What the heck IS Primerica?

[medaroge]

My mom was telling me about this "great" "opportunity" that her new friend was "letting her in on" where her friend would be her boss. It is called Primerica. I have searched on here and all over the internet but cant find out how the individual Primerica "consultant" makes any money. All I have heard is something about insurance, debt consolidation, MLM/Pyrimid. And she is a teacher and knows NOTHING about finances, but her friend says you dont need to know anything about finances to be a Primerica Consultant. The whole thing sounds : to me. My mom is thinking of quitting her job, teaching, to do this, I want to find out more about it, but like I said, all I get is the fluff stuff.

thanks,
~Melissa

[mightymoo]

No personal experience, but here is a wikipedia article & a blog entry on whether its a scam with a lot of user comments.

Sounds like the truth lies somewhere in between... not a total scam, but maybe makes promises to new hires which maybe not warranted.

[~Megan~]

My sil and bil did this. It wasn't a scam. You sign people up for mortgages and loans, real ones that sound like they have decent terms, and you get paid for that. Its like commision.

They liked doing it okay and probably would have continued if they didn't have a small child and want more kids. Its hard to do all those appointments and be away from your little kids that much.

[rockycrop]

This sounds a whole lot like what my mom is into right now, except it's called "Team America".
I have seen her give a couple of sales pitches to family and friends about why they should join, and it always makes me really uncomfortable.
There do seem to be some good deals associated with joining this group, but I really don't like the way they go about trying to recruit members.
From what I have gathered from watching her video ::shudder:: people make money from getting other people to join. It's like a pyramid in that if you get some one to join and then that person gets someone to join you make money from both.
This may be different from what your mom is doing though.
My mom was teaching, but she retired this year. I don't see this kind of business having much longevity. But what do I know?

[PajamaMama]

My husband and I went to a security conference in Atlanta a few years ago, and we happened to be staying at the same hotel as this HUGE Primerica convention. It was very strange and we had several people approach us and try to sell us stuff once they found out that we were not at the hotel for their convention.

It is multilevel marketing and a pretty big scam in my opinion, only the people at the top of the pyramid can afford to do this as their 'day job'. It also takes a certain kind of person to do this work successfully-one who doesn't mind alienating 90% of the people they meet by trying to sell them something. I would really discourage my own mother from getting into this if I were in your shoes.

[Twinklefae]

My sister was going to do this. It is a scam. They will not pay what they say they will. Do no let your mother quit her job to do this.

[ShaggyDaddy]

If it's too good to be true...

[Jenelle]

I am not sure about the specifics as far as training, compensation, etc. But I can tell you that we have an acquaintance who we've known for years, who has been working with Primerica for maybe 3 years or so. It is not a total scam. He is obviously able to make some money at it, or he wouldn't still be doing it. However, he is not one of the total "quacks" that are harassing people at conventions, etc. as far as I can tell. He has been very professional and very non-pushy with us and several other families we know.

Primerica is a division of Citibank. They are a legitimate company. Whether your mother can sell enough life insurance and mortgages to actually support herself, though, is questionable. Certainly not in the very beginning. Certainly not a reliable income. And she would have to have additonal licensing to be able to help people with the investing part of the package.

[ashesofyou]

I answered a help wanted ad for Primerica for an administrative assistant. They pulled a "bait and switch" and said that I had SOOOOOO much more to offer the company.

I ended up watching a presentation film, and asked to pay them for their time in training me, as well as my training materials.

Yeah. Primerica has made me leary to deal with Citibank on much else either. If they have allowed their name to be associated with a pyramid scam this long, I don't have much good to say.

Me... pay Primerica to allow me to be in their employment?....: For which my income will be SOLELY based on commissions???? I can tell 'em where to shove it and how to get it there!!!

[turtlewomyn]

It is a pyramid, but the won't admit to it being a pyramid. We were contacted by a Primerica rep when one of my husbands coworkers referred us. They find new clients by harassing you into giving them the names and numbers of all your friends and relatives. We refused, she wasn't very happy with us. We got a mortgage refinance through her from Citibank and rolled all our debt into the house. We ended up moving shortly thereafter for DH's work and cannot sell that house now, because the market dropped out from under us. The citibank loan also has a penalty on it, so if we do sell it before the three years is up (Feb 2009) we have to pay them extra. We also got life insurance and a money market account with them, we have canceled both of these since that time. She also wanted my husband to go and work with her (the one way they can really make money is to recruit people into working for Primerica). I was hesitant as my husband already has a good job that he loves, we had a new baby and I couldn't imagine him having time to do both. He went to a recruitment meeting with her, and on the way there she tried to conspire with him against me as in "We need to convince your wife that you should do this, how do we do that?"
They claim that they can save you money, get you out of debt, and all these other wonderful things, but our financial situation has gotten much worse after working with them. Not all of it directly related to primerica, but some of it is.

[captivatedlife]

I'd tell you mom to stay away - even if she thinks she could be one of the ones making money.

My mil started somthing like this and she is pushing all her family away by trying to get the to buy her service.

She send E. a little dress and in it, she had multiple fliers for us. What does she want us to do - hand them out? No way!

[MissAshley]

Thanks,I hope I get one of these.

Thanks,I hope I get one of these.