In today's world, securing your loved ones' financial future is a top priority. Protective Life Insurance Review is a leading provider offering a variety of life insurance products to meet your specific needs. Their plans can offer valuable financial protection in the event of your passing, providing a lump sum payout that can be used to cover expenses, pay off debt, or ensure your family's continued well-being.
However, with numerous life insurance companies available, choosing the right one can be overwhelming. This Protective Life Insurance Review will delve deeper into the company's offerings, exploring their policy options, financial strength, customer service reputation, and more. We'll help you understand if Protective Life aligns with your needs and provides the comprehensive coverage you seek.
Overview
Protective is our top recommendation for the finest term life insurance provider. This is because it tied for the lowest term prices among the firms we studied and is one of only a few that offer 40-year term life insurance. It also provides a diverse range of other policy kinds, so there's a strong chance you'll find a policy that's right for you. However, the company performed poorly in a consumer satisfaction study and does not offer as many no-cost living benefit riders as some of the other companies we studied.
Specifications
| AM Best Rating | NAIC Score (avg.) | Years In Business | Policy Types | Accepts Credit Cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | N/A | 115 Years | Indexed Universal (IUL), Term, Universal (UL), Variable Universal (VUL), whole | Indeed |
Pros and Cons
pros:- Tied for cheapest term life insurance.
- Offers 40-year term life insurance.
- A wide number of policy kinds are offered.
- no-medical-exam life insurance up to $1 million
- There is no final expense coverage.
- Scored low for customer satisfaction.
Pros Explained
Protective and Banner tied for the cheapest term life insurance coverage among all of the firms we analyzed. We obtained term life insurance quotations for six different individuals from 32 life insurance firms for $250,000 30-year term policy.—Protective provided the lowest quotes across all age groups or tied for the lowest term quotes.
Provides 40-year term life insurance. Only two of the 91 firms we studied provide term plans that can last this long, making Protective an excellent alternative if you need coverage for more than 30 years but don't want to spend the extra cost for a permanent insurance.
A wide number of policy kinds are offered. Protective provides a variety of policy options, including term, universal life (UL), variable UL, index UL, and whole life. Only two of the 91 companies we studied provided a more comprehensive set of policies.
Life insurance without a medical checkup for up to $1 million: Protective offers life insurance coverage of up to $1 million without requiring a medical exam. With no-medical-exam life insurance, applicants save the trouble of taking an exam when they apply, which means coverage can be given faster than with exam-required policies, especially since Protective allows you to apply online for some policies.
Cons Explained
No last expense coverage: This form of coverage, often known as burial insurance or funeral insurance, is designed to provide a little sum to cover final expenses following death. It is ideal for people who have health conditions that may preclude them from other types of coverage because it does not need a medical exam. Although coverage quantities are minimal, premiums per dollar of death benefit are typically high.
Poor client satisfaction rating: In a J.D. Power 2022 poll, Protective scored much worse than its competitors. It finished 15th out of 21 major life insurance companies surveyed.
Complaint Index.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) keeps track of the amount of consumer complaints that individual insurers receive and utilizes that data to compile a complaint index. The NAIC complaint index allows you to compare consumer complaints from a variety of organizations, regardless of size. This allows you to gauge consumer satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) with the company.
The benchmark is 1.0, which indicates the amount of complaints a company is likely to receive. A score of more than 1.0 indicates that the company received more complaints than expected. A score below 1.0 indicates that the company received fewer complaints than expected.
Protective's average complaint index over three years was 0.79, indicating that the company received fewer complaints than predicted.
Third-Party Ratings
Financial strength is an important factor to consider when selecting a life insurance business because a life insurance policy is a long-term financial contract; you want to know that the company will be there and able to pay your beneficiaries when needed and as promised. A life insurance company's AM Best rating is a good indicator of this.
AM Best is a credit rating firm that evaluates the financial strength of life insurance companies. The financial strength grades range from A++ (highest) to D. Protective achieved an A+ financial strength rating, indicating that AM Best believes it has a "superior" ability to meet its current financial obligations.
However, Protective falls short in terms of client service. In fact, it received a significantly lower score than average in the 2021 J.D. Power Individual Life Insurance Study. It finished 16th out of 21 carriers, scoring 752 out of 1,000 points (the industry average was 776).
