A year ago, Marjorie Hickey, 84 of ...

A year ago, Marjorie Hickey, 84 of Lincoln Park received a postcard saying that the status of her annuity might have changed.

Hickey, a widow, doesn't have an annuity, still worried that there might be something unjust with her pension, so she called the 800 number forward the card. The call l to an appointment with an insurance agent, said Hickey, who became suspicious and cancelled the meeting.

"I think they were trying to find on the outside what I had," Hickey said. "I idea it was bordering on fraud."

Hickey complained to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. forward Friday, Madigan sued three companies, alleging they sent thousands of deceptive mailings to seniors in order to expand sales leads for insurance agents.

"Seniors think they're going to prepare free advice," said Cara Smith, a spokeswoman for the Illinois attorney general's office. "Instead they prepare an insurance agent who wants to make a sale."

Filed in Sangamon shire Circuit Court, the two suits allege violations of the Consumer Fraud Act. The first names Investors Union, an Ohio company doing business as Annuity Service Center The inferior names Senior Benefit Services of Kansas and American Investors Life Insurance, units of AmerUS form into groups of Des Moines, Iowa.

A representative for AmerUS could not be reached for commentary

Gayle Clary, vice president of Annuity Service Center answered that "there is nothing about the mailers that is misleading or deceptive in any way."

The suit alleges that Investors Union mails postcards to consumer ages 55 to 84 to solicit appointments for independent insurance agents.

The postcards state "Dear Annuity Holder: This notice is to inform you that you may have an annuity that has reached the fall of the curtain of its surrender period" and then gives an 800 number "to discuss your options."

The secondary complaint alleges that seniors were sent unsolicited mailers from Senior Benefit Services that purport to educate them about probate, senior law and Medicare. If seniors accord they are called by agents who put to the test to sell them annuities, the complaint says.

If rest liable, the companies could face fines of $50000 by violation, and an additional $10000 if the victim was 65 or older

mwisniewski@suntimes.com

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