There are a lot of life insurance companies out there and while most A rated life insurance companies are good; some are more popular than others. AIG is definitely one of those companies that are on the popular side. If you haven’t heard of them as AIG, then you have probably heard of American General, which is the same company under a different name.
You probably also remember them in the news back in the 2008 Financial Meltdown. They were one of the too big too fail companies. Even though that kinda tarnished them, we are here to tell you that this is one of the best life insurance companies out there. Not only is AIG one of the biggest insurance carriers in the world we see how they operate in comparison to all the other carriers and trust us they are solid.
As an independent agency, we work with all of the companies on the market. Over the years we have compiled a lot of data on all the life insurance companies out there. This allows us to see what companies are good for our clients, which are okay, and which area no go. Let’s review what AIG has to offer in this life insurance review.
Quick SUmmary
AIG has both accidental death, guaranteed issue, term life and permanent life products.
It is one of the most competitive priced companies in the entire marketplace.
If you have a dangerous hobby or have pre-existing medical conditions, they are really considerate with their approvals.
About 25% of our clients go with AIG.
They are a great company when it comes to insuring felonies, gestational diabetes, autoimmune disorders and anxiety.
More About AIG
Background
You want to be impressed with a company’s profile, well here it is. AIG has been in business since 1919 when a guy by the name of Cornelius wanted to offer life insurance products in China. So far they have a total of 12 million customers served. Aside from life insurance, they serve over 18 million Americans in other industries like health and disability. They were awarded with the Customer Excellence Award six years in a row.
Financial Strength
They are also rated “A” or higher by every financial institutions that measure strength of life insurance companies. AIG also has about $500 billion dollars in assets, so you can sleep good knowing that they will be able to cut your family a check if something ever happened to you.
Giving Back
The company also has a large charitable contribution where not only do they donate millions of dollars every year to non profit organizations but also they have a strong volunteer program among their employees. This program focuses on helping the local community with both volunteer hours and monetary support. Here at InsureChance, we like to work with companies that are also focused on giving back.
Service
Unlike other large carriers you’ll be happy with AIG’s customer support department. Every time we have to call there for one of our clients we always get a live person on the phone after a few minutes of waiting. They also have a website login where you can make changes, print forms and manage your policy online. Of course, let’s not forget that if you work with us we will be servicing your policy so you’ll get VIP treatment every time.
AIG Life Insurance Products
Term Life Insurance
AIG Select a Term
AIG offers a term life insurance product that can provide coverage for 10 to 30 years. This is a level premium term life insurance product which means that your rates are guaranteed to stay locked in for your chosen term length. Once the term expires you have the options to convert your term life insurance policy to a permanent one. This is often called the convertible option and is typical with a good term life insurance product offering.
Convert to a Permanent Life Insurance Policy
Contrary to popular belief, once your term ends your life insurance doesn’t stay in force. Some people believe they only have to pay for the term period, but once it’s done, they seize to pay and the coverage stays in force. This is not how it works. Once the term ends you have the option to let the coverage expire or convert it to a permanent policy with AIG-Select-a-Term. You are able to convert your term policy to a permanent one at any time during the term or age 70, whichever comes first.
The great thing about the conversion option is it comes at no extra cost and is convertible on a guaranteed basis. That means that even if you happened to get diabetes or cancer during the length of your term, you can still get coverage. In fact, you would be able to renew the coverage at the same health raring that you qualified for at the beginning of the term, regardless of health. The only adjustment to your rate would be at the age that you convert, which then will remain level for the rest of your life.
AIG-ROP-Select-a-Term
Their other term life insurance product comes in the form of a return of premium product. If the name excites you, it’s because it does exactly what the name of the product says. At the end of the term period you are eligible to receive all the premium payments you made back. Every single cent of payments that you made, you get back. Sounds amazing right? Well the downfall is that this policy can be twice the cost as the typical term product. This means that extra money can be better protected against inflation if you were to invest the difference. It’s a very rare chance that that money will mean as much 20 to 30 years from now.
Secure Lifetime Guaranteed Universal Life
The Guaranteed Universal Life insurance product form American General comes with a lot of flexibility and benefits. Unlike other Universal Life insurance plans in their stable, this a more affordable permanent life insurance product and while it has cash value, it is a better pure protection product than most cash value plans. You pick the coverage amount and the duration of the death benefit guarantee as well as how long you want to pay the premiums.
Living Benefits
Their GUL policy comes with some additional living benefits options if you see it fit to add them. It’s part of making this policy a flexible option to the consumer.
Accelerated Access Solution – if you suffer a qualifying illness, this rider allows you to access your death benefit without being taxed. So if you have one of the chronic illnesses on their list, you can use the money from your life insurance policy if you have this rider. Verify the illnesses in coverage in your state with your agent.
Lifestyle Income Solution – this rider begins at age 85 and lets you turn your death benefit into supplemental income. This can be a good choice if your need for life insurance decapitates by the the time you turn 85. Some extra money in old age never hurt anyone.
