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Funeral Funding Using Insurance Assignments - American Funeral Financial Featured in Funeral New Blog!

Thu, 21 May 2009 17:50:00 GMT

It's always nice to receive publicity that is unexpected. Today - May 21st 2009 - we found out that we were featured in the Funeral New Blog. We have been a sponsor for Funeral News, but must say we were happy to have a full article showcasing our outstanding service to the death-care industry. The article is featured below:

While the focus of Funeral News is to report on death-care related events, we consider our sponsor to be an important asset in the advancement of our cause. As such, we have asked American Funeral Financial to provide this guest article to our readers. The following was provided by the fine folks at American Funeral Financial, LLC.

You just received a first call. The family is facing something that, for them, is unusual and, in many cases, unexpected – the death of a loved one. Not only are they dealing with the emotion of their loss, but are soon to be faced with the costs associated with paying for – what for most is one of the most expensive single purchases of their life.

As funeral directors and/or death care providers the family comes to expect, especially in this day and age, expert service. What the family may be unprepared for is the immediate need for payment for the goods and services that funeral professionals provide. On the other hand, unless the family can pay with cash, a valid check or major credit card – you, the funeral service provider, are relegated to becoming a bank.

Times have changed and so have expectations. Assume for a moment that you were to receive your paycheck on Friday and today is Tuesday. Could you go to Walmart and purchase groceries with the promise of payment from your check on Friday? Could secure a cell phone from Verizon with the promise of payment in the future? The obvious answer to these, or similar questions, is a resounding – NO! It is no longer reasonable to assume that funeral service providers should be forced to wait for their funds considering the difficulty that many face with insurance assignments today.

Due to the rising costs of goods and services, more and more funeral homes and cemeteries are requiring payment in full prior to providing funeral services or making the interment. With the economy today, we find more and more families are relying on insurance as the funding vehicle to pay for those services. Unfortunately, it can take weeks or even months for the insurance company to pay the claim to the beneficiary or funeral home. In addition, the paperwork associated with funeral financing via an insurance assignment is becoming more complicated and time consuming, taking valuable time away from doing what you do best – serving families.

American Funeral Financial has created an industry leading proprietary system that takes the burden off of you and your staff and makes the process of funeral funding through insurance assignments easy.

No longer do you have to verify the insurance assignment with the insurance company – American Funeral Financial does that for you.
No longer do you have to due the burdensome paperwork – American Funeral Financial does that for you.
No longer do you have to have experience waiting for your funds – American Funeral Financial pays you the next day following verification.

The process is simple. Once you have signed on with American Funeral Financial – Your Funeral Funding Experts – you’ll have access to our simple web-based entry system. Working with the American Funeral Financial web system is easy. Sign in and in less than 10 minutes you will have the paperwork done and the verification process begun. American Funeral Financial does the verification for you. Once you have been notified that the assignment can be done, you will have the beneficiary sign the paperwork (that we prepared for you on the web) and we will fund your services. It is that simple! Fees to AFF are competitive and come directly from the policy assignment proceeds so funeral homes and cemeteries are paid their full fee for services rendered. There is no cost to the funeral home or cemetery.

No waiting for your funds, no hassle, no problems! American Funeral Financial is a full service firm that is run by professionals with years of experience in the death-care industry. AFF knows what you need when you need it.

But there’s more! American Funeral Financial knows that you need your money for services rendered. You do not need to be the bank! Likewise, so do the beneficiaries. Therefore, as part of the process – when your firm has signed up with American Funeral Financial – the funeral funding experts – the beneficiaries of the life insurance policies being assigned are eligible to have advanced to them the remainder of the policy to take care of any short term funding needs that they may have personally. That’s right – you are paid and they get the funds advanced to them for the remaining part of the policy (assuming they want a personal cash advance).

Our team working for your team when you need it the most – because the cash you have today can have a profound effect on the success of your business tomorrow!

Grave Expectations - Sue Bailey and Carmen Flowers Write A Compelling New Book

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:17:00 GMT

As a company that focusing on the business of death (and how to pay for it), it is always interesting to see folks who humanize the experience and shed the light of thought on the process.

That is exactly what Sue Bailey and Carmen Flowers have done with their new book: Grave Expectations.

Below you will find a link to an interview done on the Today Show. We thought it might be interesting to review.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/30009580#30009580

Enjoy the interview and if you wish to purchase the book...here's the cover and you can search it on Amazon.com to purchase your copy today.

Green Burial News Out of Texas - Land Conservation and Cremation Options and Interesting Twist

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:03:00 GMT

The Parks and Wildlife Department in Texas plans to become the first government agency in the U.S. to let families lay cremated remains in protected forests for a fee to help the state buy more land for conservation.

