Midland National Life Insurance Review 2020

Thang Truong
Thang Truong
Updated on:

Midland National Life Insurance was founded in 1906 as Dakota Mutual Life Insurance Company. They changed their name to Midland National Life Insurance in 1925. The original slogan was “Great Oaks from Little Acorns Grow.” Today, they’re a part of Sammons Financial Group, and they have combined assets of over $73 billion with over $266 billion dollars of life insurance in force. They offer term and permanent life insurance and are available in every state except New York.

Pros and Cons of Midland National Life Insurance

ProsCons
– Excellent financial strength
– Fewer than average complaints
– Agents provide individual attention
– No real online quotes
– Limited digital tools
– Not a lot of policy choices

>>MORE: The Best Life Insurance Companies (We Rank 40+ Life Insurance Companies)

Products Offered by Midland National Life Insurance

Midland National offers term life insurance in amounts of $100,000 to $5 million. Some term policies include accelerated death benefits. There is not that much information on the website. There is a button you can click that says, “Get a free term quote” but it’s a little misleading because once you fill out the form, it is emailed to a sales agent who will then contact you. In general, term insurance is the most affordable. 

Midland National also offers Indexed Universal Life insurance. With this type of insurance, you get a death benefit and a cash value account. The cash value account’s growth is based on the S&P 500 index, which is a reflection of the stock market as a whole. You’re not investing in the market per se, but the percentage growth is based on market performance. Your heirs will receive a tax-free death benefit. 

Guaranteed Universal life insurance is a fixed-premium permanent life insurance product meant to provide permanent and guaranteed death benefit coverage as long as you pay premiums that you choose in your policy. Guaranteed universal life insurance usually has a much cheaper premium compared to whole life insurance for the same coverage amount.

>>MORE: Compare Whole Life Insurance With Guaranteed Universal Life Insurance

Midland National offers Universal Life insurance as well. It’s a little difficult located information about this policy on their webpage, other than basic information about the policy providing a death benefit and a cash value account that grows a fixed rate. They would like you to contact a financial professional to discuss your needs, which explains why the information on the website is a little sparse. 

>>MORE: Case Studies of Universal Life Insurance – Understanding Different Universal Life Insurance Types and Their Uses

There is no list of available riders on the website, other than the sometimes-included accelerated death benefit rider. Either they don’t have any other riders, or they don’t share them on the website. 

Midland National used to offer Variable Universal life insurance, but as of May 1, 2018 they no longer do. 

They also offer annuities.

Financial Strength Rating of Midland National Life Insurance

Midland National is backed by excellent financial strength: A.M. Best gives them an A+, or superior. Financial strength is an evaluation of an insurer’s ongoing ability to meet financial obligations. 

Customer Satisfaction Rating of Midland National Life Insurance

J.D. Power releases a U.S. Life Insurance Study every year, where they rate the top insurance companies on such things as product offerings, price, and communication. The most a company can score overall is 1,000, with the median average score being 761. Midland National Life scored 723, or 23rd out of 24 life insurance companies. They consistently earned two out of five stars, or “the rest” according to J.D. Power’s scoring system. 

The BBB gives Midland National an A+ and an accreditation. There are 25 complaints listed on the website in the last three years. Some complaints concern billing issues (for example: the customer continued to be billed after cancelling the policy) and other communication issues. Some people did not seem to understand the terms of their policy. Make sure you understand any policy you buy. 

Consumer Complaints Rating of Midland National Life Insurance

The NAIC issues a complaint index score for every insurance company they review. The median average score is 1.0, meaning a company has as many complaints as you might expect. Midland National earned an index score of .16, which means it received far fewer complaints than expected.

Digital Experience Rating of Midland National Life Insurance

Although it seems like Midland National Life insurance offers online quoting for term life insurance, it really doesn’t. When you fill out the form hoping to get a quote, the system emails your form to a financial professional (aka insurance agent). They will contact you to discuss your insurance needs. 

If you just wanted a ballpark figure because you want to shop around before choosing a company, you can’t do that without chatting with an agent. Many people don’t like this because they perceive there will be pressure to purchase a policy. It also makes comparison shopping very difficult and more time consuming. 

There is a customer login screen, but it’s unclear what it lets you do. We tried searching for “How can I pay my bill online?” “Pay bill online” and “Online bill pay” and every time it returned “No results found.” 

The “Tools” icon at the top of the page yields two choices: Contact Us or Find an Agent. When you click on “Contact Us” you are brought to a screen. It gives you the customer service center phone numbers as well as phone numbers you’ll need to file a claim. You can also fill out a form with your questions/concerns and someone will get back to you. There is no chat bot or mobile app. 

Last Thoughts

If you’re looking for a way to quickly get an idea of price, Midland National is probably not your company because there’s no way to do that. If you like having the personal attention of working with an insurance agent, you might like Midland National. They’ve been around for a long time and there are very few complaints about them out there. Insurance agents’ skills and personalities vary, so if you get a good one it can be a very positive experience.

Thang Truong
Thang Truong

Thang Truong covers small business insurance and small business success at BravoPolicy. He is a licensed P&C insurance agent. Previously, he held product leadership positions at realtor.com, Capital One, NerdWallet, and Mulberry Technology. He holds a MBA degree from UC Berkeley - Haas School of Business.

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