In the early 20th century, a young entrepreneur named A. P. Giannini had a vision of providing financial assistance to the general public. With that in mind, Giannini acquired Occidental Life Insurance Company through Transamerica Corporation in 1930. Occidental was open to the public in 1906, and since then, it has established itself as a major force in the life insurance business on the West Coast.
With the addition of Occidental Life Insurance—and the estimated $25 million in assets that came with it—Giannini had created the foundation for what would become a strong and lasting company.
Transamerica offers a wide variety of financial products and services. Their mission is to help individuals, families, and businesses build, protect, and preserve their hard-earned assets. With more than a century of experience, they have dedicated themselves to building a reputation for solid management and sound decisions.
For older individuals and those with pre-existing conditions, Transamerica is a great option as it offers extremely competitive term rates and no medical exam policies. Additionally, it offers accelerated death benefits for a larger variety of illnesses than other companies, who usually reserve accelerated death benefits for terminal illnesses.
One of the major disadvantages of Transamerica is that they have focused their efforts on becoming industry leaders in life insurance for seniors and individuals with pre-existing conditions. This has come at the expense of their products for younger customers, which are not very competitive compared to other providers.
For clients that are younger than 70 years old, there are other companies that can provide lower rates. Additionally, Transamerica is not particularly merciful to smokers with their whole life policies. Even if you only smoke occasionally, you can expect your rates to rise significantly more than they would with other companies.
There have also been many complaints about Transamerica’s customer service and claims processing, with availability being more scarce than usual. If you want to make a change or submit a claim, you may find it difficult to get a hold of a representative to help you.
Transamerica offers a huge selection of life insurance products, including term life, whole life, universal life, variable life, accidental death insurance, and final expense life insurance. It also offers services like dental insurance, long-term care insurance, mutual funds, retirement planning, and Medicare solutions.
Term Life: Transamerica term life policies may provide financial protection to your family anywhere from $250,000 to as much as $2,000,000 with term periods ranging from 10 to 30 years separated by five-year increments. They also offer a no medical exam term policy to qualified individuals.
Whole Life: Transamerica offers guaranteed level premiums and a guaranteed cash value that you can access through a loan with whole life insurance. However, whole life has higher premiums than term life insurance.
Universal Life: Unlike term and whole life insurance, universal life has more flexibility in terms of modifying the amounts and frequency of premium payments. Universal life also contains cash value that grows tax-deferred until funds are withdrawn.
Variable Life: With variable life, you can invest a portion of your cash value component in stocks and bonds markets. This additional feature may provide an opportunity to grow your funds and you can then withdraw some extra cash to help you with needs such as health emergencies or college funds.
Accidental Death Insurance: With accidental death insurance, your beneficiaries can get the financial protection they need to help alleviate any difficulties they face in the event of any accidental misfortune.
Final Expense Rider: It's never easy to lose a loved one. While dealing with the emotional stress associated with such a loss is difficult by itself, the financial costs that follow can make it even more stressful. Final expense insurance takes care of the necessary funds associated with burying a loved one and helps families grieve in peace.
Return of Premium Rider: If you survive the length of your term policy, the waiver of premium rider will allow you to recoup the premiums you paid over the course of the policy period.
Waiver of Premium Rider: This rider allows you to completely waive the premium payments for your policy if you become disabled and unable to earn an income for at least six months. You must have a disability according to the definition established by the provider.
These ratings shown represent current and independent opinions from the leading providers of ratings of insurance companies. The financial strength of an insurance provider must be essential to your evaluation of it as a life insurance provider. You want to avoid choosing a company that is likely to go bankrupt at all costs.
Agency | Rating | Description |
A.M. Best | A+ | Superior |
Standard & Poor´s | AA- | Very Strong |
Moody´s | A1 | Good |
Fitch | A+ | Superior |
Although Transamerica is one of the best life insurance companies available for older individuals and those with pre-existing conditions, it is important to shop your policy around to make sure you are getting the best rates for the best policy. Understanding what makes a good insurance company can be difficult, and that’s why we’re here to help.
Ending up with a wrong insurer can make you lose thousands of dollars. Therefore, it's important to discuss your needs with an independent life insurance agent like those at LifeQuote before coming to any conclusion. We work with many top-rated life insurance companies and we will make sure to pair you with the best. Contact us today to speak with an agent and get a free quote online.