Banner Life Insurance Review 2023

Banner Life Insurance, previously known as Government Employees Life Insurance Company (GELICO), was founded in 1949 and became part of the Legal & General Group of London in 1981. According to Banner Life Insurance reviews on the internet, the company is an outstanding choice for the term and universal life insurance coverage.

Banner Life Insurance is one of the two underwriters of the Legal & General Life Insurance and offers life insurance under this brand. The other one is William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York. Banner Life Insurance is headquartered at 1701 Research Boulevard Rockville, Maryland 20850.

The thing that sets Banner Life Insurance Company apart from other insurance providers is that it is less strict when it comes to single risk factors. Instead, the provider considers an individual’s general health to determine how much premium they should pay. Additionally, it offers term life insurance for 40 years, which is longer-term than what other companies offer.

In this guide, we will take a look at how Banner Life Insurance stands up to other insurance companies.

How We Reviewed

We reviewed Banner Life Insurance in a fair and unbiased manner by analyzing various factors, including:

• Types of coverages and policies available
• Rider packages or add-ons
• Banner Life Insurance policy pricing
• Its claims process
• Banner Life Insurance rating and reviews
• Competitors of Banner Life Insurance
• Its financial strength and customer service

Where is it Available?

Banner Life Insurance is available in 49 states and the District of Columbia. In New York, the same policies are offered by another underwriter, William Penn.

Banner Life Insurance Review

Banner Life Insurance offers three main types of policies:

• Term Life Insurance
• Universal Life Insurance
• Final Expense Insurance

Instead of looking at a single health factor, the company looks at multiple health factors and your overall health. For example, to qualify for lower premiums, you must meet at least three qualifications:

• You must not have used tobacco in the last 10 years or only had a maximum of one cigar in a month.
• Your parents lived until at least 75 and you do not have a sibling who has a history of heart disease or cancer before 60.
• Your HDL ratio is 4.5 or lower.
• You regularly get an annual checkup, get routine preventative tests, or participate in an exercise program.
• If you have had a cardiac test in the past 2 years, it showed outstanding results.
• Your Gamma-Glutamyltransferase level is below 30, which puts you at a lower risk for liver disease.
• At over 60, your NT Pro BNP is below 100, which puts you at a lower risk for heart failure.

Banner Life Insurance Policy Types

Term Life Insurance

Banner Life Insurance provides life term policies to customers between the ages of 20 and 75. These policies can last for a specific term, ranging between one and 40 years, depending on the applicant’s age and overall health. These term life policies provide a predetermined amount of coverage from $100,000 to $10,000,000 for a fixed premium.

With Banner Term Life Insurance policies, you can also “ladder” your term insurance by using a life insurance rider. This means you can increase coverage for a short period of time when your needs are higher and can lower them when they are no longer needed.

Banner Life Insurance, however, does not offer any medical exam term policy. Additionally, their underwriting process can take several weeks. However, by using their APPcelerate program, you can get term coverage in a single business day by passing a health interview or if you are a non-smoker. This program is available in all covered states except Hawaii, Alaska, and Connecticut.

Term life insurance policies can start with premiums as low as $7 per month and offer flexible options like setting the term and death benefits to suit your requirements.

Universal Life Insurance

Banner Life universal policies can be purchased through an agent. These policies offer coverage between $50,000 and $10,000,000, as well as guaranteed lifetime coverage and a death benefit. Furthermore, the insurance comes with a guaranteed minimum interest rate of 2%.

Policyholders also get flexibility regarding their premiums that let them guarantee coverage up to a defined age.

Individuals up to 85 years of age can apply for this policy, as it has a no-lapse coverage guarantee period till the age of 121 as long as you keep paying the premiums. 

This policy is great for grown children, business owners, and people who have extra money so that they can build up some cash value.

Final Expense Insurance

Final Expense Insurance is meant to cover final expenses like the cost of the funeral, medical bills, and even outstanding debts up to $15,000.

You can apply for this on the company’s website and approval is guaranteed if you are aged 50 to 80, regardless of your health and condition.

The policy offers permanent coverage but the great thing about it is that you don’t need to pay after you turn 95. It offers level premiums and the same benefits even if your health status deteriorates over time and you will require no medical exam to apply for it. All you need to do is to fill out a short questionnaire.

With Final Expense Insurance, you are fully covered in case of accidental death and the coverage remains in effect for 2 years after death.

Banner Life Insurance Riders

Riders are policy add-ons that allow policyholders to adjust their benefits. At Banner Life Insurance, there are several types of riders available for both term and universal life insurance policies:

Accelerated Death Benefit: If you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, you can withdraw up to $500,000 or 75% (whichever is less) of the policy’s full death benefit. This helps your family cover your medical bills.

