Call Today! 888-234-8376
Protective Life Insurance Company Review For 2020
Protective was founded in 1907. Although it now offers retirement investment and annuity products, it began as (and still primarily is) a life insurance company. Protective is a financially stable company with excellent customer service and claims history, which makes it one of the top life insurance companies worth considering.
Protective: Who is it best for?
- Shoppers on a budget: Protective’s term and Custom Choice Universal Life products offer some of the lowest rates on the market.
- Nonsmokers: Current and former tobacco users will find Protective’s rates less competitive than other insurers.
- People who want conversion options: You can convert a term policy into permanent life insurance without having to take a medical exam.
Protective life insurance policies
Table created using information available at Protective.com. Data as of 12/6/2019.
Protective offers whole life insurance, children’s life insurance, and joint life insurance, but its stand-out products are term and universal life policies.
Learn more about the types of life insurance.
Call today: 888-234-8376
Protective term life insurance
Protective offers a single term life insurance product available in terms of 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30 years. You may be able to convert your Protective term life policy into permanent life insurance later if your needs change. You can choose a death benefit between $100 thousand and $50 million, and you can apply for a policy if you’re 75 or younger.1
Protective universal life
This insurer’s permanent life insurance options include four kinds of universal life (UL):
- Traditional UL
- Variable UL
- Indexed UL
- Custom Choice UL—the company’s stand-out product.
Custom Choice UL costs about the same as a term life policy but offers more lifetime coverage options. With this policy, you can pay higher premiums to, for instance, extend the length of coverage. Or, if your goal is to keep your premiums low, it can be structured to reduce your death benefit over time.
How much does life insurance with Protective cost?
To understand Protective’s pricing, we sampled rates from this insurer, including those in the tables below.
Sample quotes based on Protective.com and are for illustration purposes only. Actual quotes may vary. Data effective 12/2/2019.
Sample quotes based on Protective.com and are for illustration purposes only. Actual quotes may vary. Data effective 12/2/2019.
Overall, Protective has some of the lowest rates on the market, especially if you’re healthy. As with other insurers, prices go up if you have diabetes, a heart condition, a family history of health issues, and other health considerations. Protective’s least favorable rates seem to be for current and former tobacco users.
Things to consider about Protective
Protective is known for its competitive pricing (as long as you’re not a smoker), but you may find its policies under a different name.
Protective is sold under multiple brands
If you’re a Costco customer, you may know that Protective provides the national warehouse chain’s life insurance products. Protective also owns the Chase Insurance Group, so if you have life insurance through Chase Bank, that’s Protective too. Finally, policyholders with West Coast, MONY, and Lyndon Life Insurance Companies are customers of Protective subsidiaries.
If you like Protective’s policies and want to shop around for better rates or slight variations on their products, check out Costco life insurance or another Protective brand.
Low price—unless you've used tobacco
Companies price coverage according to their proprietary formula, Protective's strength seems to be healthy people looking for term or universal life. Its weakness appears to be high prices for former and current tobacco users.
These companies typically offer more competitive rates for tobacco users:
How Protective stacks up
As of December 2018, Protective Life Insurance Company had $901 billion of coverage in force and, making it one of the largest life insurance companies globally.2 Today, Protective is known for reliability and financial stability.
Is Protective financially stable?
Table created using information available at AMBest.com, StandardAndPoors.com, Moodys.com, and FitchRatings.com. Data effective 12/6/2019.
AM Best, which rates only insurance companies, gives Protective its highest score of A+. AA- is S&P's second-highest rating, while Fitch and Moody’s give Protective their third-highest scores. All these ratings give a stable outlook and indicate a financially sound insurance company.
Claims and customer service
Protective is a reliable company with few complaints on its record. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) reports this insurer received 19 official complaints nationwide in 2018. For a company that brought in nearly $1.7 billion in premiums last year, 19 complaints is low—much lower than other similarly sized companies.3
This insurer's customer service level seems to have decreased recently. In 2018, J.D Power scored Protective 791 points for overall customer service ("better than most").5
In 2019, however, that score dropped to 754 ("about average"). That said, most large insurers dropped at least a few points on J.D. Powers scorecard between 2018 and 2019.4
Bottom line: Protective is worthy of consideration
For many people, Protective checks all the right boxes: strong financial ratings, reliable claims and service, and affordable premiums. But if you use or have used tobacco, you could find Protective’s rates out of reach.
Whether Protective seems right for you or not, you can compare life insurance quotes from this company and others quickly and easily. Make your search for the perfect life insurance provider a snap by requesting a quote today.
Need help understanding how life insurance works? Read up here:
- Learn what to expect during a life insurance exam.
- Don’t want to take a medical exam when you apply for a policy? Check out companies that have no exam life insurance.
- Understand why you might choose universal life insurance.
- Looking for more companies that excel at universal life insurance? Check out the best universal life insurance companies.
With Protective, you can apply for a policy if you’re 75 years old or younger. The company doesn't have policies explicitly geared toward older adults, however. If that’s what you’re looking for, check out a few companies that specialize in senior life insurance.
Alternatively, many older adults buy life insurance coverage mainly for final expenses. If that’s you, check out burial insurance companies.
Sources
1. Protective, “Term Life Insurance”
2. Protective, “Company Profile”
3. National Association of Insurance Commissioners, "Consumer Insurance Search Results"
4. J.D. Power, “Life Insurers’ Focus on Customer Experience is Key for Increasing Satisfaction, J.D. Power Finds”
5. J.D. Power, "Life Insurance and Annuity Providers Are More Customer-Centric but Gaps Remain, J.D. Power Finds"