealth.
To start promoting new recruits will need to pay $100 as a processing fee and then pay an additional $300 to start recruiting new members.
Then, like a classic multi-level marketing scheme, the new recruits recruit more recruits, and the money flows up to the top.
The idea is to focus on recruiting new recruits because that’s the most profitable way to make money with this firm.
You can also make money on commissions, and your recruit’s commissions.
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Are There Any Issues With Transamerica?
One former Transamerica worker mentioned that the training basically consists of motivational speeches and testimonials from people at the top of the pyramid who claim that their lives have been changed with this new opportunity.
It seems like you will also have to buy tickets to various conferences to give speeches and try to recruit high profile people.
This, of course, will be paid from your own pocket.
You will also be told to recruit family and friends.
That might sound like a good idea but most people’s family and friends are not the target audience for these plans.
Not to mention that you only have a limited amount of family and friends.
What happens when you run out? Here’s what happens: most people leave the company after a few weeks.
People don’t stick around forever, they’ll leave, and that means you will lose recruits, and you will have to find new recruits, and then those recruits will leave too.
It’s a constant struggle to find more recruits than you lose.
It’s really not worth it.
Also, friends don’t like it when you always try to sell them things. They won’t be friends for much longer.
You should also know that anyone who has no experience can join this party.
That might sound good for people who want to make money but for people who want to purchase financial services, not so good.
Would you hire a “financial adviser” who has no experience and training to invest your money wisely?
I know I wouldn’t but that is what’s happening with Transamerica and the people who fall for the schemes.
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Final Verdict
In a nutshell, Transamerica does have some decent financial services, but the affiliate program really needs some work. If you’re looking for a way to earn a decent income then check this program out.
If you have experience in this industry it would be much more profitable for you to invest your time into setting up a real business.
With Transamerica, even though it does have some good services, it will take a long time for you to make good money and it takes a lot of money to get started as well.
It’s practically the same as starting a new business from scratch but without the profit margin room.
So keep your distance from people who promise all the riches in the world for recruiting new people.
Also, don’t fall for home presentations and other tricky marketing strategies.
Most importantly, don’t invest your money into a company unless you know without a shadow of a doubt that it’s legitimate.
In this case, Transamerica is a legitimate company, but and even though there is a lot of shady marketing involved, it’s not completely illegal.
Is it worth your time?
Not really; there are much better things you can do with your time.
Have you had experience with Transamerica or any of the firms mentioned in this article? Leave a comment below.
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My friend talked me into signing up for a life insurance policy with him. He’s trying to recruit me, but I had a feeling something was off. Now that I know the history of Transamerica, I’m going to cancel it.
Meeting after Meeting. Pushed into every direction. Pushed to make sales and recruit with no clue to when I would see a penny. Paid for EVERYTHING. Background check, work materials “to better grow,” online courses, had to purchase new work attire as they are strict on dress code. Money on gas for meetings every Tue, Thurs, and some Saturdays! Cold calling ALL DAY! Left me with no time for my family or current job responsibilities. Fed “GET RICH” talks all the time. They dangle exciting adventures and Vacations in your face month, only to work harder in hopes to be a part of something bigger!
My advice, sure if you have no education, job skills, or family. DO IT! Otherwise you may be headed down a dead end like myself and others who have tried relentlessly to succeed, for over 3-5 years and then realize your in a scheme making others RICH, while you work for them, for free, for no results. GOOD LUCK!
So my neighbor just got into this, he’s a good guy Ive known for years. He came over with another guy and presented the service as a training for my neighbor. Since Im a good friend, I sat with them and listened to what the business was about. I have an Accounting degree and know a few things about retirement, finances, and what needs to be done to get there, so for the guy to go over things I already knew about wasn’t really anything new for me to hear about. After about 30-45 mins I wasnt impressed with anything that was presented. I have another meeting with my neighbor and the guy today, which I’m going to cancel. I know they want to try and sell me some type of life Ins plan, which I have through my job already, so this isn’t something that I will be going forward with. I’ll have to ask my neighbor if this is something he researched fully. After I did a search on this company I figured I would find out what I already had a clue to. I would recommend these services to anyone.
edit to post, I would NOT recommend these services to anyone.
