Buying Life Insurance Online

Reader’s Question:

Will I be able to buy a life insurance policy online when I’m not in good health condition?

Lauren

Tulsa, OK

When you want to invest in life insurance, being in good health condition can help you acquire a lower premium than being otherwise. This is because a person with bad health condition is likely to pose a risk factor of dying sooner. Examples of these conditions are heart diseases and high blood pressure or cholesterol level. When a person is considered as smoker, the life insurance company may see him/her as having a high-risked factor because of smoke-related diseases.

If the medical examination shows that you have a bad health condition, the life insurance company may still offer a standard premium but relatively higher than originally quoted before the medical examination. The life insurance company will send a letter that explains why you are placed in a certain category, which apparently affects your life insurance premium. If you are not happy with the category you were placed in and like to lower your premiums, you can check the result with your doctor. Depending on your health condition result, the doctor may give instructions that can help you better your condition. Ensure that you follow your doctor’s instruction and monitor the progress. After a few months, you can go back to your life insurance company to let them know that you are trying to improve your health condition so that the company may then offer a lower life insurance premium.

Buy Whole Life Insurance Policy Online

Reader’s Question:

What should I know before I make a decision whether I take accelerated death benefits or not?

Should I buy a whole life insurance policy online, or would that just be a waste of money?

Jan

New York, NY

Accelerated death benefits are few of the benefits that you can add when you have a whole or permanent life insurance. With accelerated death benefits, you can immediately access cash that can fund the accumulated expenses while you are seriously ill. The life insurance company makes it possible for you to collect part of your life insurance death benefits. You should note however that there are certain conditions when the life insurance company pays these benefits.
Before you make a decision on purchasing an accelerated death benefits, you need to consider whether the balance from your policy is sufficient to fund the final expenses for example. Some examples of these final expenses are burial and funeral expenses. Aside from this, you should also consider the impact of this benefit to your Medicaid eligibility since the receipt of payments from this life insurance benefits may be considered part of the income. Lastly, you also need to consider the tax implication although federal Government usually life insurance proceeds are usually exempt life insurance proceeds from tax.

Find The Best Life Insurance Company Online

Reader’s Question:

I’m doing some research on how to find the right life insurance company. There are just too many insurance companies and I know it’s very important that I purchase life insurance coverage from the best life insurance company online. Can you give me some tips?

Becky

Arlington, TX

Hi Becky! I totally understand your fear. One of the important things that you need to consider when buying your life insurance coverage online is how to get it from the best life insurance company. Here’s how:

• Find out if your potential insurer is licensed to conduct business here. This can be done easily by calling your department of insurance hotline number or through visiting their website.
• You should also check your potential insurer’s ratings. There are private companies that offer rating services. They can give you an idea about the status of your potential life insurance company. Remember, these rating are just opinions but they can help you assess your potential insurer. When you do check with rating agencies, make sure that you ask them about the scale that they are using and how they determine their highest rating.
• Check on your potential insurer’s customer service. The right life insurance company must also know how to treat their customers the right way.
• Lastly, Make sure that your potential insurance company has solid financial strength.

Those are four simple things that can help you find the best life insurance company online. And since you are thinking of getting your life insurance online you may want to consider shopping around for your insurance needs. This is one effective way to do your comparative shopping. This can be done easily by visiting the car insurance websites. Good luck on shopping!

5 Reasons to Get Life Insurance Online

Reader’s Question:

Is the Internet a good way to shop for a good life insurance company and policy?

Zidane

Asheville, NC

Yes, the Internet is an excellent way to get life insurance coverage these days. Sure, agents and brokers can still get you a good life insurance policy but shopping for coverage online brings with it a lot of benefits. Here are five reasons why you should consider buying a policy online:

1. You get to Compare More Insurers

There are hundreds of life insurance companies offering policies over the Internet. Using insurance comparison websites (like this one) you can compare offers coming from dozens of carriers quickly and easily.

2. Compare the Latest Deals

Life insurance comparison websites are also a great way to shop for the best rates today. Get a free quote check and compare rates in order to locate the best-priced policies out there.

