We're here to help.

On March 23^rd, New York Life announced that no client would lose their coverage during the period beginning on March 24^th and ending on June 23^rd. Note that in order to qualify for this temporary pause, your policy must have been issued and the first premium paid prior to March 24^th.

For Whole Life and Term policies, this means that any policy that missed a premium payment during this time, or should have lapsed or been cancelled, would be kept active until at least June 23^rd.

For Universal Life and Variable Universal Life policies, this means that any policy that had an insufficient cash surrender value to cover the policy’s monthly deduction charges, or should have lapsed or been cancelled, would be kept active until at least June 23^rd.

On April 24^th, New York Life announced additional policyowner protections: the 12-Month Repayment Program and the Financial Hardship Program. The programs work differently depending on when your policy should have lapsed, foreclosed, or entered the grace period.

Any policy that was issued and had the first premium paid prior to March 24^th, 2020, and that would have lapsed, foreclosed or entered the grace period between March 24^th, 2020 and June 23^rd, 2020 will be able to enroll in either the 12-Month Repayment Program or the Financial Hardship Program:

12-Month Repayment Program

This repayment plan gives you the ability to pay for any scheduled premiums on Whole Life and Term policies that were due but not paid during the Do Not Lapse Period to repaid over a 12-month period. Similarly, this program allows Universal Life and Variable Universal Life policies to pay Monthly Deduction Charges that were due but not paid during the Do Not Lapse period, plus an amount to keep coverage active for an additional two months to be repaid over a 12-month period. This balance is called the “Total Repayment Amount”. There is no proof of financial hardship required for this program.

The full terms and conditions for how the program works can also be found here; however it is important to understand the following details:

• In order for your coverage to remain active, you will need to resume paying your scheduled premiums (for Whole Life and Term policies) or you will need to pay an amount sufficient to keep your policy’s cash surrender value (or net cash value where applicable) positive (for Universal Life and Variable Universal Life policies) once the Do Not Lapse period ends (the Do Not Lapse Period is currently scheduled to end on June 23^rd)
• You will also need to begin repaying any amounts that were required to keep your coverage active, but not paid, during the Do Not Lapse period on your policy. We will notify you when these payments begin, but it will not be before August
• Each month you will be billed an amount that is equal to one twelfth (1/12) of the “Total Repayment Amount” due (“Monthly Repayment Amount”)
• If you do not pay this Monthly Repayment Amount, the policy could be cancelled or may lapse
• For Whole Life policies any Policy Loan Interest not required to satisfy an excess loan condition, and Option to Purchase Paid-up Additions (OPP) payments that were missed, will not be included as part of this repayment program

Financial Hardship Program

You may qualify for additional assistance if you can demonstrate financial hardship due to COVID-19. You can elect to apply for an extended Do Not Lapse period for up to an additional 90 days. After that time, you will automatically be enrolled in a 12- or 24-month interest free repayment plan. 

The full terms and conditions for how the program works can also be found on here, however it is important for you to know the following:

• Approval is required for this program
• This program can extend the Do Not Lapse period of your policy for up to an additional 90 days 
• This additional Do Not Lapse period begins on June 24th and is subject to a 180-day maximum from when your policy first entered the grace period
• During this additional Do Not Lapse period, your policy will not be cancelled or lapsed for any reason
• Once this additional period ends, you will automatically be enrolled in a repayment plan giving you the ability to pay the scheduled premiums (for Whole Life and Term policies), or the Monthly Deduction Charges that were due but not paid during the additional Do Not Lapse period, plus an amount to keep coverage active for an additional two months (for Universal Life and Variable Universal Life policies)
• You will need to resume paying your scheduled premiums (for Whole Life and Term policies) or you will need to pay an amount sufficient to keep your policy’s cash surrender value (or net cash value where applicable) positive (for Universal Life and Variable Universal Life policies) once the additional Do Not Lapse period ends in order for your coverage to remain active
• If the Total Repayment Amount is $3,000 or more AND your policy has a face amount below $1 million, you will be given 24 months to repay the Total Repayment Amount; otherwise you will be given 12 months to repay this amount
• For Whole Life policies, any Policy Loan Interest not required to satisfy an excess loan condition and OPP payments that were missed will not be included as part of this repayment program
• Policy actions that are allowable during contractual grace periods will continue to be allowed during the initial Do Not Lapse period and any extended Do Not Lapse period

