Transamerica Life Insurance Review 2020

Thang Truong
Thang Truong
Updated on:

Transamerica is a major name in financial services, offering everything from employee benefits to insurance. The company offers a comprehensive amount of life insurance products to choose from. Below we’ll look into those products in more detail, as well as the reputation of the company, in our Transamerica life insurance review.  

Pros of Transamerica Life Insurance

  • A wide array of life insurance products covering the main types of the industry
  • You can get up to $10 million in coverage on just a term life plan, which his quite high for the industry
  • Low consumer complaints through the NAIC
  • Flexible options involving living benefits and converting policies 

Cons of Transamerica Life Insurance

  • Company performed on the low end of the J.D. Power 2019 Life Insurance Study
  • No way to get a quote online, but that’s common for life insurance
  • Live agents tend to be centered around only the largest cities in some areas

Life Insurance Products Offered by Transamerica Life Insurance

First in our Transamerica life insurance review, we looked at the products offered. Transamerica offers a variety of life insurance products to both individuals and groups. The products it offers are:

  • Whole life insurance: Offers level premiums and a guaranteed death benefit with guaranteed cash value
  • Term life insurance: This runs a specific time period and has lower premiums
  • Universal life insurance: Has both cash value and a death benefit, may be able to use cash value to pay premiums
  • Index Universal life insurance: Can combine death benefit with ability to build cash value over time 
  • Final expense life insurance: As the name suggests, helps cover final expenses when a loved one passes away

Upon reviewing the individual pages of each product, these tend to be fairly standard plan types for the industry. However, some notable points include:  

  • Transamerica’s term life policies can give you $25,000 to $10 million or more in coverage
  • Through the Trendsetter Super plan, after your term life plan is up, you can convert it into a permanent life insurance policy with no additional medical exams
  • The Trendsetter LB term plan comes with living benefits that can payout if you have a critical, chronic or terminal illness. Learn more about Life Insurance with Living Benefits

Financial Strength Rating of Transamerica Life Insurance

Through AM Best, we found a listing for Transamerica Financial Life Insurance Company. The company has an A (Excellent) rating and the outlook of the company is stable.

The long-term issuer credit rating is listed as a+ and the outlook is stable.

Customer Satisfaction Rating of Transamerica Life Insurance

Through the J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Life Insurance Study, Transamerica got a modest 732 out of a possible 1,000 points, with median being 761. It also has the lowest two-circle rating out of a possible five. The two-circle rating is simply labeled “the rest.”  

Consumer Complaints Rating of Transamerica Life Insurance

For our Transamerica life insurance review, we checked with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. In 2017, the company had a complaint index of 0.33 through the NAIC (company code 10952), which is below average for the industry. In fact, it only had four complaints and none of those were for individual life insurance. Only one was for group life insurance.  

Through the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Transamerica Life Insurance Company has an A- rating and one and a half stars under the customer reviews. Complaints revolve around unresponsive communication and raised rates after term policies ended.  

Digital Experience Rating of Transamerica Life Insurance

As far as trying to get additional information for life insurance, the website routes you to an 800 number to call.  

You can also find a local agent by putting in your zip code. We tried entering a Wisconsin zip code and got a map with a list of agents. However, the agents were all located between about 65 to 100 miles away in the Chicago area. So Transamerica isn’t the sort of company that necessarily has agents on every street corner like some insurance agencies. However, the digital agent locator is a fast and easy way to see if that is the case for you.

Final Thoughts on Transamerica Life Insurance Review 

Transamerica has a comprehensive array of life insurance products. All the main types are here, from whole life to term life to even final expense insurance. While the company performed very modestly in the J.D. Power 2019 Life Insurance Study, it does have few complaints through the NAIC and an A- rating with the BBB. The digital experience is also a bit more interactive than many other traditional life insurance companies.

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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