Transamerica Life Insurance Review: Where Almost Anyone Can Find A Life Insurance Policy
There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all life insurance policy. The type of life insurance you’ll need will depend on things like how many dependents you have, how old they are, and how long you’d like to cover them.
There are companies, however, that offer a range of options for different kinds of people, making the search for insurance a little easier. Transamerica is one such company, offering an array of life insurance and financial products, from whole life, term, universal, and final expense insurance, to things like annuities, mutual funds, and IRAs. They also offer a guaranteed issue final expense policy covering anyone between the ages of 0 and 85 – a viable option for those who may have trouble finding policies due to age or health issues.
In this Transamerica life insurance review, we evaluate the company’s life insurance offerings, from final expense to universal indexed life insurance. By the end of this article, you should be able to decide whether Transamerica is a good match for you.
When scouting for life insurers, it's important to evaluate each one based on these five key factors:
Each company has a different selection of policy options, coverage ranges, and age limitations. Common offerings include:
Some life insurance companies allow applicants to get quotes and apply for insurance straight from their website, while others require you to go through an insurance agent. Aside from this, you should also consider whether you're willing to take a medical exam or not. Some companies may issue you a policy without your medical information, but they might charge you more for your premiums.
Premium rates depend on a number of factors, from your age, gender, and lifestyle to your overall health. Life insurance companies are always looking to minimize risks – seniors, men, and people with chronic conditions are statistically at higher risk of dying earlier and, therefore, get higher premiums. Life insurance companies charge more for no-exam policies because they cannot determine your risk level.
In addition to customer reviews, we determine how a life insurance company fares on the customer service front with two ratings – the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' complaint index and the Better Business Bureau's ratings.
Financial strength is a measure of how well a company can honor insurance claims. Third-party rating agencies like Moody's, AM Best, and Standard & Poor's – all have their own rating system, so be sure to check them out when choosing an insurance company.
Transamerica traces its roots back to 1904 when Amadeo P. Giannini, an entrepreneur, founded the Bank of Italy in San Francisco. According to the company website, Giannini's goal was to make financial services more accessible.
By 1999, Transamerica was acquired by one of the world's foremost life insurance and asset management companies, Aegon Group. As of writing, parent company Aegon supports more than 29 million customers worldwide.
Today, Transamerica offers several different kinds of financial products, including life insurance, mutual funds, retirements, and annuities.
When it comes to life insurance, Transamerica offers term life, whole life, universal life, index universal, and final expense insurance.
Here's what you get with each Transamerica life insurance policy:
Transamerica has two types of term life insurance plans:
With the Trendsetter Super plan, Transamerica guarantees level premiums and the ability to convert to a permanent policy without the need for a medical exam. The Trendsetter LB plan, on the other hand, allows policyholders who have been diagnosed with a qualifying terminal illness to receive an accelerated death benefit while they are alive.
For both life insurance plans, the term periods range from 10 to 30 years.
If you're looking for a permanent policy, you have two permanent life insurance plans to choose from at Transamerica:
Universal insurance is similar to whole life in that it provides permanent coverage (as long as premiums are paid), a guaranteed death benefit, and a cash value component that accumulates gains. However, unlike whole life, a universal life insurance policy comes with flexible premiums and, in effect, flexible death benefits.
Essentially, you can modify how much you pay month by month, so long as you meet the minimum premium requirement for your universal life insurance.
Transamerica life insurance offers two kinds of universal insurance:
Final insurance can help soften the financial blow of the death of a loved one. When you purchase this type of insurance for yourself, you can reassure your family that expenses associated with your funeral service are all covered, including your casket and cremation.
Transamerica offers three types of final expense life insurance policies. All three are guaranteed issue – no medical exam, lab result, or health questionnaire requirement. In fact, you don't need to wait long to get full coverage from these:
Immediate Solution | 10-Pay Solution | Easy Solution | |
Issue age | 0 to 85 | 0 to 85 | 18 to 80 |
Coverage | $1,000 to up to $50,000* | $1,000 to up to $50,000* | $1,000 to $25,000 |
Benefits | Full amount from day one | Full amount from day one | Graded benefits. If you die within the first two years of the policy, your benefits will be based on 110 percent of the total premium amount paid for death from natural causes, and the face amount for death from an accident. If you die after two years, the death benefit will be based on the face amount regardless of the cause of death. |
Premiums | Level premiums. Life paid-up at age 121 | Payable for 10 years | No information available on website |
*$1,000 to $50,000 only for those aged 0 to 55. There’s a maximum coverage limit of $40,000 for those aged 66 to 75 and $25,000 for those aged 76 to 85 years old.
Keep in mind that there's no way for you to get online quotes or start on your application online if you're hoping to get a permanent life insurance policy, a universal insurance policy, or a final expense life insurance policy. For these, you'll have to contact an insurance agent.
The only policy that allows you to request a quote online is the Trendsetter Super term life insurance policy. On the website, you'll be asked to input the following information:
Note: This is split into four categories. Your health is determined by your blood pressure, history of family deaths below 60, cholesterol, substance abuse history, and presence of chronic illnesses.
Transamerica life insurance requires a medical exam for most of its policies. This means that if you're not in the pink of health, you could face higher premiums.
Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of ready information online regarding Transamerica life insurance premium costs. However, based on the online quote calculator for their Trendsetter policy, we can assume that the insurance provider takes the following factors into account:
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners keeps a record of every life insurance company's complaint ratio, or the number of times a company has received a customer complaint.
The national median is 1.0. The Transamerica life insurance company, on the other hand, has an NAIC complaint index of 1.31. This means that it has received 1.31 times more complaints than your average insurance company.
On the other hand, Transamerica's Better Business Bureau rating is A-. This rating is the BBB's opinion of how well a company manages their business and is based on things like complaint history, transparent business practices, and the company's ability to honor commitments to the BBB.
However, despite having a good BBB rating, the company's latest consumer reviews on their BBB page leave much to be desired. The average customer satisfaction ratings are just 1.1 stars, with customers complaining of sudden policy cancellations and difficulty getting in touch with customer service agents.
If you want short-term life insurance coverage, you can opt for the Trendsetter Super series or the Trendsetter LB. If you want something permanent with a cash value component, you can choose between the company's whole and universal life policies. And if you want final expense coverage, you have three options as well.
You can still get up to $50,000 in final expense coverage guaranteed – no need to take a medical or answer any health questions. And in most cases, you can get coverage in no time at all.
Transamerica may be a great place to get final expense or term life insurance plans, but its lack of pricing information and poor customer satisfaction ratings prevent it from being a no-brainer recommendation.
Not happy with your experience with Transamerica? We at Wesley LLC are dedicated to helping Americans achieve financial security and stability. We've got all the tools and information you'll need to find the policy best suited to your needs. Contact us to find out more!