“Nationwide in on your side” is probably what comes to mind when you hear the name Nationwide. The company was started in 1925 as a mutual auto insurer. It was originally called the Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile insurance company, as it was started by Farm Bureaus. Nine Farm Bureaus continue to support Nationwide. They gradually expanded to offer motorcycle, homeowners, pet, farm, life and commercial insurance. For 2019, they totaled $49.3 billion dollars in sales, with total assets of $253.6 billion.
- Pros/Cons of Nationwide Life Insurance
- Products Offered by Nationwide Life Insurance: 95/100
- Financial Strength Rating of Nationwide Life Insurance: 95/100
- Customer Satisfaction Rating of Nationwide Life Insurance: 70/100
- Consumer Complaints Rating of Nationwide Life Insurance: 100/100
- Digital Experience Rating of Nationwide Life Insurance: 90/100
Pros and Cons of Nationwide Life Insurance
| Pros | Cons |
| – Online quoting for term insurance – Excellent digital experience – Wide variety of products – Great deal of policy flexibility | – Permanent life insurance policies require going through an agent – Prices are a little higher for such policies – Some policies require a medical exam |
Products Offered by Nationwide Life Insurance
Nationwide offers the usual array of life insurance products:
- Term Life
- Survivorship indexed UL
- Indexed Universal Life
- Whole Life
- Variable Universal Life
Guaranteed Level term life insurance is available in terms of 10, 15, 20 and 30 years. The premiums will never increase throughout the length of the term. You have the option of converting to a permanent policy at the end of the term (of course, your premiums will be higher).
It’s easy to get a quote for term insurance online, and some policies don’t require a medical exam. Once you get an online quote, you’ll have to call to purchase the insurance.
Survivorship Universal life insurance is an economical way to insure two people on the same policy. The death benefit is paid when the second person passes away.
Indexed Universal Life Accumulator offers life insurance plus strategies and tax advantages that help build more cash value. The cash value is based on the overall market performance, called an index. The three most often used indexes are the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the Nasdaq Composite.
Whole life insurance is permanent life insurance that builds cash value. Nationwide offers two types: WL 100, where premiums are the same until they stop at age 100, and 20-pay WL, where you pay the premiums for twenty years, but the coverage lasts forever.
>>MORE: Is Whole Life Insurance Worth It? A Case Study
Variable universal life is similar to IUL, but it gives you more control over the investments. There is more risk, though, because you’re actually investing in the market, not just an index. Nationwide offers over 40 investment options to choose from.
The following riders are available to add to your policy (not every rider is available for every policy):
- Accelerated death benefit. Learn more about living benefits life insurance
- Children’s term insurance. Learn more about life insurance for children
- Premium waiver rider
- Long-term care rider. Learn more about life insurance with long term care benefits
- Surrender value enhancement benefit. Learn more about cash surrender value in life insurance
- Accidental death benefit. Learn more about accidental death life insurance
- Overloan lapse protection
- Waiver of monthly deductions rider
- Extended no-lapse guarantee rider
Nationwide insures almost everything you could ever want to insure. In addition to life insurance, they also offer auto, homeowners, pet, RV’s, boats, motorcycles, snowmobiles, travel, business insurance, retirement plans, annuities, and mutual funds.
If you’re interested in bundling insurance, Nationwide can certainly accommodate that.
Financial Strength Rating of Nationwide Life Insurance
The financial strength of an insurance company is important, because you need to know they have the resources available to pay claims. Nationwide gets an A+ (Superior) from AM Best, or a superior ability to pay claims.
Customer Satisfaction Rating of Nationwide Life Insurance
J.D. Power ranks every life insurance company on a number of factors, as well as overall. Nationwide ranks 6th out of 24 life insurance companies. They earn a score of 783, the median score being 761, so better than average (Overall scores are on a 1,000 point scale).
Here is how Nationwide did in the individual categories:
- Overall Satisfaction: 4/5
- Product Offerings: 4/5
- Price: 3/5
- Statements: 4/5
- Interaction: 4/5
- Communication: 4/5
- Application and Orientation: 3/5
As we can see, Nationwide scores above average in most categories, except for price and application, and they scored average in those categories.
Consumer Complaints Rating of Nationwide Life Insurance
NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners) develops a complaint ratio for insurance companies. The median complaint ratio is 1.0. Nationwide received complaint ratios of 0.0 for individual life and 0.0 for group life insurance.
The BBB gives Nationwide an A+. They’ve been accredited since 1955. It’s worth noting that there are 240 customer complaints on the BBB’s website. Most of them are homeowners and auto insurance complaints, with a sprinkling of pet insurance complaints (Nationwide is the #1 pet insurer in the nation). If you’re interested in bundling, they’re worth a look.
Digital Experience Rating of Nationwide Life Insurance
You can get an online quote for term life insurance, although purchasing term insurance requires you to call and talk to an agent. Other forms of life insurance require talking to an agent as well. This is common for the industry, as most life insurance companies won’t give you an online quote for whole or universal life insurance, as too many factors affect the price. This may dissuade you from getting a quote if you’re worried about being pressured to purchase more life insurance than you need.
In addition, since Nationwide is a huge company that insures almost everything, you can also get an online quote for auto, homeowners, renters, business, motorcycle, condo, pet, RV, and boat.
Online, you can pay a bill, get an I.D. card, file a claim, and check the status of a claim
There’s a mobile app as well. You can do all the same things as you can online, and you can get roadside assistance if you happen to have Nationwide as your auto insurer.
You can find Nationwide on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Last Thoughts
Nationwide is a huge company with a lot of financial and insurance products available. They have decent customer service and fewer than average complaints. They might be perfect for you if you want to bundle several different types of insurance under one company.