Competition
| Insurance Provider | Types of Coverage | Online Application | AM Best Rating | Price for Term Policies | NAIC Complaint Index | J.D. Power Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protective | Term, whole, universal, indexed universal, and variable niversal | Available | A+ | Excellent | 0.730 | 15 |
| Principal | Term, universal, indexed universal, and variable universal | Not available | A+ | Excellent | 0.16 | 12 |
| USAA | Whole, universal, term | Available | A++ | Worse than average | 0.23 | Not ranked |
Policies Available
Protective offers a number of policies and optional features, allowing you to tailor your coverage to your specific needs. Term life insurance quotes and applications are available online, but all other policy types must be obtained through an agent. Most insurance contain a terminal illness accelerated benefit rider at no additional cost. The terminal illness rider allows you to accelerate up to 60% of your death benefit (or $1 million, whichever is less) if you have less than six months to live.
Term Life Insurance
Term life insurance provides death benefit protection for one to 40 years or more. Unlike other permanent policies, it does not accrue cash value and is the least expensive type of life insurance coverage.
Protective Classic Choice Term
Protective claims that its rates are consistently among the top three on the market for similar policy types, across all issue ages and face amounts—and our analysis backs this up for term plans. Protective and Banner tied for the cheapest term life insurance coverage among the firms for which we obtained term quotes.
Coverage periods range from 10 to 40 years, with the option of converting to a permanent coverage without a medical exam. Protective is one of just three firms we researched that provides 40-year term life insurance coverage.
Whole Life Insurance
Whole life policies give guaranteed protection for the rest of one's life while also building monetary value. Cash value is an important component of permanent life insurance since it lowers the high cost of life insurance as you age. Over time, it can become a source of funds from which to borrow. Whole life insurance ensure cash value growth at a fixed rate as long as payments are made on time.
Note:If you determine that a whole life policy is ideal for you since it increases cash value, you should replace any funds borrowed or withdrawn from your policy. Otherwise, you risk reducing your beneficiaries' death benefits or allowing the policy to lapse.
Non-Participating Throughout Life
Protective offers its whole life policy to applicants aged 0 to 90, with coverage ranging from $1,000 to $5,000,000. The coverage includes a terminal illness accelerated death benefit at no additional expense.
Universal Life Insurance
Universal life (UL) insurance is a permanent policy that accumulates cash value; however, unlike whole life, UL allows you to change your premiums and death benefit.
Custom Choice
Unlike other universal life policies, Custom Choice is not intended to provide permanent coverage and is structured similarly to a term policy. You can exchange it for a permanent insurance between the second and twentieth policy years, and you'll pay a reasonably cheap, level premium for up to 30 years. If you want to switch to permanent coverage (at a higher cost), you will not need to take a medical test. It is offered to anyone aged 18 to 75 years.
Permanent UL Products
Advantage Choice UL: This plan is designed to offer low-risk, low-cost long-term coverage with a permanent death benefit. You can change the premium payment and access the cash value as needed. It is open to anyone aged 18 to 85 years old.
Lifetime Assurance UL: This product is intended to give long-term protection to applicants aged 18 to 85 years old. It may be less expensive than Advantage Choice, but it may provide less benefits (depending on your need) and guarantees.
Survivor UL: This policy provides permanent death benefits for two people.
Executive UL: This policy covers both employers and executive personnel.
Variable Universal Life Insurance
Variable life insurance can give lifetime coverage. It enables you to invest the policy's tax-deferred cash value in the stock market. Investment alternatives are provided through "subaccounts;" select which to invest in based on your risk tolerance and objectives. You can use cash value to pay premiums, but if the investments lose value, your premium may rise.
Strategic Objectives II, VUL
Protective provides one VUL policy with a variety of available features and investment choices for applicants up to the age of 80.
Warning:While variable universal life insurance has higher potential returns, those returns are often associated with increased risks. For example, if your investments perform poorly, your premium could skyrocket or the coverage could expire.
Indexed Universal Life Insurance
If you want a permanent insurance with higher potential growth than whole life but less risk/reward than a variable UL policy, this could be the appropriate option for you. Indexed universal life (IUL) insurance has the same growth potential and flexibility as regular UL plans, including premium and cash value options. However, the cash value is credited with an interest rate determined by the performance of a stock market index.
