Is there a Primerica Scam, or is it a Genuine Business Opportunity

Is there a Primerica scam?  Primerica Financial Services,
based in Duluth, Georgia, is a financial services marketing
company with approximately 100,000 licensed independent
representatives, many of whom work on a part-time basis.

Through these agents, the company sells financial products
and services that include term life insurance, mutual
funds, variable annuities, loans, long-term care insurance,
and pre-paid legal services to over 6 million clients
through a network marketing sales model.

Founded in 1977, in addition to its 100,000
representatives, Primerica has more than 2000 employees and
conducts business principally in the US and Canada. The
company also operates in Spain as Citisoluciones. Primerica
and its affiliate companies are subsidiaries of Citigroup
Inc. (NYSE:C).

Distributors earn a commission based on the sales efforts
of their organization, which includes their own sales
efforts as well as the leveraged sales efforts of their
downline.  The Primerica opportunity is as an independent
contractor to the company, not as an employee.

It is a business opportunity, not a job. You are not an
employee. This is where a lot of people either don't
understand the opportunity, or have been mislead about the
opportunity, and believe it is a Primerica scam because
they believed they were becoming an employee.

The sales industry differs from traditional employment
because with commission sales, you are a licensed
independent contractor and not an employee of the company.

Independent, unsalaried salespeople of multi-level
marketing, referred to as distributors (or associates,
independent business owners, dealers, franchise owners,
sales consultants, consultants, independent agents, etc.),
represent the parent company and earn a commission based on
the volume of product sold through each of their
independent businesses (organizations).

Independent distributors develop their organizations by
either building an active customer base, who buy direct
from the parent company, or by recruiting a downline of
independent distributors who also build a customer base,
thereby expanding the overall organization.

When you join Primerica as an independent distributor, you
are generally trained to first study for and then pass your
state life insurance exam. This usually includes completing
mandatory pre-licensing class work, as well as passing the
test, prior to making a life insurance product sale and
earning a commission.

Most people start with Primerica on a part-time basis to
learn if they are the type of person who can successfully
build a business selling financial products to friends,
family members, neighbors and subsequent referrals. They
must also pass the appropriate NASD and state securities
training and exams prior to selling investments.

When starting with Primerica, the cost is $99 and $25/month
for full access to the company's support system. You will
earn promotions through recruiting and life insurance
premiums, and with each promotion your commission will
increase.

You start as a "Representative" and when selling a life
insurance policy you would get 25% commission. Once you
recruit three people you qualify for a Senior
Representative promotion that makes 35% commission.

Once you promote one of your recruits to a Senior
Representative you then become a District Leader and get
50% commission. By promoting one of your recruits to a
District Leader you become a Division Leader and get paid
60% commission. If you then promote 3 District Leaders you
qualify for a Regional Leader promotion making 70%
commission.

If you promote 6 District Leaders, and you and your team
achieve $10,000 in premiums for 2 straight months, you
qualify for Regional Vice President thereby making 95%
commission and bonuses. So success is all about recruiting
in order to move up from 25% commissions to 95%
commissions.

As with any multi level marketing opportunity, your success
is very dependent on who you know. After all, it does all
start with friends, family, and acquaintances.

If you read many of the postings on the internet under
Primerica scam you will see a lot of them talk about the
recruitment aspect being misleading or being a scam. As you
know from the information above, the name of the game is
recruiting. A lot of people who have posted resumes online
claim to have been emailed by Primerica representatives and
offered a job with Primerica or Citigroup.

As several people have pointed out, there is no correlation
between the resumes posted, and the job offered. It is here
they believe it is a Primerica scam as the information
provided to them was misleading. Once those people were
contacted, they were requested to attend an 'introductory
evening' that would be attended by other 'interviewees'.

When they attended, they found out it was not a job being
offered, but a recruiting evening for a multi-level
marketing business opportunity! Hence the Primerica scam
comments.

To summarize, the Primerica scam appears to have got its
name from the way some Primerica representatives go about
the job of recruiting other people to form their downline.
The actual business opportunity is not a scam, however it
is a commission only business, so your rewards will be
directly linked to your efforts. Selling on a commission
basis with no base salary is not for everyone!