Policies that are Paid to Date through June 23^rd, 2020 (the end of the Do Not Lapse period) and either miss a premium payment (Whole Life and Term) or enter the grace period (Universal Life and Variable Universal Life) between June 24^th, 2020 and December 31^st, 2020 are only eligible for the Financial Hardship Program

In this situation, the Financial Hardship Program will differ from the description above as follows:

• New York Life will extend your grace period to 90 days
  • For Whole Life and Term policies, this means an additional 59 days beyond the contractual grace period
  • For most Universal Life and Variable Universal Life policies, this means an additional 28 days beyond the contractual grace period³

³VUL policies that fail monthly deduction processing due to unpaid loan interest will receive an additional 59 days beyond the contractual grace period.

The easiest way for you to enroll is reviewing the material on this page where you will find the following:

• A “how to” on enrolling in the 12-Month Repayment Program and Financial Hardship Program
• A link to the online account registration page
• A “how to” on registering for an online account 

If your policy is not eligible to enroll online, please call us at 800-225-5695. We’ll be happy to help you enroll.

The enrollment process will work differently depending on when your policy would have lapsed or foreclosed or entered the grace period, as well as what type of policy you have.

If your policy would have lapsed, foreclosed, or entered the grace period between March 24^th, 2020 and June 23^rd, 2020⁴, you should wait to enroll until you receive a letter from us notifying you about the 12-Month Repayment Program and Financial Hardship Program.

Policyowners of Whole Life and Term policies with premiums due between June 24^th, 2020 and December 31^st, 2020 will be eligible to apply online for the Financial Hardship Program on June 24, 2020. Although New York Life may approve your hardship claim prior to missing a premium payment, you will not be officially enrolled in the program until you’ve missed a premium payment(s). 

Policyowners of Universal Life and Variable Universal Life policies that enter the grace period between June 24^th, 2020 and December 31^st, 2020 will be not be able to apply online for the Financial Hardship Program until after your policy enters the grace period. 

⁴Note that in order to qualify for this temporary pause, the policy must have been issued and paid the first premium prior to March 24, 2020.

You should act as soon as you are eligible to do so.

If you own a policy that would have lapsed, foreclosed, or entered the grace period between March 24^th, 2020 and June 23^rd, 2020⁴ will have at least two weeks from the date your letter is mailed to enroll.

If you own a policy that misses a premium payment (Whole Life or Term) or enters the grace period (Universal Life or Variable Universal Life) between June 24^th, 2020 and December 31^st, 2020, you will have at least 31 days from either the missed premium due date or the date the policy enters the grace period to enroll.

⁴Note that in order to qualify for this temporary pause, the policy must have been issued and paid the first premium prior to March 24, 2020.

12-Month Repayment Program

You will receive a confirmation email once you apply to enroll online in the 12-Month Repayment Program. 

Once New York Life credits your policy with the Total Repayment Amount (note this could take up 30 days or longer), you will receive a hard copy of the terms and conditions of the program (which you will have already agreed to electronically via your online enrollment application) and a letter outlining:

• The Total Repayment Amount
  
• The Monthly Repayment Amount
• A schedule of when the Monthly Repayment Amounts are due  

Financial Hardship Program

You will receive a confirmation email once you apply to enroll online in the Financial Hardship Program through. 

You will be notified by a Client Service Representative (CSR) if your policy is approved or denied enrollment in the Financial Hardship Program. If approved, you will also be notified regarding when the temporary pause on cancellation of coverage will end. 

