Colonial penn life insurance customer reviews

Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company is a subsidiary of CNO Financial Group, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company has written life insurance policies for more than 60 years and was one of the first to offer guaranteed acceptance life insurance. Colonial Penn now offers renewable term and whole life insurance, as well. To help determine if Colonial Penn may be the best life insurance company for your needs, consider the following pros and cons:

Colonial Penn’s life insurance offerings are comparable to some other life insurers, although it does not offer a range of permanent and universal life insurance options. Colonial Penn’s selection is limited to guaranteed acceptance, renewable term and whole life insurance. However, if you’re looking for these types of life insurance, Colonial Penn may be a competitive option.

The company began writing life insurance policies more than 60 years ago and currently has more than 760,000 life insurance policies in force. It was the first company to offer guaranteed acceptance life insurance in 1968, making it a veteran company in the life insurance space. The company writes life insurance policies in 49 states, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and Washington, D.C. However, keep in mind that Colonial Penn agents work remotely, so they may not be directly available in your local area or state.

Colonial Penn life insurance coverage types

Colonial Penn Life Insurance only offers renewable term life, guaranteed acceptance life insurance and whole life insurance, which may make it a competitive option for shoppers over age 50 who are looking for life insurance. Whole life policies are available to those between the ages of 40 and 75 in most states, with the maximum coverage amount being $50,000. Colonial Penn’s whole life coverage limit is considerably low compared to some other life insurance companies.

For Colonial Penn’s guaranteed acceptance policies, the maximum coverage amount depends on your age and state. If you’re wondering how much life insurance you need, a life insurance calculator may help you figure out an amount best fit to your financial goals.

Colonial Penn Life Insurance policyholders have the option to add an accelerated death benefit rider, which will pay out up to 50% of your death benefit while still living if you are diagnosed with a covered illness, such as a heart attack, stroke, cancer or chronic illness.

For a closer look, Colonial Penn offers the following coverage types:

• Term: Colonial Penn offers renewable term life insurance with coverage up to $50,000 for those between the ages of 18 and 75, renewable up to age 90. The policy is available everywhere except for Montana, New York and the Virgin Islands. Term life insurance only lasts for the set length of the term, making it a good option to consider for those who are worried about short-term financial obligations like caring for a young child. There is also no medical exam requirement, meaning individuals who have difficulty qualifying for traditional life insurance may find Colonial Penn’s renewable term offering a viable option.
• Permanent: Colonial Penn offers whole life insurance, which is a type of policy that remains in effect for the duration of your life, or as long as you pay your premiums. Whole life insurance also comes with a cash value account designed to accumulate interest and returns, which you may be able to use to pay your premiums or borrow against. Colonial Penn’s whole life insurance policy has a maximum coverage capacity of just $50,000. This policy requires the insured to answer health questions, but not complete a medical exam. It may be a good fit for those who want lifelong coverage with a low death benefit and a cash value account, without a required medical exam.
  • Guaranteed: Guaranteed acceptance life insurance is another permanent policy type available through Colonial Penn, which may be a good choice for individuals with health issues that prevent them from passing a traditional life insurance policy’s medical exam screening process. Guaranteed acceptance life insurance policies don’t require a medical exam for an applicant to be approved. However, premiums are typically high and have a comparatively low death benefit.

Colonial Penn life services

Colonial Penn doesn’t offer any non-insurance-related services such as financial advising or estate planning. However, the company does offer supplemental health insurance that can be applied towards large medical bills in tandem with your existing health insurance.

Other Colonial Penn perks worth considering

Colonial Penn does not offer policy management through a mobile app, but the following perks may be of interest.

• Supplemental health insurance: In addition to life insurance, Colonial Penn offers supplemental health insurance if you want to have extra financial protection against large medical bills.
• Instant chat feature: The company’s website features a chat box where you can ask questions and receive answers from a real agent in as little as a few seconds.
• Living Insurance endorsement: Living Insurance is an accelerated death benefit, which means you can take out up to 50% of your death benefit before you pass away if you’re diagnosed with a covered illness. Approved illnesses typically include heart attacks, strokes, cancer or certain chronic illnesses. You can contact a Colonial Penn agent regarding the specific details of your situation to determine your eligibility.