This is 100% true and as I suspected it is a scam. There’s a kid in my neighborhood who used to do landscaping for himself. Transamerica hired him to sell financial investment services. The kid is 20 or 21 years old and didn’t finish high school. Do you think I’m going to listen to or hand my cash over to a a kid who didn’t finish high school / had no credentials or special training ? Fat chance of that happening. He’s asked me a million times to attend one of his seminars but I truthfully don’t think he’s qualified to advise anyone on investing their money. They’ve told him he’s going to be the youngest CEO to build his confidence but basically their taking advantage of him for his contacts. My advice to him is to dump this BS company and go finish his education because when their done with him they’ll dump him for sure. This should give you a pretty good idea of the people Transamerica hires, people with lots of contacts and family, no special training or degree. Before you listen to any ones advice on investing ask for their credentials first. I was once told by a person that was in a top tier position in a company similar to this that if you wanted to sell 1000 widgets then hire 250 new sales people and put them on commission only. Each new hire would probably buy 1 widget for themselves and sell at least 1 to a relative before quitting.
Transamerica “hires” someone to sell insurance??? That’s the dumbest thing I have read on this pad so far. Transamerica doesn’t “hire” and cannot. Every state requires every agent to have a state license to sell life insurance. You need to pass a state exam, do fingerprint to obtain a license. If someone would be stupid enough to buy a life insurance from someone and don’t ask if they have a license, it’s nobody to blame but yourself.
I received a message saying they are recruiting real estate professionals and invited me to a google hangout meeting or an in-person meeting on Sunday at 7pm. First, what executive would schedule a Sunday at 7pm appointment to explore God knows what. Moreover, I don’t understand how my real estate business corresponds with life insurance. I am not going to sell property to a client and then offer them a life insurance package. I would resemble a snake oil merchant. I was so perplexed that I did some online research. This reeks of impropriety.
I was invited to hear the presentation about Transamerica and didn’t really get to think about it. I agreed to sign up and felt like something wasn’t right. I want out now that I read over the history. Thank you better early than late.
I am also in your current situation, but I foolishly already registered and did my 100 dollar non-refundable background check… Is it going to be a hassle to quit now and have them hopefully terminate all of my information? Is there some sort of bs cancelation fee I wasn’t aware about? Please let me know what next steps I should take to get out of this corner I’ve backed myself into! Thank you
Seriously, how do we get out!?
I hope you’re out by now.
I had an appointment with a recruiter at first was thinking about doing it and gave my info including social security number for the back ground check.i backed out before my background check was complete now im worried about them using it how can i check?
I really appreciate this review. I was about to roll-over our entire 401K and start investing with TransAmerica.
Thank God I found this post, thank God for google.
thanks everyone that left a reply. I was approached by a coworker and made an appointment. After researching this company, I will cancel the appointment. I had a inkling what it was.
thanks again
Dang! I just came from an ‘interview’ today! I was just about to order some of the training materials until I decided to do a little research. Had no clue it was just a MLM scheme! I thought I would actually be selling insurance! They didn’t mention a word about trying to recruit others. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
Hello I feel so bad right know after reading this comments i just sign paper work for transamerica to become a agent. Can anyone help me we a still get out of this problem I’m scared i provided all my information to them will they use it. Will i get out of this without paying anything. Will they sue me for what i just signed and cancelled right away. please anyone help.
Hey friend, I ALMOST did the same thing as you today. They asked for my social and my credit card number and I was like “WTF?” I did not provide any of my information but I did give a signature on something I really hope that doesn’t come back and bite me. How did it work out for you? did you get in trouble of any sort?
My husband had renal failure which is one of the things they are to pay $5,000.00 for but….unless you are in dialysis or end renal failure it wont pay!! It is a ripoff and presented fraudulently to people.
Thanks for nothing Transamerica. SAVE YOUR MONEY!!! dont invest!!!
We are approached by a long-lost friend. All of the sudden, she invited us for dinner, then talked about this “so-called” business. We almost signed up. But decided to learn more about this online.
Thank God for showing me these reviews. So, we don’t fall into the same trap.
Transamerica definitely isn’t for lazy people. I’ve built an awesome career with Transamerica and been able to help many family’s reach their financial goals! And yes if you help families wouldn’t you start by helping your own?? I help my aunt when I got started as a training appointment, three years later she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. Because of what I did to help her set of financial plan she was able to leave her three kids something when she passed . Such a rewarding career opportunity don’t listen to all these negative people ! And the awesome thing is that they don’t require you to be a financial professional . You learn so much and can become a financial professional through all the education behind the company and the products we offer .