Indexed Choice: UL
Protective's IUL insurance uses the S&P 500 stock market index. You can also choose to invest some (or all) of the cash value in a fixed-interest account.
note:The rate credited to your cash value will never be negative but is subject to limits. For example, if your policy caps gains at 6%, and the index gained 8%, you would be credited no more than 6%.
Available Riders
Guaranteed Insurability Rider (GI): This rider is excellent for young individuals purchasing a permanent insurance who anticipate needing additional coverage in the future, such as marriage or children.
- Protected Insurability Rider: Protective's GI rider allows you to obtain additional coverage without a medical exam at certain ages: 25, 28, 31, 34, 37, and 40. You must be 37 or younger to purchase this rider, and it expires at the last option date of age 40. It is exclusively available under Protective's VUL policy.
Children's Term Rider: This optional rider, available on Protective's IUL, VUL, UL, and term policies, provides death benefit coverage for all children aged 15 days to 18 years. Coverage lasts until age 25 (assuming the base policy is still in effect) and can be converted to permanent coverage without requiring proof of insurability, which means your child does not need to take a medical exam or apply for coverage. A kid term rider is a great option for parents to provide coverage for their children without obtaining a separate policy.
Waiver of Premium: This optional rider allows you to forego premium payments if you become disabled. Protective's waiver of premium rider contains a six-month elimination period, which means you have to live with the disability for six months before you may have your premiums waived. The rider is available to applicants up to age 55, expires when you turn 65, and is included with Protective's term, UL, IUL, and VUL policies.
An accidental death benefit rider provides an additional death benefit if you die as a consequence of an accident. Protective's version is available for term, IUL, and VUL policies. It is valid up to the age of 60 and expires at the age of 65.
Accelerated Death Benefit: If you have life insurance with living benefits or accelerated benefit riders, you can get a portion of the death benefit early if certain health-related events occur. Protective provides two options—one for terminal disease and one for chronic illness. Only the terminal illness rider is available for no additional cost.
- Terminal Illness Accelerated Death Benefit Endorsement: If you have been diagnosed with a six-month or less life expectancy, Protective's terminal illness rider allows you to accelerate (or obtain early) up to 60% of the death benefit. This benefit is included at no additional cost with Protective's term, UL, IUL, and VUL policies.
- Extend Care Rider: This can be added to Protective's UL, IUL, and VUL policies for an additional fee. It enables the policyholder to receive either a lump payment or a monthly benefit while the insured is still alive if a doctor certifies them as chronically ill, which implies they are unable to do at least two activities of daily living (ADLs) for at least 90 days without help. ADLs include self-feeding and bathing.
Customer Service
Protective representatives are available by phone at 800-866-9933 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central Time (CT) Monday through Thursday, and from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT on Friday. Policyholders can access account management functions online, such as filing payments and claims.
Price
Protective is unbeatable in terms of pricing. At least not according to our examination of 30-year $250,000 term life insurance rates for healthy persons aged 25, 40, and 55 years old. In each age category, Protective had the cheapest term life insurance or was tied for the cheapest. According to the firm, premiums are frequently among the top three for comparable products across issue ages and face amounts.
If cost is a concern, start with Protective.
Who Is Protective Best For?
If you're looking for low-cost, no-frills term insurance, Protective is a good option. It is top-ranked for low-cost term coverage and provides 40-year term life insurance, which is unusual in the industry. The company also offers a variety of universal life plans, including a term-like UL policy that may be appropriate if you require the flexibility of a cash value component or the ability to construct one.
However, if you require a comprehensive suite of living benefits, such as no-cost accelerated death benefit riders for chronic, critical, and terminal conditions, you should look into other businesses' options. If you want a coverage that provides dividends or if you have health difficulties and require a final expense insurance, you should search elsewhere.
Our methodology: How We Review Life Insurance Carriers
We developed a comprehensive rating methodology based on consumer objectives and life insurance firm fundamentals to score more than 90 insurers in five broad categories: financial soundness, customer happiness, product and feature diversity, overall buying experience, and price.
To accomplish this, we collected over 5,000 data points and assessed each organization based on 55 metrics. We divided measurements into categories to examine how insurers performed in each, then we weighted category scores to see how firms did overall.