Trustmark Life Insurance Review

Pros Explained

• Available nationwide: Trustmark is licensed to operate in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia. 
• No medical exams required: Medical underwriting only involves a few simple questions. Applicants will not need to submit to a medical exam or bloodwork. 
• Living benefits included at no extra charge: Trustmark policies include added, no-cost riders such as a disability waiver of premium, long-term care coverage, or accelerated benefits for terminal illness.

Cons Explained

• Limited product options: Trustmark only has two individual life insurance policies: a Universal Life plan and a Universal LifeEvents policy, which combines universal life and long-term care coverage. No term, whole life, or accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) policies are offered.
• No online pricing or quotes: Consumers are unable to find general pricing information or request a Trustmark quote online. 
• Must buy through an agent: Trustmark life insurance policies are sold through local sales agents or, if buying into a group plan, through your employer’s representative. There are no options for buying coverage online, over the phone, or through a mobile app.

Available Plans

Trustmark only offers two life insurance policy options for individual buyers, both of which are universal life. There are no term life, whole life, or AD&D coverage options available.

Universal LifeEvents

The Trustmark Universal LifeEvents plan blends universal life insurance coverage with long-term care coverage, if it’s ever needed. The policy is available to issue ages 18 through 64 with no medical exam requirement—in fact, you can purchase this coverage with as little as two health questions. Coverage includes long-term care protection that accelerates the policy’s benefit for as long as 25 months. 

This policy is designed to provide a step-down benefit. In your working years—when you may be earning more money, your children are young, or you are still paying down big debt—the LifeEvents policy provides a higher death benefit. Once you hit age 70 or your policy’s 15th anniversary, though, this benefit drops to just one-third.

Universal Life

Similar to LifeEvents, the Trustmark Universal Life policy offers coverage with no medical exam requirement. This permanent life insurance policy can be issued through age 75 and includes both long-term care coverage and an accelerated benefits rider if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness.

The difference is that this policy does not have laddered coverage. Instead, it behaves like most other universal life policies, allowing for a death benefit that remains level for the life of your policy, regardless of your age.

Available Riders

Riders offer additional coverage and protections on top of a policy’s basic death benefit. Some of these riders may be included free, while others will increase your premiums.

Long-Term Care

Automatically included on both Trustmark policy options, long-term care (LTC) coverage can provide policyholders with an accelerated death benefit of up to 4% for as many as 25 months. This money can be used to cover long-term care in an assisted living facility, a long-term care facility, home care, or even adult day care.

Long-Term Care Extension

This optional rider extends the policy’s standard LTC coverage by an additional 25 months. This means that policyholders can utilize as many as 50 months of care, if needed.

Death Benefit Restoration

If you pull from your policy’s value to use funds for long-term care, your beneficiaries will usually receive a reduced death benefit when you pass away. With the death benefit restoration rider, however, those withdrawn funds will be restored, so your loved ones will also get the full benefit after you die.

Disability Waiver of Premium

If the policyholder is totally disabled, this rider keeps coverage intact for the duration of the contract while also waiving monthly premiums.

Terminal Illness Rider

If you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, this optional rider can enable you to access your policy’s benefit while you’re still alive. If you are given less than 24 months to live, the terminal illness rider allows you to withdraw up to 75% of your policy’s value ahead of schedule.

Accidental Death Benefit

If you pass away before age 75 as the result of an accident, this optional rider will double your policy’s death benefit for your loved ones. For example, if you die in a car accident and have a $700,000 policy with an accidental death benefit, your loved ones will receive $1.4 million instead. 

Child Term Rider

For one monthly rate, this rider offers coverage for all of your children ages 23 and under. At age 23, this coverage can be converted to a universal life plan with up to five times the coverage limit.

Family Universal Life Coverage

The family coverage rider allows you to add coverage for your spouse, children, and even grandchildren on your existing policy. Their coverage can include both living and death benefits, if desired.

Customer Service

Whether you need to make changes to your policy, file a claim, or simply ask coverage questions, Trustmark provides a few different customer service options. 

Customer service teams can be reached via phone, email, or online form. In all states but New York, phone representatives can be reached at ​​800-918-8877. They are available from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. CST, Monday through Friday. 

For New York universal life policies, customer service can be reached at 866-949-6036. Representatives are available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday. 

Complaint Index

Each year, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) issues a complaint index for insurance carriers. This numerical score helps when it comes to tracking and discussing consumer complaint trends from one year to the next.

If a company receives an average number of complaints for its size and market share, its NAIC complaint index will be 1.0. If the complaint index is less than 1.0, the company received fewer than the expected number of complaints; a score higher than 1.0 indicates more complaints than expected.

In 2021, Trustmark was given a complaint index of 0.47, receiving less than half the expected consumer complaints. It was 0.38 in 2020 and 0.40 in 2019.

Third-Party Ratings

When it comes to gauging a carrier’s financial strength, ratings from AM Best are often looked at as the authoritative source. According to AM Best, Trustmark has a financial strength rating of A- (Excellent), which is the fourth-highest score possible. This tells consumers that if and when the time comes for their loved ones to file an insurance claim, the company is likely to be solvent and available to pay as promised.

Another trusted rating source is J.D. Power, which offers annual reports in industries such as life insurance. While 21 carriers were ranked in J.D. Power’s 2021 U.S. Life Insurance Study, Trustmark was not one of them. This study ranks carriers according to factors such as customer service, product availability, and price.

Cancellation Policy

A Trustmark universal life insurance policy can be cancelled for any reason, if the policyholder wishes to end coverage. Since this policy builds up a cash value over time, policyholders can usually expect to receive at least a portion of those funds back after cancelling the policy, minus any applicable surrender fees. 

Be sure to read your policy documents or speak with an agent to find out which fees apply when cancelling, and how much you can expect to receive back.

Price

You’ll need to speak with a local sales agent if you are interested in pricing out a Trustmark life insurance policy, as online quotes are not available.

How much you’ll pay for life insurance coverage depends on many preferences and individual circumstances. For starters, the longer you need your coverage to last, and the more coverage you want your policy to offer, the more you’ll pay. Your premiums will also be based on factors such as your age, location, family health history, personal medical history, and gender.

Competition

Both Trustmark and Prudential have long histories of reliable coverage, having been around for over a century each. Neither company offers online quotes, and both have a variety of riders that can be added to a policy for additional protection.

Prudential, however, offers term life insurance in addition to multiple universal life policy options. It also beats out Trustmark with an A+ AM Best rating (compared to Trustmark’s A-) and has a notably higher market share in the U.S.

For consumers looking to buy coverage other than universal life—or want to be able to shop for certain policies online—Prudential is the better life insurance company.

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Our Methodology: How We Review Life Insurance Carriers

To ensure that our life insurance reviews are both accurate and helpful, we implement a comprehensive methodology practice. This includes looking at details such as a carrier’s availability and product options, as well as independent third-party ratings to help gauge the company’s financial strength and stability. We also consider factors like product pricing, available coverage riders, and even the ability to reach customer service if and when needed. Combined, these enable us to give readers a thorough overview of a carrier’s strength, reputation, and ability to provide reliable insurance coverage.