Transamerica Life Insurance Company – Review
Posted in Company Reviews last updated on April 14, 2020When people are considering buying life insurance in today’s marketplace, they typically have two major objectives; they want it cheap and they want if fast. Certainly, not everyone approaches life insurance this way; there are many who take the time to consider how much insurance they need to buy and they consider the best product that will fit their individual needs.
Life insurance has many uses, and the policy you choose should meet your specific needs. There are various risks and financial purposes for life insurance and these should be considered as well:
- Provide funding for your funeral, burial, or cremation.
- Living expenses for your surviving loved ones in the event of your death
- Make funds available for paying off personal debt and your mortgage
- Provide the funds needed for future college tuition costs
- Leave a cash legacy for surviving loved ones and charitable organizations.
- Fund a business’ continuation program and key person insurance
- Fund a partnership’s buy-sell agreement
- Investment purposes and major purchases
- Supplement a retirement program
It’s safe to say that life insurance can be used for expenses before death and after death.
The purpose of the policy should always determine the type of policy you purchase.
How Do I Get the most Affordable Rates?
Most life insurers offer several types of life insurance products. Typical products that are available are Universal Life, Whole Life, Variable Life, and Term, and several versions of each.
To get the best value and most affordable rate for life insurance, the company will need to determine the risk you present so they can properly price your policy. The younger and healthier you are, the better your rate will be.
Insurers take several steps to determine your health now and your health history:- They will ask numerous questions about your health history
- They will order and pay for you to take a medical exam (in most cases).
- They will order and pay for a blood and urine analysis (in most cases).
- They will order and pay for reports from your doctors and any medical facilities.
- They order a report from the Medical Information Bureau
- They will order reports from a company that has a national prescription database.
- They order financial reports and driving records (in many cases).
Insurance underwriting can be very involved and even intrusive depending on the amount of insurance you are buying and your reason for purchasing it.
What is the Medical Information Bureau (MIB)?
The MIB is a member-owned non-profit company that tracks insurance applications that have been table rated or denied by an insurer. This data allows other insurers to have quick access to medical information when underwriting an applicant.
What is a Prescription Database?
There are prescription data mining services that life insurers obtain reports from concerning your prescription purchases. The two most popular are Intelliscript and ScriptCheck. These companies use data mining to build a database of people who have been prescribed prescription drugs. Your insurer will likely access this database to determine if you omitted taking any drugs that would indicate a life-threatening illness.
What Can I do if my Insurance Application is Declined?
If your health history prevents you from purchasing life insurance, or if you simply prefer not to undergo an exam and a blood
and urine test, you can still purchase life insurance by applying for no exam life insurance. This type of life insurance has little to no medical questions and is issued based only on your application.
There are some drawbacks to purchasing no exam life insurance. First, you will pay a higher rate since your insurance carrier cannot determine the risk you present. Second, many of these policies have a cap on the amount of insurance that you can purchase.
There are many life insurers that offer no exam insurance policies, and the following is our review of Transamerica, one of the more popular ones.
Transamerica Life Insurance
Transamerica Life Insurance started as a neighborhood bank that evolved into an organization that offered all types of financial services. In
1928 the bank merged with Bank of America and then shortly afterward acquired Occidental Life Insurance Company.
In the mid-1950s, the banking and life insurance business was split with the life insurance division taking the well-known name of Transamerica. Over the years the company grew its insurance business through acquisitions and now makes its home in the pyramid building that stands out on the San Francisco skyline.
Today, the company provides life insurance and other financial products through its six insurance companies. The company enjoys an “A+” rating from A.M. Best Company and enjoys an “A” or better rating from each of the three other rating services. The company currently offers three policies that do not require a medical exam and most independent agents rate it near or at the type of this for no exam life insurance providers.
Transamerica No Exam Term Life
Transamerica Life Insurance offers it’s Trendsetter Series for applicants that need a no exam product.
There are three products: Trendsetter Super, Trendsetter Express, and Trendsetter Living Benefits. All three of these products offer non-medical underwriting options (no exam)for certain face amounts: up to $99,999 for Super and up to $249,999 for Express and Living Benefits. Face amounts are available for $25,000 and up. Each product offers a terminal illness rider at no additional cost (where applicable). However, Trendsetter Living Benefits offers some additional coverage in the form of living benefits.
