Pacific Life Insurance Review: Where You Can Find An Abundance Of Policy Options
Whether you’re looking for short-term coverage, flexible premiums, or lifelong protection, Protective Life will likely have something for you. With 11 life insurance policies to choose from, Pacific Life has one of the biggest and most diverse sets of life insurance products today.
In this review, we take a deep dive into the life insurance company’s impressive selection of policies.
What To Look For In An Insurance Provider
Before we explore the offerings at Pacific Life, let us give a brief summary of the five factors we always look into when reviewing a life insurance company:
Policy And Coverage
There are three main types of life insurance:
- Term life insurance: This type of insurance policy provides short-term coverage. As such, it's the most affordable kind of life insurance. Policy durations, also called terms, can last between five to 40 years.
- Whole life insurance: This type of policy provides permanent insurance coverage and an interest-earning cash value. As it provides lifelong protection, this policy can cost five to nine times more than term life.
- Universal life insurance: Much like whole life, this policy provides lifetime coverage and an investment component called a cash value. However, it also comes with flexible premiums and death benefits, as well as opportunities to invest in stock indices, funds, and the like – providing more opportunities for growth.
Aside from the policy types, we also look at the death benefit minimum and maximum limits, issue ages, and term durations offered by each company.
Price Range
It's difficult to give an ideal price range for life insurance products since premium rates are influenced by factors such as the policyholder's age, health, gender, and lifestyle. These factors come into play because insurance companies are always looking to minimize risks, and the more high-risk you seem, the more you'll be charged for coverage. In fact, life insurance premiums can increase up to five percent for each year you age.
As such, we highly encourage individuals to purchase insurance while they're young and healthy.
Application
With every life insurance company we review, we always take into account how easy it is to get quotes and apply for policies. This is because life insurance isn't always easy to obtain. In fact, the oftentimes long and tedious insurance application process is what drives millions away from purchasing a policy.
When assessing an insurance company's application process, always ask the following questions:
- Does the life insurance company offer online quotes?
- Can you apply for a policy online?
- What kind of information does a company require from its applicants?
- Are medical exams and health questionnaires required for all policies?
- How long does it take for applications to complete? (On average, the insurance underwriting time takes about three to eight weeks)
Customer Service
Customer service is another factor you mustn't overlook. After all, you'll be committed to a life insurance company for years. Always look for a company that has the following:
- Accessible hotlines or websites where customers can send queries, concerns, and feedback
- Good customer satisfaction ratings and reviews online
- Good ratings from third-party agencies like the Better Business Bureau and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners
Financial Strength Ratings
Finally, we always take a look at a company's financial strength ratings, or their ability to honor claims. We refer to agencies like A.M. Best, Moody’s, and Standard & Poor’s for this.
Pacific Life Insurance Review
The Pacific Life insurance company was founded in California in 1868 as the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company. Over 150 years later, Pacific Life has come to be known as one of the largest life insurance companies in the insurance industry, with over $1.4 billion paid in insurance and annuity benefits. The company currently ranks 269th on the Fortune 500 list.
Aside from life insurance products, the company also offers a wide range of annuities and mutual funds.
Life Insurance Products And Services
Pacific Life offers 11 different life insurance plans. Here's a rundown of the company's products and services:
Term Life Insurance
You'll find two variants of term life insurance at Pacific Life, the basic PL Promise Term policy and the more comprehensive Pacific Elite Term policy.
PL Promise Term Life Insurance
This policy provides $50,000 to $1 million worth of coverage for a choice of 10-, 15-, 20-, 25-, or 30-years term durations. It is available to applicants aged 18 to 80 years old and is the only policy that is available for online applications.
Pacific Elite Term Life Insurance
With this policy, applicants can get between $750,000 to $3 million in coverage. The issue ages are from 18 to 75, however, the allowable term durations will depend on your age bracket. See the table below:
| Age bands | Term duration |
| 18 to 75 years old | 10-year term |
| 18 to 65 years old | 20-year term |
| 18 to 50 years old | 30-year term |
This life insurance policy also offers more flexibility than the previous one. Pacific Elite Term life policies can be converted into or combined with a cash value policy in the future – with no additional cost or underwriting requirements.
Whole Life Insurance
If you're looking for whole life insurance, Pacific Life offers one option, the Flex 16 Whole Life policy. This comes with a guaranteed, interest-earning cash value and fixed premiums. Policyholders also have the option to add the Extended Insurance rider, which allows them to stop making premium payments as long as there is sufficient cash value to shoulder the ongoing charges. This option is available at the end of the 61-day grace period.
Another available rider option is the Conversion Rider, which allows policyholders to exchange their existing Flex 16 policies for a brand new Pacific Life policy in the eighth and ninth policy years at no additional cost.
Universal Life Insurance
If you're in search of something more flexible, the Pacific Life insurance company has several universal life insurance plans that you can choose from. There are three types of universal life insurance offered at Pacific Life, including indexed universal life, which relies on the performance of stock market indices to grow interest, and variable universal life, which allows for more varied investment options.
