Life insurance is a tool that many families use to protect their loved ones in the event that they die early in life. A death grant pays off to help loved ones survive financially after you die.
When I was thinking about buying life insurance, a company had popped up Transamerica. While Transamerica doesn’t just focus on life insurance, it has several different types of life insurance to choose from.
Here’s what you should know about Transamerica and the life insurance products it offers:
What is Transamerica?
Transamerica is a vast financial services company with roots dating back to 1904 in San Francisco. In 1928 the organization was established as a holding company called Transamerica Corporation. When the laws changed, Transamerica had to decide whether to stay in banking or insurance. It chose insurance.
Transamerica offers the following types of life insurance to private individuals:
The company’s original goal was to bring financial services to everyone, not just the rich. The company has grown significantly over the past 100 years.
In addition to life insurance, Transamerica offers private individuals the following services:
They also provide services to finance professionals and employers.
How does the Transamerica life insurance enrollment process work?
Transamerica sells insurance through its agents. Unfortunately, most life insurance products cannot be purchased through Transamerica’s website.
Instead, you will be directed to a phone number (855-288-4181) to connect to an insurance agent over the phone, or a search page to find a local agent to meet with to get life insurance.
If you want to get an idea of how much term life insurance costs, what type of life insurance I personally prefer for my situation, they offer a quotation tool. Unfortunately, they hide this tool deep inside their website under a reduced FAQ question.
While Transamerica offers two types of term life insurance, you can only get one offer on the website for the trendsetter super life insurance. This is how the process works
First, select a plan from the drop-down box (currently only Trendsetter Super is available) and enter the desired coverage amount. Click Get Quote to continue.
Next, select the state you live in from the drop-down box or by clicking on the map. Then click the arrow on the right side of the screen.
Enter your date of birth, gender, height and weight. Click the arrow on the right side of the screen to continue.
In the drop-down options, describe how healthy you are and how much tobacco you have consumed. If you’re not sure how to answer, click the small “i” at the end of each question for more information. When you’re done, click the arrow on the right side of the screen.
Based on the information you entered, you will now be given an estimate of how much your life insurance can cost. You can change the payment frequency, amount of coverage, and years of coverage to see different costs for different options.
The form will indicate whether you need to undergo a medical examination. This means that your prices may change based on the information found. You can also view the planning details to see exactly what type of coverage you could get.
Finally, click on “Contact an agent” if you want to continue with the life insurance purchase. You can also have the results sent to you by email if you would like a record of your offer.
What does Transamerica life insurance cost?
Transamerica’s term life insurance quotes tool can help you get an idea of how much coverage could cost you. However, this is only an estimate. Life insurance rates vary due to many circumstances.
First and foremost, the type of policy you choose has a significant impact. Then your age, height, weight, medical history, gender, medical exam results, the term you choose, the amount of coverage you choose, the drivers you prefer and many more factors all play a role in determining your rates.
However, term life insurance is generally the cheapest life insurance option. Short term policies with lower coverage are cheaper, while longer term policies with higher coverage are more expensive. In general, expect between $ 250 and over $ 3,000 per year for 20-year term life insurance over $ 500,000, depending on gender, age, and health status.
The best way to get an idea is to use the tool or get a detailed quote from a Transamerica life insurance agent.
Transamerica functions
Transamerica offers the following features that set it apart from other life insurance companies:
There are several types of policy to choose from
Transamerica doesn’t limit you to a single type of life insurance product. In particular, they offer two types of term life insurance.
The first is Trendsetter Super, a term life insurance policy that offers life insurance of up to $ 10,000,000 for 10 to 30 years. This may give you the option to convert the policy to life insurance when it expires, but life insurance is usually not the best idea.
The other is trendsetter LB. This term life insurance offers coverage of up to $ 2,000,000 for a period of 10 to 30 years, but in rare cases also provides subsistence benefits. If you qualify for a chronic, critical, or terminal illness that will be listed after your policy becomes effective, you may be able to use an expedited death benefit feature to access some of the money before you die.
Personally, while I would stick with term life insurance, they also offer other types of life insurance, including:
- Life insurance.
- Universal life insurance.
- Universal life insurance index.
- Life insurance for final costs.
Life insurance
Life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance with no fixed term. That said, it is for your entire life as long as you pay the premiums. As you would expect, this is more expensive as the death benefit is paid as long as you follow the rules of the policy.
Universal life insurance
Universal life insurance is another permanent life insurance policy. It works like life insurance, but has a part of the policy that saves investment.
Universal life insurance index
Universal index life insurance is like universal life insurance, but it lets policyholders choose whether to deposit funds into a present value account or an index-linked investment account like the S&P 500.
Life insurance for final costs
End-cost life insurance is a low death benefit life insurance with a different name for marketing. These guidelines are relatively easy to qualify and are aimed at covering funeral and other end costs.
A tool to help you decide which insurance product is right for you
Transamerica’s tool for choosing the type of life insurance that suits your situation is useful when you are ignorant of the different types of life insurance. Again, I believe that most people are best off with term life insurance, but the tool will help you see the factors that play a role in choosing the type that is right for you.
Offer generator for term life insurance
If you choose a term life insurance quote, you can use their tool to get a quote. The tool only offers offers for one of the two types of term life insurance. At the end of the quotation process, it shows how to get in touch with an agent to move forward.
Agent-based sales process
Unfortunately, you cannot purchase a policy using the life insurance quote tool. Instead, you’ll need to call a telephone agent or contact your local Transamerica agent to complete the process. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but there is something to be aware of.
My experience researching Transamerica life insurance
Transamerica offers a handful of typical types of life insurance products. Unfortunately, they are not a web-friendly company that makes it easy for consumers to get information.
I was disappointed with how hard it was to dig to get a term life insurance quote online that you can do with just a few clicks on most competing websites. I was also disappointed that I couldn’t even get quotes for the other types of life insurance online without speaking to an agent over the phone or in person.
While I prefer an online process, having to speak to an agent isn’t always a bad thing. If you have any questions along the way, you still need to call an agent. So it’s entirely up to you whether you’d rather speak to a living person or fill out an application and get life insurance online.
Who is Transamerica best for?
Transamerica can be well suited for different types of people.
People to whom a person should speak
Transamerica is intended for those who prefer to get in touch in person or speak to someone in a call center to learn more about and purchase life insurance.
People looking for term life insurance
Most people are best suited to term life insurance. Within this classification you can choose from two options from Transamerica, including Trendsetter Super and Trendsetter LB.
People looking for other types of life insurance
The other types of life insurance Transamerica offers could be useful in certain cases. However, they are usually much more expensive than simple term life insurance.
In general, permanent life insurance is more expensive than term life insurance. Many people choose it because of the guarantee that as long as it stays active and you follow the rules of the policy, it will pay off. It can also force you to put money aside when you know you wouldn’t do it otherwise.
Who shouldn’t use Transamerica?
Transamerica doesn’t suit everyone. In particular pPeople looking to get quotes online before speaking to a representative may not like Transamerica.
Getting an initial quote on life insurance is usually relatively easy online, but Transamerica only offers this option for one form of term life insurance. Because of this, it is not suitable for people looking to check the affordability of different types of life insurance with Transamerica before speaking to an agent.