Child Rider: The children’s term rider policy covers parents in case they lose a child in an accident. This rider package offers a full death benefit of $5,000 or $10,000 until your children turn 25. The package also expires when you turn 65.

Disability Income Rider: In case you become totally disabled, this rider offers you a waiver of premium after a six month waiting period. This rider also expires once you turn 65.

Policy Conversion: If you outlive the life of your term policy, you have the option to convert it to a whole life insurance policy. Converting the policy allows you to maintain the same amount of coverage but increases the premium until the age of 95. Policy conversion is available till the age of 75 or the end of the term period, whichever is first.

Banner Life Insurance Pricing

Premiums for Banner Term Life Insurance start as low as $7 a month, however, this is only the very basic initial price. To determine how much you will need to pay, you can get a Banner Life Insurance quote from the customer support team. Your death benefit will determine how much your monthly premium will be. The minimum death benefit is $100,000 and the maximum death benefit is $10,000,000.

The good news is that once set, your premiums will not increase even though you may suffer deterioration in health. Additionally, you only have to pay premiums till your 95th birthday; after that, the policy will cover you for free.

Examples of Banner Life Insurance payment for a $500,000 20-year term life insurance policy is:

• Male, age 20: $19.69
• Female, age 20: $16.68
• Male, age 30: $20.12
• Female, age 30: $17.11
• Male, age 40: $32.68
• Female, age 40: $25.49
• Male, age 50: $74.39
• Female, age 50: $55.47
• Male, age 60: $19.69
• Female, age 60: $16.68
• Male, age 70: $804.87
• Female, age 70: $730.14

Banner Life Insurance accepts bank drafts for monthly payments. People who opt to pay on a quarterly or semi-annual basis can also pay via check. You can also use a credit card for your first payment.

Customer Satisfaction And Financial Strength Review

Banner Life Insurance BBB (Better Business Bureau) rating is A+. However, this rating does not reflect customer reviews, some of which are quite negative and are related to the slow or ineffective response of the customer service team.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners which tracks complaints has given Banner Life Insurance an NAIC complaint index of .31. This means that Banner Life Insurance Company complaints are much lower than the industry average of 1.

On Standard & Poor’s Global Rating, it has a rating of AA, which is very high. On COMDEX, it received an impressive rating of 94. Banner Life Insurance AM Best rating is also A+ or Superior, which indicates the financial stability of the company.

Banner Life Insurance Customer Service

If you have purchases a policy at Banner Life Insurance and need to contact the customer support team, you can do so at:

Banner Life Insurance Website:https://www.lgamerica.com/

Banner Life Customer Service Number:1-800-638-8428available Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm EST.

Banner Life Customer Service Email:[email protected]

Ease of Buying

Banner Life Insurance application process is pretty straightforward:

• A phone interview
• A medical exam

During the phone interview, you will be asked to provide information regarding your driver’s license, social security number, your doctor’s contact information, list of prescription drugs or medical procedures, financial history, and information about any previous life insurance policy.

Once the phone interview and a medical exam are reviewed by an underwriter, your policy will be determined.

Banner Life Claims Handling

Banner Life Insurance is known for making application decisions in half the time than other insurance providers. If you pass away, your beneficiary will need to submit:

• The death certificate
• Original Banner Life Insurance forms
• Claim statement packet

If the policy coverage is up to $10,000, beneficiaries may be eligible for the fast track claim process. If the policy is over $10,000, a packet of information is provided to your beneficiary via email, fax, or standard mail. This will include the claim form, a lost policy form, and additional information to pay the claim.

Comparison With Competitors

Banner Life vs AIG

AIG life insurance offers term life coverage for as low as $14, which is double the amount of minimum coverage that Banner Life Insurance purports to sell. It offers 10 to 30 years life insurance policies but Banner Life is more flexible as it offers term life policies for up to 40 years.

However, AIG offers a discount of 70% on their term life policy and such discounts are not available at Banner Life.

Banner Life vs Pacific Life

Pricing wise, both Banner Life and Pacific Life insurance have pretty similar monthly premiums. However, they do differ in some features. For example, Pacific Life does not have term laddering riders like Banner Life but it does have a score by JD Powers that is “above average.” 

Plus, Pacific Life also provides a separate whole life insurance policy which is not provided by Banner since it believes that its Universal Life Insurance is much better. Banner Life also does not offer a Variable Universal and an Indexed Universal policy.