Versa-Flex Venture Universal Life
While flexible premiums and coverage are standard fare for most universal life policies, the Versa-Flex Venture plan also comes with a cash value whose interest earns at least 2 percent annually and a guaranteed protection for four to 20 years (so long as you pay the short-term no-lapse guarantee premium).
Policyholders can also withdraw from or loan against their cash values should the need arise.
PL Promise Guaranteed Universal Life Insurance
This policy provides policyholders with guaranteed coverage once they hit 90 years old, which they can extend until the age of 121 if they agree to pay slightly higher premiums. It also comes with two base riders at no additional cost: a No-Lapse Guarantee Rider and a Terminal Illness Benefit Rider.
Indexed Universal Life Insurance
Should you wish to treat your insurance policy as an investment account, you can opt for any one of the three indexed universal life offerings at Pacific Life:
- Pacific Discovery Xelerator Indexed Universal Life Insurance: According to the company website, this life insurance policy is intended for three purposes: provide financial security for your loved ones, save for retirement, and add a tax-efficient asset to your financial portfolio. It comes with guaranteed protection (four to 20 years of no-lapse protection, to be exact) and a two percent termination guarantee rider.
- Pacific Indexed Accumulator 6: If you're a business owner, you can use this policy's cash value as either a personal or business asset. The policy is characterized by a high cash surrender value potential.
- Pacific Indexed Estate Preserver 3: This is a last-survivor life insurance policy that protects two lives (policyholders do not have to be married to qualify). It comes with a death benefit and indexed accounts that earn interest based on how stock market indices perform.
Variable Universal Life Insurance
There are three VUL policies offered at Pacific Life:
- Pacific Select VUL 2: This policy provides a guaranteed death benefit regardless of the stock market performance. It also gives policyholders an abundance of options when it comes to investment, indexed, and fixed options.
- Pacific Select Harbor VUL: This policy is quite similar to the first VUL policy, but with the choice of asset allocation strategies or two fixed options instead. As such, this policy is a good choice for those looking for long-term growth.
- Pacific Admiral VUL: This policy focuses on cost-efficient variable investment options.
Price Range
According to our research, a 25-year-old non-smoker male can expect to pay $24.85 a month for a 20-year PL Promise term life policy with $500,000 worth of coverage. Comparing this to the industry average of $28.02 for the same profile, we can say that Pacific Life offers more affordable insurance rates than the average life insurance company.
However, we should note once more that one's health, lifestyle, gender, and more importantly, age, can impact the price of our premiums.
Application Process
Unfortunately, applying for Pacific Life insurance is no walk in the park. While you can get online insurance quotes and apply for the PL Promise Term life policy online, the same can't be said for the rest of the Pacific Life insurance policies.
If you wish to request insurance quotes or send an application for any other Pacific Life insurance policy, you'll have to find a nearby insurance agent.
On the upside, while medical exams are required for most Pacific Life policies, it has been noted that the underwriting time is significantly shorter than average. It takes about six to eight weeks for most insurance policies to be fully processed, but at Pacific Life, it only takes about three to four weeks.
Customer Satisfaction And Service
The Pacific Life insurance company holds some pretty impressive customer satisfaction ratings online – notably its A- rating from the Better Business Bureau and its 0.09 score at the NAIC complaint index.
For reference, the BBB rates businesses on their performance and helps facilitate customer complaints. Similarly, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners keeps a record of consumer complaints called the Complaint Index. The national average is 1.00, and if an insurance company has a score higher than 1.00, it means they've received more complaints than average. As such, Pacific Life's 0.09 rating indicates that it has received far fewer customer complaints than most insurance providers.
As for the company's customer service, Pacific Life has a hotline that takes calls from Mondays through Fridays, 8 am to 5 pm.
Financial Strength Ratings
- A.M. Best rating: A+
- Better Business Bureau rating: A-
- Standard & Poor's rating: AA-
- Moody’s rating: A1
Pros
- Lots of policy options: Pacific Life has one of the largest selections of life insurance products we've seen. With 11 policies in total – two term policies, one whole life policy, and eight universal life plans – you'll never run out of options.
- Detailed descriptions of all policies available online: Many life insurance companies stay mum about the specifics of their policies, only choosing to reveal the details through their agents. Pacific Life, on the other hand, gives out most of the information online. You can even download PDFs on each policy for good measure.
Cons
- No online quotes or calculators: While you'll have a lot of policies to choose from, you unfortunately cannot compare prices on the Pacific Life website. If you want to request insurance quotes, you'll have to get in touch with an insurance agent.
- Medical exam required for all policies: Some life insurance companies offer guaranteed issue policies that waive the medical exam requirement for an additional fee. This is especially helpful to those who are older or people who have been diagnosed with chronic medical conditions. Unfortunately, this option does not exist at Pacific Life.
The Bottom Line
With an excellent track record, solid financial strength ratings, and an abundance of policies to choose from, Pacific Life makes for a great place to shop for life insurance – that is, if you don't mind not having access to insurance quotes early on.
Looking for something else? At Wesley LLC, we have a variety of reviews and articles that can help make the life insurance buying process a little less painful. You can also contact us to learn more about how we can assist you in your personal finance journey.