Delaware Life Insurance Company Review

Pros Explained 

• Available in most areas: Unlike other smaller or regional providers, Delaware Life services the entire U.S.
• Low customer complaints: Delaware Life receives far below the average number of customer complaints, scoring 0.26 compared to the benchmark score of 1.00 as listed by the NAIC. 
• Easy policy management: In addition to online management, there are dedicated phone numbers and mailing addresses so you can quickly contact the department you need.

Cons Explained 

• Only one plan: While Delaware Life’s plans are a great choice for investments, there are no term or whole life insurance products.
• Separate policies for New York: If you live in New York, your policy will be provided by Delaware Life Insurance Company of New York.
• Medical exam required: Unlike some other providers, a medical exam is required in order to obtain life insurance from Delaware Life.

Available Plans

With a focus primarily on annuities, Delaware Life offers just one life insurance plan.

Variable Universal Life insurance

With this plan, you have the choice of either the Executive or Prime plan. A medical exam is required for each. They both accumulate cash value and offer the choice of several death benefit options that you can change later without any additional underwriting. There is also flexibility with payments. Although you must pay the minimum payment for the first three months, you can then enjoy full flexibility in what you pay. Delaware Life allows you to choose the amount and date of future premium payments.

There are two main differences between the plans. The Executive plan is available to applicants under the age of 71 and uses a mutual fund variable account, while the Prime policy uses a fixed account. Either way, these plans could be an ideal fit for potential investors, given the many annuities available.

Available Riders

Not every life policy has the coverage that you need, which is where a rider can add an extra level of protection to make your policy just right for your needs.

Delaware Life offers five life insurance riders for your policy.

Waiver of Monthly Deductions 

The waiver of monthly deductions is a rider that kicks in if you experience a total disability. Delaware Life will waive your monthly deductions and riders when the policyholder suffers a total disability for six months. There is an additional cost for this coverage, which varies by state.

Payment of Stipulated Amount 

When you experience a total disability, Delaware Life will provide payment for you. The total disability must be for a minimum of six months. Like the waiver of monthly deductions, pricing is additional and varies based upon state.

Loan Lapse Protection 

With loan lapse protection, Delaware Life will keep your policy from lapsing when debt nearly totals the account value. Pricing is additional and depends on where you live.

Charitable Giving Benefit 

Delaware Life makes it easy for you to support charity with your policy. It will provide 1% of the specified face amount of your policy as a charitable gift to the named nonprofit beneficiary. There is no extra charge for this coverage.

Travel Assistance Endorsement 

The travel assistance endorsement offers help even when you are away from home. It provides several travel-oriented, third-party services for policyholders who are more than 100 miles away from home. Pricing for this coverage varies based on where you live.

Customer Service

With Delaware Life’s online contact page, it is very easy to find the right contact that you need. Delaware Life offers customer support in several forms with dedicated contacts to ensure that your inquiry is addressed as soon as possible. Online policy management is available for contract and policyholders, as well as licensed and authorized agents or advisors. You can also contact email customer support at customer.relations@delawarelife.com or call 1-877-253-2323 Monday through Friday, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. EST.

There is also dedicated support based on your plan.

Complaint Index 

A critical way to assess a company’s customer service reputation is to check its ratings by industry experts, such as the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) complaint index. 

NAIC uses a scale of 1.00 as its median score. This is the benchmark against which companies are measured to convey the average number of complaints that they receive based on their market share. The lower the number, the better the customer service is likely to be with that company. Delaware Life receives a total score of 3.74, which is well above the average score. This means the company gets a high ratio of complaints for the policies it writes.

Third-Party Ratings

Delaware Life receives a rating of A- (Excellent) from AM Best. It is not the highest score available, but it is still an above-average score that denotes financial reliability. 

Delaware Life is missing from J.D. Power’s 2020 Life Insurance Study for both individual life insurance and annuities. However, this is not an immediate cause for concern, given that many regional or niche providers are often missing from J.D. Power’s annual rankings.

Cancellation Policy 

With Delaware Life, you have the chance to review your policy to ensure that you are really comfortable with your choice. Even after you purchase your policy and pay your premium, there is still the option to return your policy within 10 days for a full refund. A cancellation form must be submitted in order to cancel your policy, and you must submit a request in writing to the Delaware Life Service Center. Policies cancelled after the 10-day free look period may be subject to surrender charges that will erode any cash value saved.

Price

Delaware Life uses its own proprietary pricing table to determine the cost of its life insurance policies. It uses several factors, including things like age and medical history, to determine the price of each individual policy. It also uses this internal table when calculating the premiums for different riders, although there is no cost for the charitable giving benefit. 

Gender can be another factor that determines price. Delaware Life does not publicly share its policies regarding birth biology, although many companies today typically use a person’s sex at birth over gender identity.

Delaware Life does offer the opportunity to save extra money on your policy when you take advantage of available discounts for non-smoking, safe hobbies, and young policyholders.  

Competition

Like Delaware Life, Pacific Life is another insurer that services a smaller, select market within the U.S. Although Pacific Life holds a larger market share than Delaware, the two companies earned nearly the same number of dividends in 2020. They also share high rankings in both financial stability and customer satisfaction, although Pacific Life scores slightly higher. 

NAIC does not show the total market share for Delaware Life within its national rankings of the top 25 companies, but the NAIC individual report for Delaware Life shows it has approximately 0.171% market share in the U.S.

Pacific Life is the bigger company with more plans and a much larger client base. It also scores slightly better in financial stability and customer complaints, thanks to its larger size and greater resources.

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Methodology

Finding the best life insurance company to care for your family is not always an easy process, but at Investopedia, we strive to lighten that burden with the latest data and research that you can trust. Our proven methodology uses stringent criteria to carefully assess each company based on several factors, such as available policies, rider protection, pricing, financial strength, and customer satisfaction.