The benefits explained
- Outstanding Customer Service: United Life strives to provide excellent customer service. While many companies claim to be focused on customer service, United Life’s excellent Customer Complaints Index score backs up their claim. In fact, the company has received even fewer complaints than our best life insurance companies.
- Same day decision available: Waiting a long time to see if you qualify for life insurance can be frustrating. With United Life, you may be able to skip the medical exam and receive a decision the same day you apply for some of its policies.
- Wide range of font offerings: United Life offers a very respectable portfolio of policies. In addition to term coverage, the company offers universal life, indexed universal life and whole life policies.
- Offers a Disability Income Rider: The company offers the option of adding a rider that will provide income in the event of disability. This endorsement is not commonly available from life insurers, which makes United Life a good option if you are interested.
Disadvantages Explained
- Limited information available on the website: United Life’s website is quite thin. It doesn’t provide much information about individual policies or terms and conditions. If you need more details, you will need to call an agent.
- Maximum duration of 20 years: Most of the life insurance companies we researched offer at least a 30-year term for term life insurance, but United Life’s maximum is 20 years. If you are looking for a longer duration, you will have to go to another company.
- No online quote: Many insurers offer online quotes for term policies without requiring you to contact an agent. This is not the case with United Life.
Index of complaints
United Life offers excellent customer service. In 2019 and 2021, it received zero customer complaints from the NAIC and only one complaint in 2020, giving it the lowest NAIC complaint index of the 91 life insurance companies we reviewed. .
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) calculates an annual complaints index that measures the number of complaints a company receives relative to its size. A complaint index of 1.00 indicates that the company received the expected number of complaints based on its size. An index above 1.00 means that the company has received more complaints than expected, and an index below 1.00 means that it has received fewer.
United Life received a zero complaint index in 2021 and 2019 as well as a very low 0.11 in 2020. This indicates that customers are satisfied enough not to file any complaints.
Company size matters when looking at the NAIC Complaints Index. United Life is a small insurer, representing only 0.046% of the US market. With fewer customers, fewer complaints will occur.
Third-party ranking
United Life is in a solid financial position. AM Best specializes in assessing the financial strength of insurance companies. It looks at an insurer’s ability to pay policyholder claims and other parameters before assigning a rating.
United Life’s AM Best score is A- (Excellent). While some insurers are in better financial shape, data from AM Best shows that United Life is in a strong position to pay claims and meet its ongoing insurance obligations.
Policies available
United Life sells a respectable range of policy types, providing coverage for a variety of needs.
Term life insurance
Term life insurance policies provide coverage for a set period of time, such as 10, 20, or 30 years. If you die while the policy is in effect, your beneficiaries receive a death benefit. If you are still alive when the policy expires, you can usually renew it or convert it to a permanent policy. United Life’s maximum term is 20 years, shorter than many other insurers offering term coverage.
universal life
Universal life (UL) is a type of permanent life insurance that provides death protection and cash value growth. Unlike whole life insurance, universal life insurance gives you the ability to adjust your premiums and death benefit.
Whole life insurance
Whole life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance that provides level premiums and guaranteed death protection for your lifetime. Your cash value also grows at a guaranteed rate, which all the life one of the safest types of life insurance.
Universal life index
Universal life index (ULI) is a type of permanent life insurance that provides the death benefit protection of a universal life insurance policy with the ability to increase cash value based on the performance of a stock market index, such as the S&P 500. The good thing is that since your money isn’t actually invested in the index, you don’t lose money if the index is not performing well. However, earnings are also limited.
Although IUL policies are not as risky as variable life insurance, if the gains in cash value are not sufficient, you may need to increase the premium.
Runners available
Riders are optional features you can add to your life insurance policy. Some are included at no upfront cost, while others may require a small additional premium. United Life offers a variety of endorsements to help you customize your coverage.
Guaranteed insurability rider
The guaranteed insurability rider allows you to purchase additional life insurance coverage in the future without having to prove that you are insurable. If your condition changes over the years, this rider ensures you’ll still be able to get the coverage you need, up to a certain age.
Child Rider
Child riders give you the option of adding coverage for your dependent children to your life insurance policy. If your child dies while your policy is active, the rider pays a death benefit. Your child’s coverage is often convertible into a permanent policy once they become an adult.
Premium waiver
A waiver of premium rider waives your life insurance premiums in certain circumstances, such as if you become disabled and unable to work. This rider is a good option if you’re worried that you won’t be able to pay your premiums if something happens to you in the future.
Disability Income Rider
The Disability Income Rider pays you a monthly income if you become disabled and cannot work. This can help cover your living expenses if you are unable to work due to accident or illness.
Accidental Death Benefit
A accidental death benefit the rider pays an additional death benefit if you die in an accident. This rider is a good option if you are worried about your family’s financial security if something happens to you.
Accelerated Death Benefit: Terminal Illness Rider
Accelerated death benefits pay you part of your death benefit if you meet certain conditions. The terminal illness rider pays you part of your death benefit if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness and your life expectancy is short. United Life allows you to add this endorsement to your policy without increasing the cost.
Accelerated Death Benefit: Long Term Care Rider
Another accelerated death benefit is the long term care rider. This rider pays you a portion of your death benefit if you can no longer perform activities of daily living on your own and require long-term care. The long-term care rider can help cover the costs of things like nursing homes or in-home sitters.
Customer service
You can contact United Life by phone or by filling out a online form. The main customer service phone number is 800-637-6318. The website does not list its hours of operation.
Our Methodology: How We Review Life Insurance Companies
We have designed a comprehensive ranking methodology based on consumer priorities and life insurance company fundamentals to rank over 90 insurers in five general categories: financial stability, customer satisfaction, variety of products and features, experience of overall purchase and cost.
To do this, we collected over 5,000 data points and scored each company based on 55 metrics. We’ve grouped the metrics by category to see insurers’ performance in each; we then weighted the category scores to determine overall business performance.
For more, read our full Life insurance methodology.