Bankers Life Insurance Review

Hans Daniel Jasperson has over a decade of experience in public policy research, with an emphasis on workforce development, education, and economic justice. His research has been shared with members of the U.S. Congress, federal agencies, and policymakers in several states.

Our Take The features and riders that Bankers Life provides offer consumers a wide variety of options with a focus on whole and universal life insurance. But the company’s high number of customer complaints and lack of online quote and application processes suggest that this insurer might not be for everyone.

• Pros & Cons
• Company Overview
• specifications

• Extensive riders
• Multiple plan options
• No-medical-exam policies

• No online quotes or application
• More complaints than expected
• Relatively low maximum death benefit without home office approval

Bankers Life and Casualty Company has offered a wide array of insurance policies to consumers since its founding in 1879. Headquartered in Chicago, Bankers Life is a subsidiary of CNO Financial Group, which offers life and health insurance. The company sells whole, term, indexed universal, and universal life policies.

We identified 45 life insurance companies with strong financial stability and high customer satisfaction ratings and evaluated them based on 70 metrics, collecting over 3,000 data points. This research allowed us to rate and rank the best life insurance companies and provide you with unbiased, comprehensive reviews.

Pros Explained

• Extensive riders, including a disability income option: A long list of available riders gives you the power to customize a policy to fit your needs. Bankers Life also offers a Disability Income Rider, which is rare in the industry.
• Multiple plan options: Those who prefer cash value or investment options have a healthy set of policies to choose from with a range of term, whole, and universal life (UL) policies, including indexed UL and final expense.
• No-medical-exam policies: The company offers coverage to eligible applicants for up to $150,000 in coverage without a medical exam.

Cons Explained

• No online application: More tech-savvy applicants who want the convenience of applying or getting a quote online may be frustrated by Bankers Life.
• More complaints than expected: Bankers Life has a complaint level that's well above what’s expected for its size. This should give potential applicants pause.
• Relatively low max death benefit without home office approval: A maximum death benefit of $2 million may be too low for some consumers. But a higher coverage limit may be available to some applicants with home office approval.

Complaint Index

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) calculates a complaint index to indicate the number of complaints a company receives relative to other companies. The industry standard is 1.00. This means that the company received an expected number of complaints for its size. A higher score indicates that the company received more complaints than expected, and a score of less than 1.00 means the company received fewer complaints than expected.

Bankers Life has an average index of 5.01 over three years for the individual life category. This is considerably higher than the market standard. The majority of these complaints involved delays, denials, and problems with premium refunds.

Third-Party Ratings

Credit rating service AM Best issues financial strength ratings for each company in the insurance industry based on the company’s analysis of financial health and projected ability to pay claims and meet other financial obligations.

According to AM Best, Bankers Life and its parent company, CNO Financial Group, have an A (Excellent) financial strength rating. This score means that Bankers Life has an excellent ability to meet its ongoing financial obligations.

Available Policies

Bankers Life offers several policy options to choose from.

Whole Life

Whole life insurance is a permanent life insurance policy that's designed to last throughout the lifetime of the policyholder. Whole life policies can also accumulate a cash value. Bankers Life offers five whole life insurance policies and one juvenile whole life insurance policy.

• BasicLife: This policy is designed for those 17 to 49 and 50 to 85 years old and who don't want to take a medical exam or answer many health questions. The death benefit can be as low as $2,500. With level premium payments, your out-of-pocket payments will never change.
• BasicLife Graded: BasicLife Graded is similar to BasicLife, but it has a lower initial death benefit of $2,500 that reaches 100% over three years. This type of policy is best for those who are in poor health and who would probably not be approved for a regular policy that requires health questions.
• SecureView: Available for ages 17 to 75, a SecureView policy also has level premium payments that are guaranteed for life, although you also have the option of paying off your policy in full in 10 or 20 years. Face amounts begin at $30,000.
• Innovative Life SPI: Bankers Life offers a single premium policy available up to age 85. Premium amounts begin at $2,500.
• Innovative Life SPII: This is similar to the Innovative Life SPI as a single premium policy, but its minimum coverage amounts are higher.
• LifeStart: Juvenile whole life insurance is available for ages 0 to 16, with face values starting at $10,000.

Universal Life

Universal life (UL) insurance is also a form of permanent life insurance, but it’s designed so you can benefit from rising interest rates and flexible premiums. Bankers Life offers two universal life insurance policies.

• TurningPoint: This is a fixed-interest universal life insurance plan with a guaranteed interest rate of 3% that will increase if you keep your policy for longer than 16 years. Coverage starts at $30,000.
• ClearVantage: This indexed universal life (IUL) insurance policy determines your interest based on a stock market index. ClearVantage lets you allocate your cash value to a fixed-rate account or to an indexed account that's tied to the S&P 500 index. The cash value won’t be credited less than a 1% return even if the index loses value. This is a nice perk because some other IULs guarantee a return of no less than 0.0%.

Term Life

Term life insurance covers a specified number of years. It only pays out if the policyholder dies within this preset term. These policies are generally more affordable than whole or universal life insurance policies. They may be eligible for renewal or conversion to a permanent policy when the term ends.

Bankers Life offers one term life insurance policy:

• Reliaterm: This policy is renewable when the term expires up until age 95. It lets you extend coverage beyond your initial term. It’s also convertible, allowing you to trade up to a permanent policy without providing evidence of insurability until age 75 or for the first five years you own the policy, whichever is later. Term life insurance is available for 5-, 10-, or 20-year periods. Face amounts start at $25,000.

Available Riders

Riders are optional features that give you additional benefits. Bankers Life has a robust selection of riders.

ADB: Terminal Illness Rider

This rider allows you to access a portion of your policy’s death benefit while you’re still alive if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness. You'll reduce the death benefit your beneficiaries receive, however, if you exercise this option. This is a type of accelerated death benefit (ADB) rider.

ADB: Chronic Illness Rider

This is also an ADB rider. It lets you access your death benefit if you become chronically ill.

Accidental Death Benefit

This rider makes additional coverage available if the policyholder dies an accidental death.

Reinstatement Without Evidence of Insurability

This rider reinstates your policy without evidence of insurability in case of cognitive impairment.

Disability Income Rider

The disability income rider offers income if you become disabled during your policy. This type of rider isn't commonly available on life insurance policies, which could make Bankers Life an interesting option for some consumers.

Children’s Term Rider

You can add term coverage for your children to your own policy with this rider. You won't have to purchase separate coverage.

Waiver of Premium

This rider waives the cost of your premium if you become totally disabled.

Customer Service

Bankers Life has 231 local branches across the country, with agents available to answer questions. The company also offers general phone assistance at 800-621-3724 and application assistance at 888- 992-0774. Online inquiries can also be submitted here.

Final Verdict

Bankers Life offers multiple plan options and a good many riders to help you customize your policy, but it falls short in the areas of online quotes and applications. It received an unsavory score from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). Most complaints involved delays, denials, and issues with premium refunds.

Methodology

We've designed a comprehensive ranking methodology based on consumer priorities and life insurance company fundamentals to rank more than 90 insurers across five general categories: financial stability, customer satisfaction, product and feature variety, the overall buying experience, and cost.

We collected over 5,000 data points in order to do this and scored each company based on 55 metrics. We grouped metrics by category to see how insurers performed in each. We then weighted category scores to determine how companies performed overall. Read our full Life Insurance Methodology to learn more.