Texas will cater to people concerned about environmental impacts of the “death-care industry,” Ted Hollingsworth, the agency’s director of land conservation, said in an interview.

“If tens of thousands of people want to take advantage of this opportunity annually, it could easily double the rate at which we’re adding lands to state parks,” Hollingsworth said.

In a Bloomberg article Joe Sehee, Executive Director of the Green Burial Council, had comments that the $12 billion-a-year U.S. funeral industry will need a makeover to meet new demand for back-to-Earth burials and low- energy, low-emission cremations. Customers are now curious about products from biodegradable embalming fluid to caskets made of recycled cardboard.

Consumers are forcing changes on the industry, Sehee said. He expects to have advised cemetery and funeral associations on eco-burials in more than half of the 50 U.S. states by year-end.

“A year ago we had a dozen providers in our network,” Sehee said in an interview. “We have more than 300 now. What’s changed in a year is people see this as an opportunity.”

Champion Company of Springfield, Ohio, will introduce a non-toxic biodegradable embalming fluid this month that provides “reasonable temporary preservation,” said James Bedino, head of research and development. The product, Enigma, challenges the industry’s use of toxic formaldehyde, steel caskets and concrete vaults, all meant to prevent decay.

Cremation, already seen as a more environmental option than a traditional burial, is getting even greener, said Paul Rahill, president of the cremation division of Matthews International Corp., a casket supplier. Pittsburgh-based Matthews this summer will introduce its newest model of a recycled cardboard casket. The product avoids the use of virgin hardwood, weighs half as much as a wood casket and costs 75 percent less. Cremations in the U.S., which account for 37 percent of burials, are rising by 1 percent a year, Rahill said.

“Their choices have been pretty limited in the past,” Rahill said in an interview. “I can do a cherry paper veneer that looks almost like a cherry hardwood casket.”

Matthews has also developed computer-controlled heat sensors that make cremation furnaces up to 40 percent more energy-efficient. The company later this year plans to install the first bio-cremation system in the U.S. that will use hot water, pressure and an alkali chemical instead of combustion.

“One of our biggest markets is what we call ‘mantle people,’” Ziadie said in an interview. “Cremated remains that are sitting on the mantle with loved ones. They may be there for years. The family may be looking for closure.”

Texas officials are completing a contract with the Green Burial Council to let funeral directors charge a fee for scattering cremated remains in state parks. Part of the revenue will help Texas buy land for conservation.

Green burials represent a small but growing portion of the $12 billion spent annually in the U.S. on funeral and burial services, said Jessica Koth, spokeswoman for the National Funeral Directors Association. In a 2007 survey by AARP, the Washington-based advocacy group for people 50 and older, 21 percent said they were interested in green burials. That number jumped to 43 percent in a 2008 survey, Sehee said.

Given a choice would you prefer a "Green Burial" for a deceased family member of yours?

Nicole Marie-Loretta Leonard Crashes Funeral in Gray Court South Carolina

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:51:00 GMT

It’s the last opportunity that many have to pay respects to the newly and dearly departed. Most expect that those in attendance care about the deceased, the family of the deceased or have a direct connection. What people - reasonable people - don’t expect is that there will be a funeral crasher. They especially don’t expect it in a sleeply little South Carolina town - the town of Gray Court. But little did anyone know that as the funeral was taking place, the spirit would hit Nicole Marie-Loretta Leonard from North Carolina to - well crash the somber service.

According to a report from WYFF.com:

A woman who says she had no connection to a funeral danced in front of the service, waved a wand over the casket, opened it and touched the deceased man and then threw the flowers from the casket at the family, deputies said.

Laurens County deputies responded to reports of a disturbance at the Church of God in Gray Court on Tuesday. Those attending the funeral said that the woman had joined the procession. They said once they were seated inside the church, the woman then danced in front of them near the casket. They said after she waved the wand over the casket and had touched the deceased man, she hit him in the head with the wand.The family said after the woman threw the flowers from the top of the casket at them, she drove off in a burgundy Toyota with North Carolina plates.

When that was aired on the news it stunned those who watched. What would motivate such behavior? Surely the reporter must have been mistaken or perhaps the deceased had a hidden side that would have caused such an outburst. No. Again according to the WYFF report:

Deputies pulled the vehicle over on Interstate 385. They asked the driver, 25-year-old Nicole Marie-Loretta Leonard, about the funeral, and they said she admitted to doing everything the witnesses in church said she did.

Deputies said Leonard told them she behaved the way she did because she “felt it was the right thing to do at the time.” She said she was driving through the area from North Carolina and did not know anyone at the church.

Responses from the funeral:

“Everybody was just kind of flabbergasted, they didn’t know what was going on.”