Guaranteed Issue Plan
If you applied with multiple companies and got turned down due to having an uninsurable condition. This may be your only option as this plan will offer you $25,000 of whole life insurance with no exam and no questions asked. This coverage does have a two year waiting period before full payout. So if you die within the first two years your family only gets what you paid in plus 10%.
Accidental Death
Simply a life plan to cover you in the event of an accident and only in such event. If you can qualify for fully underwritten plan we don’t recommend getting accidental because you never wanna gamble on how you may die. If your death results in infection from an accident then this plan wouldn’t pay out. You’d pretty much have to die directly from an accident to get a pay out. However, if you need coverage for a short time without having to go through an approval process, this can work.
Confused about Plans?
Learn More
With all the different types of life insurance it can be confusing to know what each means. That's why we created a quick guide for you to get up to speed.
Process of applying
- Needs Analysis/Pre-qualification – during this time your agent should figure out how much life insurance you need or can afford at the tie and recommend the best option. Once this is done they should go into detailed questions about your health, family history, lifestyle and occupation to determine what health class you qualify for and if you qualify for the product that is on the table. Once this is done its time to do the application.
- Application – the application can be done over the phone with your agent and should not take more than 20 to 30 minutes unless you have a hard time locating tour personal information or looking for a pen that works. During this time the agent will ask you for your basics like address, occupation, beneficiary information and drivers license number. During the application you will also be able to schedule the medical exam.
- The Medical Exam – the medical exam isn’t as daunting as it sounds. It takes place at a time and place that is most convenient for you. The nurse will come out to your homes and check your blood pressure, your height, your weight, ask you a few questions and leave with a blood and urine sample. The entire process takes between 20 to 45 minutes. Depending on how well you behave.
- Underwriting – this is the process where the life insurance company reviews all of your information and probably learns things about you that you didn’t know about yourself. They will go over your application and your medical exam results to make sure everything looks good. They will then use your social security to check your medical records and use your driver’s license number to run your motor vehicle report. Yes, DUI’s and excess moving violations do influence rates. Once they combine all of that information they will return with n approval for the rate you qualified for. If your agent was good, it shouldn’t be too far what you applied for. That is if you were honest with your agent.
- Approval – It takes 6 to 8 weeks from the beginning of the process to get here but it is worth it. This is the part where you get the invisible weight is lifted off your shoulders and you can sleep safe knowing you have coverage in place if something happens to you. Your agent should call you before you get the policy in the mail and give you the good news. Once you get the policy you will get some time to review it. If you are happy with what you see, sign the delivery requirement and send them back to the company. You are officially covered.
2019 Update: The company has been offering drop ticket solutions to agents which means they will conduct a phone interview instead and this has increased the speed of the application process by 20% to 30%.
As you can see the process isn’t to complex but it each step is very important. This is why it’s absolutely vital that you are working with a good, independent agent.
Underwriting Specialties
A lot of people assume that the lowest quote on the quote engine is probably the best rate for them. However, the rates on the quote engine mostly reflect overall healthy people. So if you are considered a high risk to the life insurance companies, then the lowest rate on the quote engine, isn’t the company with the lowest rate for you. That is because each companies niche out with different risks based on their pool of clients. Here are some risks that AIG covers better than most companies from our personal experience.
Gestational Diabetes – a lot of companies will rate you up for gestational diabetes. AIG offers preferred rates for gestational diabetes.
Ex-felons – AIG has been the absolute best company when it comes to insuring ex-felons. They provide the most lenient for those with felonies on their record and have the shortest time post probation to receive coverage.
Multiple Sclerosis and Autoimmune Disorders – while you are most likely to get rated up for these conditions, AIG will provide better rates for these conditions than most companies.
Anxiety – for most life insurance companies, anxiety is a rated condition. If well controlled, AIG will not rate you up for your anxiety.
Those are some of the things that AIG excels in better than most carriers among others. We actually had a client with a brain lesion who was turned down by companies he applied with, AIG gave him a policy for $1,000,000 at a standard rate. We made sure to shop around until we found him a company and AIG was the carrier that took him in. While they aren’t ideal for all high risk cases, like any good company, they have their specialties.
Why we like them
Because we are independent, we aren’t tied to any one particular life insurance company. Our loyalty is always with our clients; so why do we like AIG? We give AIG our stamp of approval because it has been good to our clients over the years. Our job is always to find the best company when our clients come to us. Each client has a different situation do companies that are best different for each person. However, many of those times AIG has been the company that fit what our clients were looking for. It is definitely on of the companies that has a great product offering and consistently competitive rates.
That is why in this review AIG gets our recommendation. The only thing that keep them from getting a perfect rating from us is that their A.M. Best rating of “A-”, which we hope to see an improvement there. Also, some people are stuck on what happened in 2008 and like to go with competitors. But other than that, AIG is by far one of the best choices to go with hands down.
Our Rating: 4.9 Stars
Start Here
Despite AIG being a great life insurance company, we always recommend that you shop around. AIG may be the best company for some of you, but not the most competitive for other. The good news is you are at the right place. We shop around with all of the companies out there to get you the best rate, at no extra cost you! If you have any questions about AIG or anything life insurance, give us a call at 888-492-1967 or hit the chat button below. Welcome to InsureChance!
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