For 175 years, our commitment to helping New York Life policyowners get through difficult times has been our top priority. During this time of uncertainty with the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19), we stand ready to help and make sure you stay informed of all the support that is available to you.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve taken several steps to help protect our policyowners, including a temporary pause on cancellation of coverage due to non-payment of premiums. This pause is in effect until June 23, 2020 for policyowners across the country.

Additionally, the New York Department of Financial Services adopted an emergency regulation to assist life insurance and annuity consumers experiencing financial hardship as a result of COVID-19. As a policyowner whose policy or certificate was issued in the State of New York, if you can demonstrate financial hardship under this regulation while it is in effect, you may be eligible to:

• Extend the grace period for the payment of premiums and fees that are due on your policy or certificate to 90 days;
• Make arrangements to pay any premiums that were due but not paid during the grace period over the course of 12 months;
• Extend the time to exercise any rights or benefits contained in your policy or certificate to 90 days.

Our policies were designed to give you peace of mind. We won’t charge you interest for these late premium payments and we do not impose late fees or returned payment fees. We also will not report negative data to credit agencies if you miss a payment.

In addition to these actions, we’re closely monitoring regulatory guidance and will provide updates on any changes that occur.

To learn more, you can contact your agent or call one of our service professionals at 1-800-225-5695. We will be happy to assist you.

We hope this information will give you some peace of mind. We’ve been there for our policyowners during times of war, economic collapse and national tragedies, and we know that together we’ll withstand these uncertain times.