The women I went to speak with was RUDE and very PUSHY. She had me watch a UTUBE video from her cellphone but yet she claimed to be very successful. Not once did she explain what I would be doing for transamerica. She started off nice but when I wouldn’t commit to her thinking strategy she turned into a raging bitch who felt the need to belittle me. She put down my seasonal job and said if thats what I want to do with my life then do it “I don’t have time for people like you” people that do not have the desire to make a better opportunity for themselves or others. ( I’ve been in healthcare for 20 + years) She also advised that I would need to be licensed – licensed in what? How long would this take and how much money? I advised her that I had a license and I know how long it look for me to get that license along with how much I paid the state. She then wrote down some figures and said that it would be cheaper than what i paid for my previous license. She also said that I would need to go to the convention- convention I asked. She said yes you must go. Its in Fresno for 3 days. She babbled about how she would teach me the skills to succeed and that I would have a trainer with me at all times. Again ” WTF would I need a trainer for when she hasn’t even explained what I would be doing.
So after an 1.5 hrs this is what I got out of her.
100 to sign up. 50 for this 50 for that.
The best part was when she said I could obtain my license in 3 days… Again license for what? Financing… really financing in 3 days. Who the hell wants to invest with someone who supposably gets a license in 72 hours.
I left with no brochure or literature!!! what does that tell you?????
I’m part of Transamerica, and the practices of our office aren’t shady like that, but my office has people with prior experience that can actually get new business partners off the ground. It sounds like everyone on here has had a terrible experience and it angers me. We make a point to service and educate clients, and new possible business partners.
Do not buy anything from these low life characters at Transamerica. Definitely the biggest mistake I have ever made in my entire life.
During this summer, I was looking for an Internship, and yes a so called “Non-profit organization” wanted to offer me a Financial Internship. During the interview, I asked “What kind of work will I be assigned to work over the course of this internship?” They simply said all programs are customized. You see here, compared to last year, they now starting cover themselves and target those more vulnerable population-College Student, and internship is exactly the perfect entry. During the internship, they won’t ask you to do anything related to the life insurance first. But they want you to outline all those “Brain Wash” books and then you have to participate with making those books like finding supporting articles. Ultimately, they want students working on brain wash and then eventually becoming brain wash. One of my college mate has totally brain washed. He is now the manager of the office. Due to his identity, the recruiting works even more easier. I have foreseen everything during the first day so I left without even talking to them.
I always have people from Transamerica finding my resume on CareerBuilder, claiming “They’ve found the perfect opportunity for me”, and “My skills are a great match”, despite my having done engineering for the past sixteen years. I always write back swearing at them and telling them not to message me anymore, but others keep coming. They probably use the same recruiting approach with people who work at McDonald’s.
I received a phone call last week asking me to partner with her and make $52K a year because I am bi-linqual. I went to the presentation today. I didn’t think I have time to work even part-time but I did fill out the paperwork and gave them my SS#. At the last minute, I told them I would have to think about it and didn’t give them my credit card. I am glad I didn’t give them my credit card, but now I wonder what I signed. Would they come after me to get some money?
I’ve been with the company for a few months, and I’m about to quit. Wouldn’t call it a scam – you start off selling life insurance, then if you’re successful there they’ll move you up to variable securities etc. Everything requires licences, they’ll set you up to take licensing exams in accordance with state laws. That part is legit.
I don’t like the emphasis on recruiting. You start at a 30% commission rate and the only realistic way to increase the amount of money you make per sale is to recruit more people. As you get promoted (by recruiting), it goes up to 45%, 55%, etc incrementally up to I think 82%.
So yeah, you’re going out selling financial products. The products themselves are actually kinda cool, I’m pretty well versed in finance and investments and if you seek moderate rewards with minimal risk and can commit to making regular payments every month without missing any, IULs are tough to beat (they average about 9%, and can keep that ROI into your retirement years because the guaranteed minimum return means you don’t have to shift your investments towards safe, low yield strategies in later years).
What sucks, and why I’m leaving, is that it’s very difficult to make money. The commissions are simply too low (unless you recruit, which I hate doing). Unless you’re a spectacular cold market salesman, you’re just not going to find enough clients to pay your bills. That’s all there is to it.
Consider it as a side gig, if you’ve got some spare time. Don’t expect to get rich. If a TA Agent approaches you and tries to sell you an IUL, understand that it’s a great product for a certain kind of person, and it may or may not be suited to you (refer to my earlier description).
One last thing: TA’s main competitor is Primerica. Don’t ever get involved with them, they have an extremely narrow range of products and they’re all overpriced.
Its a scam ! Transamerica Premier Life Insurance like to trick its people in by signing paper to keep more money im paying the price for it.
