Here is a quick run-down on what you will find in this bulletin: November 4,…
U.S. Update News June 2005
The disk update will be processed Wednesday, June 30th and the disks will be shipped on that day. You should have the disk update by Tuesday, July 5th.
Here is what we told you last month:
There remains a minority of Compulife subscribers who still get disk updates rather than Internet updates.
During April Compulife removed the opportunity for NEW subscribers to purchase updates on disks. The only disks we are now shipping are those to existing subscribers who still get their updates by disks.
However, effective July 1, 2005, EXISTING customers will be faced with higher prices and new conditions when they renew their subscription for updates on disks. If you are getting disk updates, and want to hold off on switching to updates by Internet, you need to read this carefully.
First, renewal prices for disks will increase. To ensure that all disk update customers stop receiving disk updates after December 2006, all disk update customers renewing after July 1, 2005 will be invoiced for the total number of months left to December 2006. This will ensure that each disk subscription is paid to the end of 2006. It will not be renewed past that point as a disk subscription.
From July 1, 2005 forward, personal use disk subscription renewals will be priced at $29 per month, payable in a lump sum to the end of December 2006.
Agency use disk subscriptions will be $39 per month, payable in a lump sum in advance to the end of December 2006.
VERY IMPORTANT: The absolute last date anyone will be able to obtain a monthly update by disk will be December 2006. From January 2007 and forward, ALL Compulife subscribers will need to receive updates by Internet. If you are not connected to the Internet by January 2007, you will no longer be able to get Compulife updates.
If you act before July 1, 2005 (NOW JULY 10, 2005), the cost of your renewal will be based upon the total number of months left times the average cost per month based upon the current annual fees of:
Personal Use – $25 per month (rather than $29)
Agency Use – $33.25 per month (rather than $39)
If you wait until AFTER July 1, 2005 (NOW JULY 10, 2005) to renew disk updates, you will pay the higher prices.
One of the results of this integration is the fact that a subscriber, who does not renew their subscription, will automatically be deleted from the listings at www.term4sale.com. Prior to this we cross checked lists in November when we were invoicing paid listings for the following year. At that time we removed subscribers who had not renewed their software subscription. With the change that we have made, term4sale listings will be automatically deleted when the subscriber does not renew.
There is a negative implication as a result of this change. It affects those who have paid to be listed in additional zip codes at www.term4sale.com. When a subscription is not renewed, and the term4sale listings are removed, paid zip code listings are also removed. We need to clarify that if paid zip codes are deleted due to non-renewal of a subscription there is no refund for unused zip code listing fees.
If the subscriber subsequently renews their subscription, then their paid listings are automatically reactivated.
Based upon the small number of requests for additional free listings, we assume most subscribers have not read the offer. Here it is again:
1. Term4Sale – Agent edition
An individual subscribing to the lowest cost version of Compulife will continue to be entitled to one free listing at www.term4sale.com. There is no change for Term4Sale subscribers.
2. Personal Use subscription
An individual agent subscribing to the full version of the Compulife Quotation System will now be entitled to have two free listings at www.term4sale.com. Prior to this change, the maximum number of free listings was one.
3. Agency Use subscription (Standard License)
Agency subscribers are now entitled to have up to three free listings at www.term4sale.com. Prior to this change, the maximum number of free listings was one. NOTE: There will still be the requirement that a single individual be listed as the contact person for the agency.
If you are a personal use or agency subscriber, and already have one free listing at www.term4sale.com, please send Diane an e-mail at dwelch@compulife.com indicating which other zip codes you would like to add. Alternately, you can give Diane a call at 800-798-3488. Please keep in mind that new listings requested during June will be posted on July 1st.
Previously our practice was to take products that have fractional pennies in their rates per thousand and round the rates up to the next whole cent. This made our quotes fractionally higher than they should be.
As a result of this change, ManuLife’s Family Term product line is now quoting exactly the same as the company’s software. Premiums should no longer be fractionally higher when quoted in Compulife.
IMPORTANT: This change requires a New Internet Engine for those who use the Internet engine.
The new engine is NOW ready for shipment. If you have not received a new engine you should assume you have been missed and you need to contact Bob Barney at 800-798-3488 or you can e-mail Bob at barneyrl@compulife.com.
This change required a minor data conversion which necessitates a change to the data structure. This means that the new data is NOT compatible with old data. While this will not be a problem for customers who subscribe to our software, because the new program and data will be introduced at the same time, it does create a problem for those who use the internet engine.
Therefore, if you are using Compulife’s Internet engine, you need to replace the engine with the new engine. If you do not, and as in the ManuLife example discussed earlier, your quotes will be inaccurate and will be too low.
IMPORTANT: This Data Modification IS NOT AVAILABLE in DOS
If a product requires only two decimal storage, then the DOS program will still be able to quote it. However, if the multiple decimal data storage option has been implemented for a product, the DOS version will skip over that product and the product will NOT be quoted.
Therefore, those running the DOS version of Compulife will no longer be able to quote ManuLife’s Family term products. Another company affected by the change is Equitable Life. You will not be able to quote their 10 and 20 year term products with the DOS version of Compulife.
We are now confident that the Windows program is able to do ALL things which the DOS program was able to do. More important, the Windows version is able to do MUCH MORE than the DOS program was ever capable of doing.
Effective NEXT month (July Update) we will be deleting the DOS program from our updates. The way it will work next month is that when you double click on the DOS icon to run the DOS program, it will automatically start the windows version of Compulife. There is no doubt that that will provoke an unhappy reaction from those who don’t read our bulletins but once we have worked through the transition problems arising from that unhappy experience (for some), we will permanently say good-bye to the DOS software.
For those doing monthly updates by Internet, we rely on three other web sites to supply monthly updates. These are automatically checked and used by our automatic Internet update software.
1. Switch to obtaining monthly updates by Internet.
Not only will you eliminate the expense and hassle of returning disks, you will save $100 per year in subscription fees.
To switch to Internet monthly updates, go to our web page www.compulife.com and select the last menu choice “Forms, applications, instruction tutorials, etc.” Under the section “License Agreements” you will need to select and complete a new License Agreement for the type of license you have. After you have printed the new agreement, please read it, especially the part where you agree that you have successfully downloaded and processed our “mid-month updates”. If you haven’t done that before, call us and we’ll be happy to step you through the procedure. It’s easy.
2. Disk Purchase Program
The other way to avoid returning the disks and the disk box each month is to pre-purchase them for $21 per year ($1.75 per month). Once you do that you can keep them for future reference, throw them away or return them for a credit (once each year) when you are invoiced for the following year. $21 costs you less than mailing back disks each month.