Occidental Life Insurance company has its roots in North Carolina, back in 1906. They are headquartered in Waco, TX. Why is a life insurance company from North Carolina headquartered in TX, you ask? Occidental is part of a larger financial group that consists of American-Amicable Life Insurance Company of Texas, Pioneer American Insurance, American Life Insurance and Industry Alliance Life Insurance. American-Amicable has its headquarters in Waco, TX and so now, Occidental does as well.
They specialize in simplified issue insurance, which is life insurance that doesn’t require a medical exam. This is good news for people with health problems that they’d rather not reveal to their insurance company. There may be some health questions, but you won’t have to visit a doctor or have a medical professional visit you at your home.
AI has over four million customers and manages over $109 billion in assets.
- Pros and Cons of Occidental Life Insurance
- Products Offered by Occidental Life Insurance: 70/100
- Financial Strength Rating of Occidental Life Insurance: 80/100
- Customer Satisfaction Rating of Occidental Life Insurance: 90/100
- Consumer Complaints Rating of Occidental Life Insurance: 25/100
- Digital Experience Rating of Occidental Life Insurance: 25/100
Pros and Cons of Occidental Life Insurance
| Pros | Cons |
| – Many policies don’t require a medical exam – Some riders are included at no extra cost – Excellent financial strength | – No online quotes – Website does not offer a lot of information on whole or term policies – Policies are sold through agents, which may make rates higher |
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Products Offered by Occidental Life Insurance
Occidental Life offers:
- Term
- Simplified Term
- Non-medical Universal life
- Universal life
- Whole
- Final Expense
Non-medical universal life insurance offers adjustable-benefit life insurance with no medical exam required. Coverage ranges from $25,000 to $250,000. If you want more universal life insurance, you can but you’ll have to have a medical exam.
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Simplified Issue term life insurance also offers a non-medical option as well. Coverage is available up to $250,000. There are convertible to whole life insurance options, and a return of premium option. You can choose 10, 15, 20 or 30 year terms.
They also have Association Term insurance which is 10-year renewable term insurance for:
- Government employees
- First responders
- Medical professionals
- Employers of state-funded educational institutions
- Railroad employees
- Hospital employees
Spouses of those in these professions are also eligible.
Final Expense insurance is available for anyone ages 0-85. There is no medical exam needed, and no blood work taken.
Occidental also offers some riders, some of which are free. No cost riders include terminal illness and confined care and return of premium is available as an option.
The website does not go into a great deal of detail about these policies, including their whole life insurance product. They are sold through insurance agents. If you are an insurance agent, you can run quotes on a mobile phone, but no such option exists for online customers.
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Financial Strength Rating of Occidental Life Insurance
A.M. Best evaluates every insurance company based on their total assets and financial stability. Occidental Life insurance earns a A, which is excellent, with a stable outlook. It’s important to have a financially secure insurance company so you know they can pay claims.
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Customer Satisfaction Rating of Occidental Life Insurance
Occidental Life Insurance is too small to have been reviewed by J.D. Power’s life insurance study, so we will have to look elsewhere.
The BBB rates Occidental Life Insurance with an A+. They are accredited by the BBB, and there is only one customer review of them and one complaint.
Google reviews lists 12 reviews for Occidental Life insurance: nine of them are positive and three are negative. Some reviews praise the customer service one complains of how rude the person answering the phone was. Still, twelve is a very small number considering how many customers Occidental has.
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Consumer Complaints Rating of Occidental Life Insurance
The NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners) gives every company a ratio based on the number of complaints. The median average score is 1.0, which means a company got as many complaints as you might expect.
Occidental earns a ratio of 2.0, which means there are twice as many complaints as you might expect. There are five complaints listed but it doesn’t go into details. However, this ratio is a concern.
Digital Experience Rating of Occidental Life Insurance
If you have a question, comment, or suggestion you’ll fill out a form. Once you hit “submit” the customer support team will get back to you. They don’t have an online chat bot.
You’ll also need to fill out a form if you want to:
- Change a beneficiary
- Make changes to your policy
- Cancel your policy
- Submit a claim
- Apply for accelerated benefits
In other words, there is not a lot you can do online.
There is no online quoting, either. If you would like a quote from Occidental, you can fill out yet another form and an agent will contact you.
There isn’t a great deal of information about Occidental online, and it’s hard to tell what kind of prices are available. Since there are many no medical exam options, you would think it would be easy to get a quote. Companies that make it difficult to find out what their prices are like are usually not the cheapest out there, because if they were it’s to their advantage to tell everyone.
Another reason why we think the rates might be a little high is that simplified issue insurance is usually priced higher than other types of insurance. People who have some health issues are the most likely to be attracted to no-medical exam insurance, so the rates are higher to compensate.
Lastly, they sell policies through agents, and agents have fees and commissions, meaning a higher rate.
Last Thoughts
If you’re the market for simplified issue life insurance and an easy online experience isn’t that important to you, Occidental Life insurance may work for you. Also, if you enjoy working with insurance agents, Occidental may be for you. If you want any kind of online experience, you might do better to look elsewhere.