The staff at Ric Brown Family Funeral Home endured some tough times in their early days when they were trying to process insurance assignments on their own. Then, they found Claimcheck.
Now, they no longer have to deal with the stress of accepting life insurance policies as a payment method and wondering when they’ll get funds.
Funeral director Tim Brown shares the struggles their business had before finding an assignment company and the successes they now experience on a daily basis with Claimcheck.
How long has your funeral home been working with Claimcheck?
It feels like we have been working with Claimcheck forever! We started working with them in the early 2000s, shortly after we opened our business, so about 20 years or so. We worked with them when they were called Directors Choice Assignment Services, so it has been quite a while!
How did you handle insurance claims before using Claimcheck?
We were doing snail mail, meaning we filled out all the documentation perfectly, mailed it by hand to the insurance companies, and waited for a response. When it came back to us, we hoped for a check, not a request or error.
In the insurance assignment business, you often mail something off and don’t hear from the company for 6 weeks. All that time passes, and when you do eventually hear back from them, you’re informed that they still need another form or signature. Getting those requests and updates is difficult when expecting a check in the mailbox.
The bottom line is you are still out of that money.
Another problem with the old way is that we’d often have to come back to the family 8 weeks later and ask for another signature or more documentation. Sometimes, the family didn’t live in the area, and tracking them down wasn’t easy.
Was there a specific moment that convinced you it was time for a change?
We’d been open for about a year, and the early days in any new business are challenging. There’s not much sleep, there’s a lot of stress, and there’s no money.
In one month, we got 11 life insurance policies. We wouldn’t tell the families, ‘No, we will not take your policy.’ But behind the scenes, our staff was sitting at a table thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, what are we going to do?’ We had 11 caskets to pay for, so our whole team threw in whatever money we could.
Sure, the money from these policies was coming, but it wasn’t in our bank account when we needed it. We were out approximately $50,000-$60,000 for weeks before we got the money back from those policies.
We needed to make a change, and Claimcheck approached us. We couldn’t afford to get into that type of situation again.
What have been some of the benefits of using Claimcheck?
One thing that stands out is that when a problem arises, and we need to call, there’s a person on the other end of the line talking to us. There’s none of this, ‘Push 5 to file a claim, push 7 to speak to a representative, etc.’ All of the phone automation usually results in a wasted 30 minutes and not even getting an answer to your problem.
With Claimcheck, we typically make a phone call and describe the issue we’re struggling with, and they quickly walk us through it. Not every problem can be fixed, but at least they walk us through it and tell us exactly what we need to do and how to move forward.
Quick funding also sets Claimcheck apart from other insurance assignment companies.
How has the quick funding turnaround time helped your business?
We used to wait weeks, if not months, to get paid. We were a new business, and waiting weeks or months to get funded would affect us. We were having serious trouble paying our employees and other aspects of the service.
Our business completely changed after signing up with Claimcheck. We could finally increase the number of services we could conduct because we were getting funded right away. We were able to focus on serving families and continuing our operations without the financial stress.
Plus, Claimcheck helps us finish everything before the funeral. We know everything needed for any particular policy and get it all done before the family packs up. It has truly changed everything. Typically, before we’re at the graveside, we’ve been funded for that funeral. We owe all of the alleviated stress to Claimcheck.
Claimcheck ensures we have income, regardless of the insurance company’s requests. We already have those funds in our bank account, so we can carry on helping the families plan meaningful services.
What kind of results have you seen since implementing Claimcheck?
One of the things that’s always very important to me is knowing that the policy we are accepting is a good and non-contestable. Insurance has many laws, and Claimcheck navigates all of them for us.
Claimcheck is quick about doing their homework, getting the appropriate information, and ensuring each policy is verified. Within a couple of hours, we know the type of policy we are dealing with. I then have peace of mind knowing everything is going to be good in terms of getting funded.
What’s been your experience working with the customer support team at Claimcheck?
We’ve had a fantastic experience working with the support team and have been very pleased. Our businesses seemed to have grown together. Initially, it felt like we only talked with one or two team members, but now they have quite a large staff!
And everyone is on a first-name basis. My mom has been retired for quite some time now, and we still have people who ask about her. Those relationships formed in the early days are so unique and rare.
The support team has made an effort to invest in the partnership and grow the relationships. This is really beneficial because we feel comfortable calling with any issue and have confidence that the help we need is on the other end of the phone.
No amount of money can buy resources as valuable as calling an expert that you know and trust to help you fix any issue. How do you put a price tag on that?
Would you recommend Claimcheck to another funeral home? Why?
I certainly would recommend Claimcheck to another funeral home. We’ve had such good experiences with Claimcheck, and I’m confident other funeral homes would, too.
The truth is that Claimcheck is a back-end type of operation. It’s not something the public normally sees. It’s a service aimed at offering easier solutions for funding a funeral. I have seen with my own eyes what they can do for families. Of course, I would recommend something like that.