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American United Life (AUL) Review 2020

Researcher & Writer
March 30, 2020

American United Life Insurance Company has an excellent reputation for customer service and offers a wide variety of life insurance products.

American United Life is a top life insurance company in the United States. In the following review of AUL, we will cover the history of the company, the company's financial ratings, its products, as well as provide a summary and recommendation.

About American United Life (AUL)

American United Life is a OneAmerica company. OneAmerica is one of the fastest growing mutual life insurance companies in the United States. As mutual life insurance company, OneAmerica and its companies are owned by the policyholders, not stockholders.

As the founding member of OneAmerica, American United Life (AUL) Insurance Company boasts a number of products that can be utilized by individuals, couples, families, and businesses. Through a team of fully-trained and experienced professionals, AUL offers  comprehensive service across the United States. 

OneAmerica also issues a hybrid long term care life insurance policy through State Life Insurance Company.

Pros of AUL

As mutual life insurance company, OneAmerica and its companies, such as American United Life, are owned by the policyholders, not stockholders.

A.M. Best Rating

American United Life Ins has an A.M. Best rating of A+, ‘Superior’. On the whole, this means that they have the second best rating (second only to A++) while also boasting a ‘g’ affiliation code and a financial size category of XIV - this translates to between $1.5-$2 billion.

American United Life Ratings

  • A.M. Best: A+ Superior (2nd highest rating of 16)
  • Standard and Poor's: AA- (4th highest of 22)
  • Comdex rating: 95 (out of 100)
Reviews from BBB

American United Life Insurance is an accredited member of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and currently has an ‘A+’ rating on a scale that falls right down to ‘F’. According to the BBB, AUL meets their accreditation standards and goes beyond by committing to reduce consumer complaints. 

With a rating of ‘A+’, this is the highest that the BBB awards so the American United Life team is held in high regard across the board.

Customer Service

Customer service is of the utmost importance if a business wants to retain their customer base. In the insurance industry, AUL  receives high ratings for their customer service both at the time of purchase and when policies are paid out.

AUL makes it easy for customers to contact an agent via their website, email or phone. According to the positive reviews of previous clients, the company responds to inquiries in a timely manner.

American United Life's Product Offering

AUL has developed a range of individual products for life insurance and annuities. Whether it is whole life, term life, fixed or variable annuities, AUL has helped many individuals.

AUL has become well-known for their extensive retirement services. With a particular focus on the 401(k), 403(b) and the 457 markets, AUL helps a wide range of customers with these products and knowledgeable services.

Additionally, employee benefits are a rather large portion of their service. AUL offers  voluntary and more traditional group life and even long term disability insurance. In addition to this, they have access to FMLA administration, travel, and employee assistance programs via a number of other providers which means that they offer more extensive services than many other competitors.

It isn’t hard to see why they are many people’s first choice.

Legacy 121 Whole Life Insurance

One of the company's flagship products is its Legacy 121 policy. This is a cash value whole life insurance policy that comes with a guaranteed:

  • death benefit
  • cash value
  • premium

Legacy 121 also offers dividend payments based on the company's year over year claims experience, interest earnings and operating expenses.

Dividends are not guaranteed but the company has a long history of paying participating policyholders a dividend. Dividends can be used for

  • Cash out
  • Earning interest with the carrier
  • Paying down life insurance policy loans
  • Paying premium payments
  • Purchasing additional paid up life insurance (increasing the death benefit and cash value)

Legacy 121 Riders

Living Needs Benefit (Accelerated Death Benefit) rider at no additional cost. The benefit will pay out a portion of the death benefit if the insured is diagnosed as terminally ill with a life expectancy of 12 months or less.

Accelerator Paid Up Additions Rider allows the insured to purchase paid up additional insurance with a guaranteed cash value.

Long Term Care Insurance

OneAmerica also has long term care life insurance issued by State Life Insurance Company. Long term care insurance provides a tax free income benefit to help you pay for long term care costs.

One of the benefits on OneAmerica's policy issued from State Life Insurance Company is that is provides unlimited lifetime benefits. So, no matter how long you require long term care, your income benefit will continue to pay out.

In contrast, most companies providing Life+LTC Hybrid policies only offer income benefits for a limited amount of time, between 4-6 years or so. Once the benefit period ends, there is no more help with long term care costs.

Asset Care snapshot:

  • Available as single premium whole life insurance or whole life insurance to age 100, 20 Pay, and 10 Pay.
  • Access to 100% of the death benefit for LTC costs
  • Premiums never increase
  • Available for ages 35-80 for SPWL and 20-80 for Whole Life w/ ADB
  • Guaranteed 4% minimum interest rate
  • Income benefit 2% of death benefit per month; optional 3-4% income benefit available for additional premiums
  • Inflation Protection Rider (3% or 5% simple growth; 3% or 5% compound growth)
  • Continuation of Benefits Rider (Limited and Lifetime)

Disability Income Insurance

OneAmerica is one of the better disability insurance companies. OneAmerica Company issues its disability insurance through American United Life Insurance Company, AUL. AUL offers employer-paid short term and long term disability insurance.

The short term disability insurance policy provides immediate income benefits for an accident and income benefits for an injury after 7 days.

In addition, long term disability insurance is also available. The policy provides a 2 year own occupation definition of total disability. After two years of receiving benefits the definition of total disability changes to any gainful occupation.

For more information on DI coverage, please check out our disability insurance guide.

Potential Drawbacks

For some, the prices that American United Life offer are a little too high. 

While other companies may offer slightly better rates, these same companies cannot offer the same level of customer service as AUL. Furthermore, they cannot compete with the amount of resources and support that AUL has nor do they have as good BBB and A.M. Best ratings.

In addition to this, the company relies quite heavily on the agents that they have in particular areas which means that some areas will be better represented than others. If you live in a highly populated area, you may find numerous AUL representatives that are ready to help with just one phone call.

However, smaller locations have noted how they have had to go out of their way in order to receive the service. On the whole, the company does have good representation across the United States which means that the local option is never really too far away. 

Conclusion

As mentioned previously, you will struggle to find a service that is as well-respected as American United Life and this shows in the amount of happy customers that they have. With top ratings across the board from professional agencies, you will be hard-pressed to find a company that offers an efficient service like this.

Not only that, but they can also back up everything by the fantastic products and services offered. Whether you’re looking for help with retirement, for your business, or maybe even just some family planning, AUL will spend the required time to learn about your scenario and then provide the help that you need.

It Pays to Have Options

Whatever company you ultimately decide to choose for your life insurance needs, it is always good to have options. Visit our Online Life Insurance Quotes page to get quotes from multiple companies in minutes.

Written by
TermLife2Go
We are a team of life insurance experts with the simple mission of helping you find the best coverage for your unique situation. We research, review, and rank life insurance companies to make that process easier.