Missouri Code of State Regulations › Title 20 - DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND INSURANCE › Division 400 - Life, Annuities and Health › Chapter 5 - Advertising and Material Disclosures › Section 20 CSR 400-5.200 - Deceptive Practices or Misrepresentations in the Solicitation of Life Insurance

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 14, July 15, 2024
PURPOSE: This rule describes those statements which
				  will be considered to be deceptive practices or misrepresentations in the
				  solicitation of life insurance. This rule was adopted pursuant to the
				  provisions of section
				  374.045,
				  RSMo and implements and defines sections 375.930-375.948,
				  376.500,
				  376.590
				  and 376.673, RSMo.
(1) No
				insurance company shall deliver or issue in this state or permit its insurance
				producers or officers to deliver or promise to issue or deliver in this state
				its own stock or other stock or securities as an inducement to the purchase of
				insurance. No corporation or any of its insurance producers, officers or
				employees shall agree to sell, offer to sell, or give or offer, directly or
				indirectly, in any manner whatsoever any share of stock, securities or bonds as
				an inducement to the purchase of insurance.
(2) The practices and representations
				enumerated and listed in this rule are deemed to violate those sections of the
				Missouri Insurance Code set out in this rule and violations of same by
				companies or their insurance producers shall subject the violators to the
				penalties now contained in section
				375.930,
				RSMo. Violations of same will consist of any of the following statements:
(A) Statements of policy titles indicating or
				implying that the policyholder will participate in the distribution of earnings
				or surplus other than earnings or surplus attributable, by reasonable and
				nondiscriminatory standards, to the participating policies of the company and
				allocated to the policyholder on reasonable and nondiscriminatory
				standards;
(B) Statements or
				illustrations implying that a proposed policyholder will be entitled to share
				in any part of surplus earnings attributable to nonparticipating business or to
				other classes of participating business;
(C) Statements or illustrations setting forth
				the dividend scale of other companies (or a dividend scale of the company for a
				plan of insurance no longer being offered or for a plan of insurance other than
				the plan being offered to the proposed policyholder) with the implication that
				these statements or illustrations serve as some sort of a guideline as to what
				the proposed policyholder might expect to receive under the proposed
				policy;
(D) Statements or
				representations or the use of any documents (either in the form of a copy of a
				board resolution, certificate of participation or in any other manner
				whatsoever) in conjunction with the solicitation or issuance of a life
				insurance policy which purport that the policyholder will or might reasonably
				expect to receive any valuable consideration or inducement whatever, not
				specified in the policy contract of insurance;
(E) Statements which do not clearly inform
				one that dividends are not, and cannot be, guaranteed;
(F) Statements which purport or imply that
				accumulated dividends will be sufficient, after an unreasonably short period of
				time, to require no further cash outlay for the payment of premiums;
(G) Statements which purport or imply that
				the anticipated annual dividend will equal or exceed the annual premium due
				under the policy, except in those cases where the company's current rate manual
				so reflects;
(H) Statements
				indicating or implying that the policyholder will receive some preferential or
				discriminatory advantage or benefit not available to persons who purchase
				insurance from the company at future dates or under other
				circumstances;
(I) Statements or
				representations purporting that only a limited number of policies will be
				issued on a particular form (however true the statements might be) since those
				statements imply preferential treatment;
(J) References to the investment nature of a
				policy which state or imply that a life insurance policy possesses investment
				features other than those arising from the cash, loan or maturity value or the
				settlement options available thereunder;
(K) Statements which tend to lead the
				prospect to believe that the insurance producer is dealing in other than a life
				insurance contract or that life insurance is incidental to the purchase of the
				contract;
(L) Statements which tend
				to lead the prospect to believe that s/he is purchasing stock of the insurance
				company or that s/he is acquiring any right or benefit which corresponds to a
				right or benefit enjoyed by a stockholder of the company;
(M) References to premiums as deposits in a
				manner as to lead the proposed policyholder to believe that they create a fund
				which is withdrawable without reference to the cash surrender or loan
				provisions of the policy or the use of any passbook savings record or any other
				device which leads or would tend to lead the policyholder to believe or gain
				the impression that the contract represents a savings plan;
(N) Statements or representations that any
				part of premium payment, advance premium payment or of dividends will be placed
				in a segregated fund for the benefit of the insureds (except for those variable
				contracts which might be issued pursuant to section
				376.309,
				RSMo);
(O) Statements which tend to
				lead a prospect to believe or infer that each policy-holder is given the right
				to purchase or allocate a specific number of policies;
(P) The use of comparative selling in a
				manner which might lead a prospect to believe that the company's experience
				under a particular plan will be as successful as the experience achieved under
				a similar plan by reference to a particular company; and
(Q) Any comparison of the policies or
				contracts of any such insurer(s), shall be deemed to be an incomplete
				comparison, if it does not compare in detail the gross premiums and gross
				premiums less any dividend or other reduction allowed by the insurer(s), at the
				date of the comparison and the increase in any cash values and all the benefits
				provided by each of those policies or contracts for a period of twenty (20)
				years. The omission from any comparison of any benefit or value provided in any
				such policies or contracts or of any differences as to amount or period of
				payment of premiums shall constitute the comparison an incomplete
				comparison.