North American Life Insurance Company Review
North American Life Insurance Company
The insurance market is a very competitive one. With all the competing claims, it is hard to determine which insurance coverage to buy. Another struggle is to figure out from which company you should buy it. There are some objective criteria, comparisons, and rating-agency metrics that can help you determine the best coverage. Here’s our North American Life Insurance Company review.
Below is a review of the North American Life Insurance company that emphasizes policies and ratings.
North American Life Insurance Company Information
The Headquarters for the North American Company for Life and Health Insurance is located at 525 West Van Buren in Chicago, Illinois. 60607.
The life insurance division is located at the following address:
One Sammons Plaza, Sioux Falls, SD 57193
(800) 800-3656
https://www.northamericancompany.com
North American Life Insurance Company History
North American Company for Life and Health Insurance is a Chicago-based insurance company with operations beginning in 1886. With a recognized tradition of quality insurance policy offerings, their insurance policies are offered throughout the continental United States.
North American is particularly known for its consumer protection directed life insurance. The company offers term life and universal life plans at competitive rates with a range of coverage that allows consumers to choose the plan best suited to their unique situation.
What distinguishes North American, is that they are privately owned. North American’s stated focus is on fostering a culture of personalized and efficient service.
As a private company, their focus on quality customer service can be maintained without earnings and operational stress created by short-term earnings demands that face publicly traded insurance companies. This also allows North American Company some latitude in their underwriting of loans.
This means they have more flexible guidelines relative to age, health data, and other conditions. This allows the company to still provide the best rates to people with minor health issues, that would generally result in much higher premiums, or no coverage at all for those individuals.
North American Life Insurance Ratings by Financial Organizations
There are several independent ratings organizations that provide important information about the stability of insurance companies, such as their ability to pay benefits.
Policyholders, especially prior to buying policies, have no way of knowing, without checking the independent ratings for their insurance company. It is important to note that no legitimate life insurance claim has not been paid in the United States due to insurance company insolvency.
The key service provided by insurance companies is their guarantee to pay a benefit on a claim, it is a good idea to verify their standing.
To satisfy this need, various organizations have been formed to rate the financial strength and operations of insurance companies. As independent organizations, they provide an impartial analytical look at the insurance companies, and they rate them accordingly. They evaluate conditions that might impact the company’s stability relative to claims underwriting, economic conditions, and cash flow/liquidity of the company.
North American Company for Life and Health Insurance reportedly has over $2 Billion dollars in assets.
Below, are North Americans’ ratings from three insurance industry rating agencies:
A.M. Best
This company is an independent reporting and rating organization for insurance companies. Their metrics are based on the insurance company’s financial strength, operating performance, and ability to meet its obligations to policyholders. They have fifteen rating categories, ranging from five NR (Not Rated) categories to A++.
Historically, records indicate North American has maintained an A. M. Best A+ (Superior) rating since at least 2013, with the most recent update on (July 6, 2017). This is the second highest of A.M. Best’s rating categories.
S&P Global Ratings
This organization number one provider of credit ratings for companies, including insurance companies, across the world.
North American received an A+ (Strong) rating, on February 26, 2009. The A+ (Strong) rating represents the fifth highest rating available. Historically, records indicate North American has maintained this rating since 2009.
Fitch Ratings
This company provides independent ratings and financial analysis of insurance carriers. They have nineteen ratings categories.
North American received an A+ rating, the fifth highest rating available (May 2, 2017). Historically, records indicate North American has maintained this rating since 2009.
North American Life Insurance Products Offered
North American Company offers a wide range of life insurance policies for consumers. These include a variety of policies from term and universal to indexed life insurance policies.
To find a policy that will provide you with proper coverage, it is important to review the terms in addition to the premiums. Being familiar with the differences will help you understand the policies provided by the North American Company.
North American Company Term Life Insurance Policies
This is a low-cost coverage that can provide a substantial benefit. The younger and healthier the applicant, the lower the cost will be!
With term life policies, there is no equity associated with the policy, only a death benefit. This means there is no cash payout available from the policy while it is active or at term. These policies are generally for a term ranging from ten to thirty years.
Term policies are usually good for covering short term needs such as ensuring bills will be paid in the event of death, or that credit payments will be covered. The premium price will be stable during the term, even with a year-to-year renewable policy.
You can also explore the potential for converting to a whole life policy without additional medical or financial analysis.
North American Company Term Life policies include ADDVantage product. This coverage provides up to one million dollars in addition to the ability to convert term to a permanent life policy. You should explore all options, and restrictions, with your agent and ask about customizing these policies to meet your needs.
North American Company Permanent Life Insurance Policies
With Permanent Life, or Whole Life, there is a cash value associated with the policy in addition to the death benefit. The policy does not have a term, so it does not expire at a certain time. As you make payments, the cash value of the policy will grow on a tax-deferred basis. This means that you won’t have to pay taxes on the increased value, until you actually withdraw the money from the policy.
There are several different options available through North American Company for Life and Health Insurance, including universal life and indexed life policies. If you are seeking flexibility in your premium, then a Universal Life policy could be a great option for you.
With this type of policy, North American Company can vary your premium as your needs change. They can also change the amount of money that goes into either the death benefit or the cash component (within limits).
North American Life Insurance Company also offer a Custom Guarantee universal life product that has a death benefit that is guaranteed to pay up to an age of 120 years.
A special benefit is that there are no premiums to this policy once the policyholder passes 100 years of age. The policyholder can access part of the death benefit to cover medical expenses for unexpected illnesses.
North American Company Indexed Life Insurance Coverage is a variation of the permanent life insurance policy with the exception that the cash annuity attached to the policy is indexed to a market or other index, such as the Standard & Poors 500.
This provides the ability for rapid growth in the cash value of the project, if, for instance, the market rises several thousand points as it has in the last year. The benefit to this type of policy is, should the market have a reversal, the principal on the policy is protected and won’t loose value.
This policy can offer a true, low risk, high reward opportunitity for your money.
The cash in your Indexed Life Insurance Coverage will still grow tax-deferred. In addition to other retirement vehicles, many people find the tax-free loans of these policies valuable in providing cash during their retirement.
Indexed Life Insurance Policies at North American Life Insurance Company include:
- Builder IUL – The Builder policy features a guarantee that the underlying interest rate for the cash component will never be less than 0%. This also allows the policyholder to access funds in case of sudden illness.
- Guarantee Builder IUL – The Guarantee Building is much the same as the indexed fund. This though has a guaranteed death benefit up to 120 years of age, and access to money in case of sudden illness.
- Rapid Builder IUL – The Rapid Builder is much the same as the Guaranteed Builder, with the same interest rate guarantee. The policy is structured to grow the cash component more quickly. This, however, provides for policy loans and withdrawals to extract value when needed.
- Survivorship GIUL – This policy allows the policyholder to ensure two lives, such as themselves and a spouse. And provide a death benefit at a low cost.
North American Life Customer Service Review
The North American Company for Life and Health Insurance has an A+ Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating.
National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAICS) collects data on life insurance provider, and they calculate the number of complaints about a company relative to its size. North American Company scored a rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.
Overall, North American Company has many strong points to their business, they offer a variety of policies, and they place an importance on customer service. Although there are many good companies to choose from when finding life insurance it is safe to say that North American Company is one of them.