As an independent online life insurance agency, we get the opportunity to shop around with many companies. Being a consumer first agency, over time we found that some products perform better than others for our clients. So in lieu of that, we started the “InsureChance Approves” series of articles, highlighting products that customers pick over others, time and time again.
Next Up: MetLife Guaranteed Level Term Life Insurance
Policy Benefits:
- Guaranteed level term for the entire length of the policy.
- Term lengths available for 10, 15, 20, and 30 years.
- Conversion to a permanent policy available at no extra cost.
- Competitive rates for the smokers health class and diabetics.
- Additional riders include accelerated death and waiver of premium.
- Product with one of the most reputable, popular and financially strong companies in the industry.
That’s the highlights of the MetLife Term Life product, to compare rates simply use the quoter on this page. Otherwise, let’s expand on some of the policy benefits.
MetLife Guaranteed Level Term
This policy is a term life insurance policy, which means it comes with an expiration date. You can opt for coverage lengths between 10 to 30 years. The reasons it’s called a Guaranteed Level Term is because your premiums will be locked in for the entire length of the policy with no fluctuations. For example, if you were approved for a 10 year term at a $45 monthly premium, that is all you would pay every month for 10 years.
At the end of the term the policy becomes an Annually Renewable without having to prove insurability. This means no medical exams and no underwriting process. Your rate would simply be adjusted every year to your new age, and done so every year after the term’s end. So if your term policy expires at age 50, your rate will now be adjusted for a 51 year old, then a 52 year old, 53 and so on. As you can see, this can cause an astronomical increase in premium over time. This is why the option to convert exists.
Option to Convert to Permanent Coverage
This is often called a conversion option, option to convert, convertible term, or conversion rider. In all cases it means the same thing. It allows you to convert your term policy to a permanent coverage without proof of insurability. In simple terms, that means you can get coverage no matter what your health is like.
For example, let’s say you were a healthy 35 year old at the inception of your policy and were approved for a Preferred health rating. At the end of a 20 year term, it would be time to convert. If you happened to get cancer in the process, normally you would be rated up or declined. But in this case you would be able to convert your term policy to a permanent one at the Preferred health rating without having to do an exam or go through underwriting. The only change in premium would be to adjust to your new age.
So if you still have life insurance needs at the end of your term period. Then you will have the option to convert it to a permanent policy. You will be able to adjust the coverage amount down to fit your lesser need for life insurance and help lower the rate for the new age. To convert you have to do so by term’s end or age 70, whichever comes first.
Add On’s
Most life insurance companies come with add on’s known as riders, and the MetLife Guaranteed Level Term is no exception to this. This includes the Disability Waiver of Premium Rider and the Acceleration of Death Benefit Rider.
Disability Waiver of Premium – this rider will provide policy protection to you in the event that you are disabled. It will allow you to forgo paying your monthly premium and keep the policy in force during the length of the disability. Be sure to go over all rider details with the agent.
Acceleration of Death Benefit Rider – if you’re diagnosed as having 12 to 24 months to live then this rider will allow you to accelerate a portion of your death benefit. You can use the funds as you please, whether to help battle the illness or check off the bucket list. If you beat the illness you will not have to pay the money back, however if you die, the money you were given will be subtracted from the total death benefit your beneficiaries receive.
Application Process
MetLife has a similar application process to most of its competitors. They do offer and “e” app with e signature capability. This helps avoid a lot of the initial paperwork and everything can be done over the phone with an agent. Here is what he process will look like.
- Needs Analysis/Pre-Qualification – if you’re working with a good agent there will first be a typical needs analysis to determine what coverage amount would protect your financial responsibilities. After that the agent should do a short pre-qualification to get an idea of your overall health and find out what kind of rate you qualify for.
- Application – after the pre-qualification and needs analysis, it’s time to get the application started. This will be an electronic application and will be sent to you for electronic signature upon completion. The application will ask basic information, health questions and questions about your background history. You will also pick beneficiaries and be able to schedule the medical exam during the application.
- Medical Exam – don’t panic, the medical exam is quick, easy and free. It happens whenever and wherever you want. Much like a typical physical exam, it will include some health questions, height/weight measurement, and blood pressure reading.
- Underwriting – the underwriting process is where your qualification and health class is determined. Essentially, it’s the process that determines what you will pay every month. The underwriter will look through your Medical Information Bureau records, review the application and medical exam results to get a good idea of your overall health/risk class. Here are all the factors that go into determining your rate.
- Build (height/weight ratio)
- Age
- Sex (gender, not frequency)
- Health
- Prescription use
- Family health history
- Background (driving history, felonies, etc.)
- Occupation or hobbies (are they dangerous)
- Lifestyle
- Tobacco use
- Other factors
That’s everything that will be looked at to determine your rate. Based on a combination of all the information, MetLife should finish the underwriting process and return with an approval within 6 to 8 weeks.
Underwriting Specialties
If you’re a high risk client then lowest rate on the quote engine is not the lowest rate for you. This is because when it comes to risk, each company weighs certain risks differently, and MetLife has it’s own underwriting specialties. In the past we have found that MetLife has been the most favorable to diabetes cases when compared to the competition. They also provide more favorable rates for smokers.
More About MetLife
MetLife is a super strong life insurance brand and it can be argued that it is the most well known life insurance company out there. It has been around for 140 years and has done well throughout. Currently, it’s rated A+ by A.M Best, AA- by Fitch, A3 by Moody’s and AA- by Standard & Poor’s. This is a good thing as these are the companies that rate the financial strength of life insurance companies, and MetLife gets A’s across the board. This puts MetLife in the elite as far as financial strength is concerned. In almost every way, MetLife is one of the big leaders amongst the life insurance carriers.
Why We Approve
We approve this product for many of the same reasons we approved others in this series. MetLife has been a winner with our customers over and over again. It offers competitive rates, they have been great for diabetics, and we’ve had great customer service experience with them throughout. Often our clients will opt for MetLife even if it’s not the most competitive rate for them at the time, purely due to their superior reputation in the marketplace. As an agent, I can easily offer this company with good conscious. Also, unlike most carriers of its size, MetLife has done its best to adapt to the digital consumers standards with e-applications and e-signatures. Due to this and all the highlights listed previous, InsureChance approves MetLife Guaranteed Level Term Life Insurance.
Start Here
To compare rates with MetLife and its competitors simply use our quoter on this page or visit the quotes page here. You will also be able to request an application online and complete it with one of our agents. If you have any questions, call us at 888-492-1967, or hit the chat button below. Welcome to InsureChance!