3. Get More Information about Life Insurance

Another great thing about using insurance comparison portals is that you get direct links to every insurer’s homepage after running a quote check. This makes it easy to get more details about offers, find out more about an insurer’s policies, and even identify discount offers you might be eligible for.

4. Know Which Companies are the Best

Want to know which insurers have the best (or worst) track record of doing business with your state? Go to the Better Business Bureau website to find out. Independent rating agencies like Moodys, A.M. Best, and J.D. Power can tell you which insurers have the best overall score in your state.

5. Save Time and Effort

Compared to spending half a day meeting with a broker or calling different agents for quotes, using insurance comparison websites to get life insurance is far more convenient. It just takes a few minutes to get the information you need and find the policy that best suits your needs.

Rating A Life Insurance Provider

Reader’s Question:

How can I check a life insurance company’s financial standing? And if ever that my life insurance provider here in California goes bankrupt, what will happen to my policy?

Irene

Anaheim, CA

You brought up some very interesting questions there! For your first question, you can refer to many companies and rating agencies on the web to run a search on the financial strength of companies falling under a particular industry. We recommend the following: J.D Power, A.M Best Co., Moody’s Investor Services, Weiss Research, Standard & Poor and Duff & Phelps.

Each of the said agency/company will have it’s own way or scheme of rating a particular company so it is best to understand first how they rated (which is not going to be a problem since they will make sure that people will understand the criteria used for the ratings). You should be able to check the financial rating of the particular life insurance carrier that you are interested to in. You can also use life insurance portals like this website to run a life insurance quote to determine which providers are offering the cheapest life insurance rates.

If you had the bad luck of choosing an insurance company that goes out of business in the future (which is rare), other life insurance carriers that are based there in California would have the responsibility of bailing-out, or buying-out the failing company (This practice is also done in all other states). The state’s insurance regulators would do their best to make sure that the affected policyholders would not lose their money. But usually, a larger life insurance corporation would take over on it’s own initiative.

Selling Your Life Insurance Policy

Reader’s Question:

What are the things that I need to consider before I sell my life insurance policy in Illinois?

Joshua,

Springfield, IL

Before you sell your life insurance policy in Illinois, you need to keep in mind the reason for purchasing the life insurance in the first place. If you think that selling your life insurance will make things better, there are things that you need to consider.

If the reason for selling your life insurance is to get immediate cash, you should check other alternatives where you don’t have to sell your life insurance policy. You can check with your current life insurance company they have accelerated death benefit to offer. Although there can be an additional fee for this, it is better to do business with the company you can trust. You also need to discuss your decision with your beneficiaries especially if they depend on the face amount to pay medical treatment and the additional costs. You should also consult an attorney or financial planner on other financial aspects that you may not be familiar with such as the impact on estate settlements and probate if the proceeds are tax-free. Don’t forget also to shop around for other companies the amount of payout differs from one company to another. Lastly, you need to ensure that the insurance companies or brokers are licensed.

Buy Life Insurance Albuquerque New Mexico

Reader’s Question:

Are the life insurance ratings online reliable? What do I need to look into in life insurance ratings for insurers in Albuquerque New Mexico?

Ember

Albuquerque, NM

Hello Ember

The most important factor when you want life insurance company comparison in New Mexico is the financial solidity. Other factors like cost, premiums, professionalism and products may come secondary compared to how stable the life insurance company should be. You need to make a little research to ensure that your financial investment in life insurance is in good hands. In order for you to find the strength of the life insurance company that you have picked among the many insurers, you can count on the life insurance rating that is easily found online.

There will be some things that you should take note of though. Life insurance ratings should come from consumer concerned agencies in New Mexico. A good option would be any independent agencies could be one since they do not advertise some products. You should take note of the various ratings that come from these rating agencies because they can differ significantly. Some of these agencies would use 5 as the highest rating. Others would use A+. Others agencies will use 1 as the highest rating. Next, don’t just get recommendations from life insurance companies about where you should find ratings. You should get it directly from your search. The most exhaustive that you can probably do is to check on the Consumer Search for review on the available life insurance ratings which you can also find online. Get at least 3 life insurance ratings which you can compare to derive at a very reliable conclusion.