American Amicable Life Insurance Review

Pros Explained 

• Wide selection of riders: The company offers a wide selection of riders, beyond what many insurers provide, including a disability income rider which is only offered by a handful of the companies we reviewed. 
• Return of premium (ROP) term available: Term policies are designed to last a certain number of years, such as 20. But if you don’t die during that period and the policy expires, you have nothing to show for it. ROP policies, however, return some or all of the premium if you outlive the policy. 
• No-med-exam life insurance available: American Amicable offers multiple policies that don’t require a medical exam. For example, you can apply for a simplified issue universal policy with a death benefit of up to $300,000 without taking an exam. There are also whole and term life policies available without a medical exam.

Cons Explained 

• More complaints than expected: National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) reports that this insurer received more than twice as many complaints as expected for a company of its size in 2021.
• No online quote or applications: You can’t get an online quote or apply for coverage on the company’s website. 

Complaint Index 

One concerning factor about American Amicable is that it has a high number of customers who aren’t fully satisfied, according to complaint index data provided by the NAIC.

The NAIC tracks the number of complaints companies receive and scores them based on how they compare to other companies of the same size. An index of 1.0 means a company’s complaints are in line with what’s expected for the market share that the company holds. Indexes above 1.0 mean the company has more complaints than average while indexes under 1.0 mean they have fewer complaints than average. 

American Amicable’s NAIC complaint index was a very high 2.45 in 2021, and it received more complaints than average in 2020 and 2019 as well. Compared to the 91 other life insurance companies we reviewed, it ranks in the bottom third. 

Third-Party Ratings

On a more positive note, American Amicable earned high marks for its financial strength from the well-respected credit rating agency, AM Best. As a customer, that means the company is very likely to be able to pay out on your policy as planned. 

AM Best’s Financial Strength Rating evaluates an insurance company’s ability to meet its policy obligations by looking at factors such as a company’s balance sheet strength, enterprise risk management, and operating performance. 

American Amicable’s current AM Best rating is "A, Excellent," the third-highest possible rating, which means it has an excellent ability to fulfill its obligations. Most insurers on our list earned ratings of A or higher. 

Policies Available 

American Amicable provides a respectable lineup of insurance options.

Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance is a type of policy that provides life insurance coverage for a set amount of years. American Amicable offers policies with terms between 10 and 30 years. If you die before the term ends, your beneficiary receives the death benefit. However, if the term ends and you don’t renew the policy (at a higher rate), your coverage ends as well. American Amicable also offers a return of premium option which allows you to recoup some or all of the premiums you paid if you outlive the term.

Whole Life Insurance

Whole life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance that offers you coverage for the rest of your life, as long as you pay your fixed monthly premium. No matter when you pass away, your beneficiary will receive the death benefit. These policies also build a cash value that you can borrow against during your lifetime. Final expense policies available to older applicants are part of the company's whole life offerings.

Universal Life Insurance

Universal life (UL) insurance is similar to whole life insurance in that it’s permanent life insurance with a cash value component. The difference is that universal life policies enable you to adjust your premium amount throughout your life to better fit your budget. However, you may need to pay higher premiums during the later years of your policy if you don’t make sufficient premium payments early on.

Available Riders

Insurance riders enable you to add additional coverage to your life insurance policy for specific purposes, often at an additional cost. American Amicable offers various options.

Guaranteed Insurability Rider 

A guaranteed insurability rider gives you the option to increase your life insurance coverage in the future upon certain triggering events without undergoing a medical exam. These events might include the birth of a child, marriage, or when you reach a certain age.

Child Rider

This common life insurance rider lets you add a limited amount of coverage to your life insurance policy for your child or children. The policy stays in effect until they reach a certain age, at which point it can often be converted into a permanent life insurance policy. The subsequent policy can have up to five times the rider amount of coverage and doesn’t require evidence of insurability. 

Waiver of Premium 

A waiver of premium rider waives your insurance premiums if you become permanently and totally disabled. As a result, you can keep your coverage without needing to make monthly payments. 

Disability Income Rider 

A disability income rider provides income protection for a set period if you become totally disabled. For example, American Amicable enables you to add this rider to a term insurance policy and receive up to $1,500 per month for up to two years if you become disabled.

Accidental Death Benefit 

An accidental death benefit rider adds an additional benefit to your policy that’s paid out in the event of accidental death, such as dying in a car accident. In that situation, your beneficiary would receive both the regular death benefit and the additional one from this rider. 

Terminal Illness Accelerated Benefit Rider

The terminal illness accelerated benefit rider is an accelerated death benefit (ADB) that enables you to receive a portion of the death benefit if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness that will result in death within a certain period of time. In most states you must have a life expectancy of 12 months or less, however, in some states it's 24 months.

Accelerated Benefits Rider - Confined Care

This accelerated benefits rider is activated if you are confined to a nursing facility for 30 days or more. You'll receive up to $5,000 per month depending on your policy's death benefit.

Customer Service

American Amicable offers customer support Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:45 PM Central Time. Its main toll-free customer service phone number is 800-736-7311. You can also contact the company by mail or by email. The company has dedicated email addresses for general inquiries, claims, complaints, and client experience. There’s currently no live chat. However, most life insurers we’ve reviewed don’t offer that option. 

Final Verdict

American Amicable can be a great choice if you're looking for a financially reliable company that can provide an extra sense of stability. It has term life, whole life, and universal life insurance available, as well as a large selection of riders and no-med-exam policies. It does, however, fall a bit short when it comes to customer satisfaction.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is American Amicable a good life insurance company?

American Amicable has a good selection of life insurance products as well as rides. It is also considered financially stable. However, American Amicable has a higher complaint ratio than expected for a company of its size, coming in at 2.45 compared to the average of 1.0.

How do I cancel my American Amicable life insurance?

To cancel your American Amicable life insurance, you can fill out the policy cancellation request form found on the company's website.

Who owns American Amicable?

In 2010, American Amicable Life Insurance was acquired by Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services.

How long has American Amicable been around?

American Amicable was founded in 1910, so the company has been around for about 113 years.

Methodology

We designed a comprehensive ranking methodology based on consumer priorities and life insurance company fundamentals to rank more than 90 insurers across five general categories: financial stability, customer satisfaction, product and feature variety, the overall buying experience, and cost.

In order to do this, we collected over 5,000 data points and scored each company based on 55 metrics. We grouped metrics by category to see how insurers performed in each; we then weighted category scores to determine how companies performed overall.

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