Canvas AnnuityReviews of canvasannuity.com

My experience with Canvas has been good up until I needed to withdraw money from some accounts. I submitted surrender/withdrawal requests on 10/22/24 and received confirmation that they were received. I was told it would take up to 15 business days to process and get my funds back. On 11/7/24, 12 days into the 15 day process, I was notified via email that I forgot to attach missing info. I replied within an hour and 15 mins with the missing info via email attachment. They received that piece of info in about an hour and told me that someone from the conservation team would be reaching out shortly. It is now day 15 on 11/12/24. I haven't heard from anyone or received my money. 3 weeks is already a long time to make clients wait to get their money back. I've only had to wait around a week with the other financial institutions I dealt with in the past when it came to processing surrenders and sending checks out. The reason why people withdraw money is because they need it. It's not right when you make them wait longer than they have to to access their own money.

FIX THE PROBLEMS WITH THE WEB SITE

I really vetted this company before deciding to invest my money here. Although Puritan Life Insurance Company of America has been around since 1958, Canvas Annuities has only been around since September 2000. I was still going to give them a try. They have a B++ rating from AM Best, which is Good, but not great. I was working on the online application. At the Beneficiary page, an issue arose. I have two executors and 12 others who will split my estate. That would be a lot of forms to fill out. I called Canvas and talked to Cynthia. She said because there's a death benefit, everyone has to be listed with their personal information. I have annuities with another company and this isn't the case. Cynthia said she was sorry and I'm probably not a good fit with this company. In all my investing years, that was the dumbest comment that I've ever received. I'm trying to give them money, and it was substantial! I called back later and talked to Lida. She said I could use "Estate of the Insured" as the beneficiary as I have a Will. She was correct because this is what I use on my present annuities with another company. There was a glitch trying to do this on their online form because there's no such option. I got a red alert saying, "The beneficiary can't be the annuitant." Lida told me not to do anything until she talks to the tech department. I haven't heard back. I would give serious consideration before investing with this company. It's more than the interest rate. This is your hard-earned money and you want it to be with a responsible custodian. This company isn't prime time, so don't be lured only by the interest rate. I decided not to use this company and will stick with my present company. Cynthia's comment created doubt, and doubt and investing don't mix.

TL;DR: couldn't access my plan documents and after trying a bazillion browsers and the app [as well as emailing] with no luck. I used the website chat and was told to call up puritan [the main company, NOT canvas] to get paper copies "if I want them". basically, it's my problem to fix this either to get a hard copy or to call up tech support. No effort on their part to email me the documents. I won't do business with this company again and I regret having two accounts with them. details: I was okay with canvas initially when I signed up for my first MYGA in January. Documents and materials access were fine via the website. But when I signed up for my second one, I could not access my plan documents. So I tried to access my old MYGA -- and that link failed too. I tried macOS safari, chrome, duck duckgo, and brave with no joy. I tried iOS safari, duckduckgo, and chrome, no joy. I tried the iOS canvas APP, no joy. I then tried to contact canvas via the app. it didn't work; communications wouldn't go through. I emailed them, no response. I then used the online chat. I described the problem and was told I had to log in to see documents, which of course I had. After being told they could see the document links, I told them I could see them too, but again, it's an issue of accessing the documents via the link. So I was told to contact Puritan Life [NOT canvas] to get access to my hard copy documents "if I want them." The only suggestion ultimately was to call up tech support. No effort to get me my documents which has already been pulled up by the agent/person. Really felt like it was a "not my job" circumstance but no effort was made to get me the documents or solve the problem. I won't be doing business with these guys again. I wish I hadn't given them my $$. Update: I have withdrawn one of my MYGAs from canvas since it's within the first 30 days. Will update on how fast they process it -- note they ask for a copy of the policy! But thankfully you can apply for a refund w/o it.

no timely reponse to questions via email and unable to get a real live person to answer application question

I called Canvas to review and get more information about their Annuities. The representative Agent was difficult to hear on the telephone, with an echo as if using a speakerphone. More than that, she seemed abrupt and anxious to end our rather brief conversation about Canvas annuities. In the end, my thought was that if this was the service that I would receive from Canvas agents, I best look elsewhere for an annuity product.

If I could leave zero stars I would.

I just received a notice from this company that our account information including our birth dates and social security numbers were hacked almost 4 months ago. When I called to close my account and withdraw my funds, I was told that I would have to pay a 7% penalty. Because of this negligent act and breach of my personal information I would have thought a company that prides themselves on customer satisfaction would have made an attempt to wave the surrender fee and not further penalize me. I am now in fear of someone being able to use my information and the company that made that possible is holding my money hostage. If I were a consumer looking to invest in a company, it would not be this one.