Once New York Life credits your policy with the Total Repayment Amount (note, this may take up to 90 days), you will receive a hard copy of the terms and conditions of the program (which you will have already agreed to electronically via your online enrollment application) and letter outlining:

• The Total Repayment Amount
  
• The Monthly Repayment Amount
• A schedule of when the Monthly Repayment Amounts are due

In order to enroll in the Financial Hardship Program, you must demonstrate financial hardship that occurred due to COVID-19.  Proof of this financial hardship can include any of the following:

• Proof of job loss, including notice of termination or confirmation of unemployment benefits
• Proof of income loss including pay statements or a written confirmation of income loss from an attorney, accountant, or tax advisor
• Proof of illness and/or caretaker status including medical payments or a physician’s written statement
• If your financial hardship does not fall into one of the above listed categories, please click the “Other” box listed on the online enrollment screens. In order to determine your eligibility, we may contact you for additional information

Documents showing proof of financial hardship can be uploaded through MyNYL.com or sent to New York Life’s Service Center by sending a fax to 800-278-4117 or sending an e-mail to myinfo@newyorklife.com.

We encourage you to send documents by uploading or faxing them.  While we are prepared to receive documents by email, please understand that we have no control over its security while it is in transit to New York Life.

Any policy that would have lapsed, foreclosed, or entered the grace period between March 24^th, 2020 and June 23^rd, 2020⁴ will have a letter mailed to the policyowner(s) between May 29^th, 2020 and July 10^th, 2020. The letters will notify you that your policy automatically qualifies for the 12-Month Repayment Program and that they can apply for the Financial Hardship Program. The letter will direct you to the following website www.newyorklife.com/enroll where you can apply for either program.

Any policy that misses a premium payment (Whole Life or Term) or enters the grace period (Universal Life or Variable Universal Life) between June 24th, 2020 and December 31st, 2020 will receive information in your grace period notices informing you of the Financial Hardship Program. It will direct you to www.newyorklife.com/enroll where you can apply for either program.

⁴Note that in order to qualify for this temporary pause, the policy must have been issued and paid the first premium prior to March 24, 2020.

When you were on monthly recurring premiums and stopped making payments on your policy, the mode may not have switched to a direct billing basis. In order to ensure that you will be ready for future drafts on your policy, you need to reauthorize New York Life to begin taking payments from your account on file.  If the mode did change to direct billing, you will continue to be billed for future premiums due.  To start monthly recurring premiums, you will need to establish the arrangement on your online account, call the service center to restart, or send a My Payment Preference form to the Service Center for processing.

In most cases, no.

For Whole Life/Term policies: Reducing the face amount of your policy may reduce the required future premium payments, but it will not reduce the Total Repayment Amount, which accounts for past due amounts. 

For Universal Life/Variable Universal Life policies: In most instances, reducing the face amount of your policy may reduce the required future monthly deduction charges, but it will not reduce the Total Repayment Amount, which accounts for past due amounts. However, if the client reduced the face amount prior to the policy’s past due charges being put into the policy, it may result in them having a lower Total Repayment Amount due.

No, it is not. The Total Repayment Amount is calculated without the scheduled OPP premiums being included.

If loan interest due caused your policy to enter the grace period, then yes, the Total Repayment Amount will include that loan interest.

The Total Repayment Amount that is calculated for Universal Life policies with an NLG Rider will be the same as those policies without an NLG Rider. The Total Repayment Amount will be based on the contractual amount required to get the policy out of the Grace Period. The required NLG amount will not be factored into the calculation.

This means that the Total Repayment Amount calculated for Universal Life policies will be equal to any amounts that were due and not paid during the temporary pause plus an amount to keep coverage in force for an additional two months. In some instances, this amount will be greater than the required NLG amount and in other cases it will be lower than the required NLG amount.

It depends. 

For policies where the state of issue is New York or New Jersey:

• Proof of financial hardship is not required if the client misses a premium payment or enters the grace period prior to October 1, 2020. When these clients enroll on the online account, proof of hardship will not be needed to apply, only an attestation that they have experienced hardship.
• Proof of financial hardship is required if the client misses a premium payment or enters the grace period on or after October 1, 2020. When these clients enroll on the online account, proof of hardship will be needed to apply.

Yes, you can still partially POP your policy. You will be responsible for any additional premiums due as well as the monthly repayment amount due.  