Colonial Penn life insurance customer and claims satisfaction

With a financial strength rating of A (Excellent) from AM Best, Colonial Penn Life Insurance has proven its historic ability to pay out claims. However, consumers have filed more complaints than normal against Colonial Penn, according to the NAIC, which shows that a significant proportion of policyholders have had issues with the company. Colonial Penn is currently unrated by J.D. Power.

Colonial Penn social responsibility

Colonial Penn does not advertise specific corporate social responsibility initiatives on its website. However, you may be able to call the company at 1-877-877-8052 and speak to an agent to learn if the company has any initiatives on the horizon.

Not sure if Colonial Penn is right for you? Consider these alternatives

Colonial Penn Life Insurance may not be right for everyone, especially if you’re looking for universal life or variable universal life. It may also be helpful to look into the different types of life insurance and consult a life insurance guide to learn which policy or coverage types are best for your situation.

Once you’ve determined your life insurance policy needs, insurance experts typically suggest you get a life insurance quote from a few insurers. The carriers below are some of the best life insurance companies on the market and may be a helpful starting place for your search.

• State Farm: State Farm won a Bankrate Award for the best term life insurance company. It offers a 24/7 payment line, a network of local agents and an easy-to-use mobile app. If these features are important to you or you are interested in a term life insurance policy, you may want to consider State Farm.
• MassMutual: MassMutual earned a Bankrate Award for best whole life insurance. The company earned this title for its high AM Best financial strength score, high coverage capacity and numerous whole life policy riders. If you’re looking for a whole life insurance provider with a high coverage capacity, you may want to check out MassMutual.
• Nationwide: Nationwide won a Bankrate Award for best universal life insurance, largely due to the company’s wide range of riders, high J.D. Power score and accessible network of local agents. The company also offers life insurance for children. If you’re interested in universal life insurance or looking for features like the ones mentioned above, you may want to check out Nationwide.

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With Jeopardy host Alex Trebek as the spokesperson, Colonial Penn is one of the better-known names in life insurance. Colonial Penn focuses on guaranteed acceptance plans aimed at the senior market, but also offers other plans.

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What is Colonial Penn life insurance?

Colonial Penn was founded in 1968 by AARP co-founder Leonard Davis, which makes it not at all surprising that the retired and senior market has always been the company’s main target audience. The company was purchased by Conseco, now known as CNO Financial Group, in 1997. For a brief period of time, Colonial Penn operated under the name Conseco Direct Life before returning to the more recognizable brand.

The Colonial Penn program directs much of its advertising at the 50 plus market, using a series of paid celebrity endorsers that have included Ed McMahon and Joe Theismann. Alex Trebek was the face of Colonial Penn for years. In addition to their simplified issue policies for the over 50 market, the company also offers whole life insurance and term life insurance plans to a wider age range.

Colonial Penn’s headquarters is in Philadelphia, PA, and they remain true to their roots as a direct market life insurance company. They have moved into the new age, however, offering online services in addition to their phone and direct mail approaches.

What type of policy do you need? Keeping things simple, Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company has only three types of life insurance options to choose from, including their best-known guaranteed acceptance policy. All types of policies offered by the the company come with a 30-day money-back cancellation period.

What is guaranteed acceptance life insurance?

Colonial Penn’s whole type of life insurance plan is offered to those between the ages of 50 and 85. While it has no medical exams or questions, there is a two-year limited benefit period from the date of issue. The plan, as the name implies, guarantees issue regardless of what medical conditions may exist. With no medical exam requirement and the eligibility in any case of pre-existing conditions makes this plan stick out, especially with this life insurance provider’s focus on providing insurance for seniors.