Funeral Funding Firms Get Caught In Fake Funeral Fraud - Two California Women Charged in $1 Million Scam

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:14:00 GMT

According to the US Attorney's office in LA - two women - allegedly participated in a scheme to cash life insurance policies for fictitious individuals and stage funerals to create the appearance that the individuals had died.

According to the indictment, Shilling, a phlebotomist, and Crump, an employee at a now-defunct Long Beach mortuary, defrauded multiple insurance companies over a three-year period by cashing life insurance policies for non-existent identities, whom they claimed had died. As part of the scheme, Shilling and Crump allegedly caused the preparation of bogus death certificates, purchased burial plots and staged phony funerals to lend credibility to the scheme. When staging the funerals, the women allegedly filled caskets with various materials to make it appear they contained actual corpses.

Shilling and Crump allegedly defrauded several lending companies that advance cash to cover funeral expenses in exchange for a portion of the decedent's life insurance policy. Shilling, Crump and their accomplices allegedly filed false documents with the County of Los Angeles stating the remains of one man were cremated and scattered at sea, when in fact no corpse existed. The indictment further alleges that defendant Crump offered a medical doctor $50,000 to create records supporting the fake death certificate.

The US Attorney stated said the "dead" were likely fictitious people, but said identities of real people may have been stolen.

In one funeral at a Long Beach mortuary, authorities alleged that the women loaded a casket with various items to simulate the weight of a corpse they called "Jim Davis." They purchased a plot in a Compton graveyard, had a funeral and had the casket buried.

Funeral funding companies scammed were Jackman Financial Corp. in Chicago; AC Moore Financial Services in Pomona; and Advanced Funeral Funding in Portsmouth, Va.

Shilling and Crump were charged with mail fraud and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud insurance companies and lending companies out of more than $750,000. Two other women, Lydia Eileen Pearce, 37, owner of a mortuary in Long Beach, and Barbara Lynn, 54, a notary from Los Angeles, previously pleaded guilty in the alleged scam, said Montero, and he believed that more arrests were likely.

Green Funeral - What Does That Mean? National Funeral Directors Association Posts Questions and Answers!

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:01:00 GMT

What is a green funeral?

A green funeral incorporates environmentally-friendly options to meet the needs of a family requesting a green service. A green funeral may include any or all of the following basic options: no embalming or embalming with formaldehyde-free products; the use of sustainable biodegradable clothing, shroud or casket; using recycled paper products, locally-grown organic flowers, organic food; carpooling; arranging a small memorial gathering in a natural setting; natural or green burial.

What is natural or green burial?

In a “purist” natural or green burial, the body is buried, without embalming, in a natural setting. Any shroud or casket that is used must be biodegradable, nontoxic, and of sustainable material. Traditional standing headstones are not permitted. Instead, flat rocks, plants or trees may serve as grave markers; some cemeteries use GPS to mark the locations of gravesites. A “natural or green burial” may also simply mean burial without embalming, in a biodegradable casket without a vault, when permitted by a cemetery.

What is a green cemetery?

A green cemetery is a burial site that does not permit vaults, non-biodegradable caskets or embalming chemicals. It uses no herbicides, pesticides or irrigation for maintenance of the cemetery grounds. Any material used at a green cemetery must meet the goal of replenishing the earth. There are cemeteries in the U.S. that accommodate both conventional burial practices and vaultless burial on their premises; others incorporate some features of a green cemetery such as sustainable landscape design and natural memorialization.

The first green burial in the modern sense took place in England in 1993; in the ensuing 15 years, the number of green burial grounds in the UK has grown to nearly 40. In the United States, one of the first natural burial grounds was opened in 1996 in western South Carolina. Some green cemeteries are established as conservation areas in accordance with specific state laws. There are now green cemeteries in 10 states – California, Florida, Georgia, Maine, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, and Utah – with more under development. The resource section at the end of this Q&A provides a link to U.S. green burial information.

When a cemetery does require a vault, do I have “green” alternatives?

Check first with the cemetery to determine what is allowed, such as:

Casket protectors or grave liners that are open on the bottom, such as those used in Orthodox Jewish funerals, so that the body comes into contact with the earth.

Using a regular vault that is turned upside-down.

What about cremation? Is it considered “green”?

In general, cremation is not considered “green” because the cremation process uses nonrenewable fossil fuels, even though cremation does use fewer resources than conventional forms of disposition. Cremation also produces airborne emissions. However, cremated remains do not need to be interred in a cemetery, which reduces land use.

What is a green funeral home?

A green funeral home is a business that operates in an environmentally-responsible manner. Owners and staff comply with environmental protection, health, and safety laws and regulations, and follow NFDA’s environmental, health, and safety best practices. Green funeral homes are energy-efficient and follow resource-saving practices, operating in a manner that is sustainable. Sustainable in this sense means business practices that do not deplete resources and that only will have minimal impact on the environment.