The state exam is not that hard. I studied a couple of hours a day for a week and passed. I did it as a favor for a friend so she could document a new recruit…
This organization is a joke! These people recruit and take advantage of first generation americans not caring if they succeed or fail. Their back office is impossible to get on the phone unless you’re an SMD or higher. Your starting commission contract is 35% and the other 45% goes to Transamerica and the upline recruiters to the tune of about 20%. If you meet any of these people turn and run run run!!!
I was a health and life agent for a short time post divorce. I bought a Universal life policy on myself from Life Investor’s, an A+ Co. now absorbed by TransAmerica. My policy had a $5 per mth. child rider with a Conversion privilege up to 5 x the $10,000 Rider amount. The oldest child was converted. She had developed Grand Mail seizures, etc., so I was glad we had a Conversion privilege with no conditions or proof of insurability. I converted 4 other children. The second child was written up as a Smoker, which is a higher rate and affects Cash and Surrender value and longevity. When I objected, as no application section for insurability was required, the company merely sent a life application for my daughter to fill out to prove she was not a smoker, etc. I was caring for kids as a single parent and later an elderly parent, and let it sit thinking I could find some intelligent person at some point at the company to correct this error. As I converted the policies, I was issued 3 different UL products, as they’d say they didn’t sell the old policy any more.
This year, January 2019, I called to do a partial withdrawal on a couple of policies. The Guaranteed interest rate is 4 and 4.5%. I realized the oldest Conversion UL policy was promised .5% more at 21 years! And I inquired as to if I was indeed credited that, and asked for an illustration of the years of that policy, showing that increase and an accurate Cash Value amount. It is June 2019 and I still have not gotten that. They send an illustration of year 28 forward.
This is a small item, but it illustrates a Fiduciary responsibility not met. When I asked who or what decides what interest rate my product gets, there is no answer, verbally or on annual statements. A bank or Credit card co. Couldn’t get away with that. It appears that ‘blocks’ of business are treated differently, regardless what dreams a consumer buying this UL product believes. Lots of loopholes.
More serious: I was told I couldn’t take any $500 amount from the second policy, as it leaves less than $500. That’s because of the COI overcharge on a Smoker rating error affecting Cash Value.
I cannot find one agent (none of TransAmerica’s Customer Service staff OR SUPERVISORS are licensed or trained AGENTS to identify errors or make authorized corrections. TransAmerica has a private satellite Agent/Company to write new business, but they beg off anything else. I get sent finally to a bellicose person who again doesn’t admit to errors. The next Dept. is the Compliance Dept.?
Most Serious: The last 3 policies have a flag via computer not allowing a Partial Surrender, though loans and Partial Surrenders are allowed in the contract language. They say I can loan, paying almost 6% on my money, but not Partial Surrender because I can’t allow my Death Benefit to go beneath the “Initial Minimum Death Benefit”. I have no interest in loans on my own money.
One page describes how to Partial Surrender. On the next contract page, instructions are given if one wants to increase the Death Benefit (application) or decrease, but not below the product’s Initial Death Benefit. TransAmerica’s staff, somewhere, has married these concepts, when after both a loan or Partial Withdrawal the Death Benefit is decreased in fact.
On the first child’s Conversion policy, the only one done correctly, a statement says what the ‘Initial Death Benefit is at that point in the policy, which is around $46,000 of a $50,000 initial Death Benefit.
So, the word ‘initial’ looks like it’s misused, misunderstood, or used to keep the funds in the policy.
State Insurance Commissions usually have one person to read your complaint, have the patience to get through all the verbage, understand Contract language (I will be sending copies of the Policy Pages…)and make decisions.
My opinion: Stay AWAY from TransAmerica and the Universal Life policies. Online TransAmerica has a lukewarm 3 stars and people have problems like myself, getting paid their Death Benefits during emotionally trying times, report stalling and jumping through hoop after hoop, and called them several times CROOKS.
NOTE: You will not get one person to work with at TransAmerica, but repeat your problem over and over to a first name only. I just can’t take this company seriously. Is this the best we have?
So I as an ex-agent have pointed out problems and realities in thinking life policies will allow accuracy, access to cash value, decent customer service or getting a death benefit after years of paying in. My frustration stars and Blood Pressure are at a MAX. What a waste of my time and energy and lack of professionalism and integrity. America has some big holes to patch.
You should probably learn how these horrible products work before selling them – at least you only screwed yourself. There’s nothing unusual about what you are describing, this is the case (loans, etc) with all UL, IUL, VUL, etc products.