Yes, you will have the option to pick and choose which policies to enroll. However, not all policies will be eligible for this program.

We wanted to give clients that owed premiums over $3,000 more time to repay amounts owed.

Please refer to this webpage for the full terms and conditions of each program as they vary for the different product types.

Yes. You can make additional payments to reduce the amount you owe. This will not decrease the future monthly repayment amount but will shorten the number of payments you need to make.

Yes, you can make one-time EFT repayments for your WL, Term, and UL policies through MyNYL.com or by calling the Service Center. 

Unfortunately, at this time, EFT repayments cannot be automated, and EFT repayments are not available for VUL policies. For VUL policies, the only method of payment is via check.

No, this is an interest free repayment program, so a discount is not available.

Yes, you can make a repayment by signing into your account on newyorlife.com and scheduling a one-time EFT payment for most products. If you own one of the following products, you will not be able to make the repayment via the New York Life website:

• Variable Universal Life
• Employee’s Adjustable Life
• Seven Year Term
• Any product issued by NYLAZ

All bills will be sent on or around the 22^nd of each month and due on the 15th of the following month.  For example, our first Monthly Repayment bills will be sent out on or around August 22^nd and have a due date of September 15^th.

These bills will be separate from the regular premium billing notices you receive.

No, you will not be able to make a payment via the Voice Response system.  However, you can talk to a Customer Service Professional to make a one-time payment.

Yes, you can replace your coverage during the repayment period. You can carry over your policy’s cash (surrender) value, but it will either be reduced by any remaining Total Repayment Amount or you will have to repay any remaining Total Repayment Amount.

If you replace a Term policy to another Term policy within New York Life, you will be required to pay any remaining Total Repayment Amount before the replacement will be processed.

If you opt into one of these programs, any Total Repayment Amount remaining will be deducted from your policy’s death benefit upon the death of the insured. Additionally, any repayment amounts due, but not paid will be excluded from the cash surrender value and the loan value. 

For full details, please refer to the terms and conditions which can be found here. You can also contact your agent or call us.

No, you cannot convert your Term policy or Term rider – either a partial conversion or a full conversion – until the outstanding Total Repayment Amount is paid off. 

No, you cannot increase the Face Amount of your policy until the outstanding Total Repayment Amount is paid off. 

Yes. If your policy has available cash surrender value, you can take a loan or partial surrender while enrolled in these programs. Please note, that any repayment amounts due but not paid will be excluded from the cash surrender value and the loan value.

No, you will still be responsible for their Monthly Repayment Amount.

Yes, you can. Please note that you will still be obligated to meet the 90-day elimination period for CCR claims and may have your first month’s acceleration reduced by the amount of missed premiums or unpaid charges.

Yes.

• If your policy was issued in New York or New Jersey, we mailed you a letter during the first three weeks of May to inform you that you are eligible for COVID-19 relief and your options.
• You will also still receive additional letters from us explaining your options.
• Policyowners of  policies issued in New York and New Jersey do not have to provide documentation of financial hardship to enroll in one of our Policy Owner Accommodation Programs if your policy misses a premium payment or enters the grace period prior to October 1, 2020, you only need to “attest” to financial hardship. 
• Proof of financial hardship will be required for any policies issued in New York and New Jersey if your policy misses a premium payment or enters the grace period on or after October 1, 2020. 

If your policy was issued in California, the State Commissioner has extended the no lapse period to July 14, 2020.  

Any policy issued in Delaware that qualifies for Financial Hardship will not lapse prior to July 5, 2020, even if this date exceeds the 180 day grace period cap. 

If your policy was issued in the District of Columbia with a first premium paid prior to March 24, 2020, your policy will not lapse prior to October 9, 2020.

Any policy issued in Hawaii with a first premium paid before March 24, 2020, will not lapse prior to June 26, 2020. 

Policies that were issued in Indiana that enter the grace period between April 24, 2020 and May 31, 2020 will not lapse until after July 30, 2020.

Any policy issued in Oregon that enters the grace period before September 20, 2020 will not lapse for at least 90 days from when they enter the grace period.