Guaranteed Acceptance Life is a popular plan that offers flexible payments, from monthly to annually, and a range of benefit amounts. The site does not list the available life insurance benefit amounts but states that life coverage benefits can be seen when running a quote, this is because life insurance benefit amounts are determined based on applicant information. Our quote returned a maximum death benefit amount of $14,288, and we explain this odd amount and how Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company determines it in further detail in the rates section below.

What is whole life coverage?

The basic whole life plan from the life insurance company can be taken out a little younger, starting at age 40. While this plan also has no medical exam, some medical and health questions will be taken into account during underwriting.

Like all whole life plans, Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company offers a cash accumulation benefit along with the chosen death benefit. The maximum coverage amount for this policy is $50,000.

Colonial Penn’s renewable term life insurance product can be issued between the ages of 18 and 75 and can be renewed up to age 90. Unlike the other renewable term life coverage plans, this product does see an increase in rates over time as the policy is renewed at an older age.

Benefit amounts for the term life policy product are available up to $50,000.

How much is a unit of Colonial Penn life insurance?

We ran a quick quote on life insurance rates for the Guaranteed Acceptance product with a male from California aged 50 years. The plan returned a range of life insurance rates based on units of life coverage.

What are the rates for life policies?

The rates for life policies vary depending on the applicant. In our life insurance quotes for a life insurance policy, one unit came out to somewhat of an awkward number. The reason being is because Colonial Penn’s rates are determined in the opposite way from how most insurance companies determine their rates – life insurance cost is set at intervals starting at $9.95 for one unit, and what one unit is will vary depending on specifics about the applicant.

Thus, a different applicant would receive a different amount of insurance coverage for the same premium. The maximum premium on this quote came out of $79.60 a month with a death benefit of $14,288.

This allows Colonial Penn to advertise that anyone can get coverage for $9.95 a month – which they can – but not everyone will get the same amount of coverage. A 70-year-old male, according to our quote, gets on $717 worth of coverage at the $9.95 a month rate; that same individual would get only $5,736 at the top $79.50 a month rate. Although it’s all in the fine print, it’s a bit deceiving to the average insurance shopper.

By comparison, we ran the same sample age (50) through Colonial Penn’s standard whole life and returned $10,000 in adequate coverage for $29.65 a month and the maximum of $50,000 for $133.24 a month. That makes the latter a better value for those who do not have concerns about eligibility and thus do not need to go the guaranteed acceptance route.

In the interest of comparing Colonial Penn to our standard sample at a younger issue age, we also ran quotes for a 30-year-old male. At this age, only the term life policy is offered.

The quote came back at $5.99 for $10,000 in coverage and $23.96 for $50,000 in coverage. These numbers are on the high side; we have seen double the coverage for a lower monthly premium elsewhere – it is also important to note that these premiums will go up as the policy is renewed over time, so you may consider looking elsewhere for affordable options.

Colonial Penn has an informative life insurance claims section that provides all of the details needed to file a claim as well as helping information in regards to the process.

Claims can be filed only through the mail, but assistance is offered via a toll-free number. Claim forms can be downloaded from the website, or they can be sent out to the beneficiary by request.

While the claims process does not utilize online services as much as we like to see, it is in line with companies who focus on the senior market.

How are the financial strength ratings, Colonial Penn customer reviews & customer complaints?

Colonial Penn has an A- with the Better Business Bureau, docked according to the page for the five complaints against the company in the past three years, though only one was closed in the past 12 months. Considering the size and reach of this company, the complaint volume here is quite low compared to customer satisfaction.

Oddly for such a well-known company, we were unable to find much in the way of reviews by consumers. Certainly, a lack of complaints can generally be construed as a good thing.

Colonial Penn Life Insurance Review: What’s the bottom line?

Colonial Penn has the star power to sell its products to people, but it does not offer the best value in life insurance rates. The unit system for the guaranteed acceptance policies makes the rates look appealing to a potential customer, but the practice is at best confusing and at worst deceptive. Although the rates for the standard plans are a better value, be sure and do the appropriate homework and rate comparisons to ensure you are getting the rate best suited to you. We hope you found this review helpful.

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