Reviewing an insurer’s financial stability and strength, as well as its reputation for paying its policyholders, can help you to get an idea of how, and how well, the company may do on following through with its claim. One of the top life insurance companies that has a substantial history in the insurance and financial industry is Transamerica.
The History of Transamerica
Transamerica initially began in the insurance and financial services industry in 1904. The company started out as the Bank of Italy, with its founder, Amadeo Giannini, who began the firm in San Francisco, California. The mission of the insurer was to make financial services available to all – and not only to those who were wealthy. This soon became a reality, when the company was able to provide funds for those in the San Francisco area after the infamous 1906 earthquake.
Later, in 1928, the company merged with Bank of America. It soon afterwards acquired Occidental Life Insurance Company through Transamerica Corporation. Then, in 1956, the firm took on the name of Transamerica.
Over the next several decades, Transamerica continued to grow substantially – as well as to acquire a number of additional companies. In 1999, Transamerica became part of Aegon N.V. Presently, the company provides a variety of financial, insurance, and retirement planning solutions to customers in the U.S. and in more than 25 markets across the globe.
The company offers its services to more than 27 million customers – and because of that, it is one of the world’s leading financial services companies. Today, Transamerica considers itself a “Tomorrow Maker.”
A Financial Review of Transamerica
Transamerica is a strong and stable company regarding its financials – and this is reflected in the ratings it has received from the insurer rating agencies. The company also has a good reputation for paying out its policyholder claims. The ratings currently held by Transamerica include the following:
- AA- from Standard & Poor’s. This is the fourth highest rating out of a possible 21 total.
- AA- from Fitch Ratings. This is the fourth highest rating out of a possible 19 total.
- A1 from Moody’s. This is the fifth highest out of a possible 21 total.
- A+ from A.M. Best. This is the second highest out of 16 total.
Transamerica is also accredited with the Better Business Bureau. It has a rating of A+ with the BBB, out of a possible rating scale of A+ through F.
Products Offered Through Transamerica
Transamerica offers a variety of different investment and insurance products. These include mutual funds, annuities, insurance, and retirement solutions. Life insurance coverage includes term, whole life, universal life, accidental death, and final expense insurance.
Term Life Insurance Coverage
Term life insurance is considered to be the most basic type of life insurance in the market. This is because it offers just a pure death benefit only, and no cash value component. Because of this, term life is often the most affordable type of coverage.
With term life, benefit periods will last only for a set amount of time – or terms. These are usually for periods of 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, or even for 30 years – depending on the age and health of the individual at the time of application. Frequently, a term policy will also provide the option to be converted over into a permanent life insurance policy at some point prior to its expiration.
Transamerica offers several different flexible term life insurance plans. These range from time frames of 10 to 30 years, and with benefit amounts of $25,000 up to $1 million. The core term product offerings include the:
- Trendsetter Super Series – The Trendsetter Super Series offers coverage of up to $1 million, which is guaranteed to remain the same throughout the initial term period. At the end of the term, the insured may be able to convert over to a universal life policy without having to provide evidence of insurability.
- Trendsetter LB (Living Benefits) – The Trendsetter LB policy also offers death benefit protection of up to $1 million. However, it also includes living benefits, which means that the insured may be able to access funds from the death benefit in the case of being diagnosed with a chronic, critical, or terminal illness while still living.
Whole Life Insurance Coverage
Whole life insurance provides both death benefit protection, along with a cash value component. The death benefit, as well as the premium amount, are locked in and guaranteed. The funds that are in the cash-value component of the policy are allowed to grow on a tax-deferred basis. Transamerica offers both group and individual whole life insurance coverage.
Universal Life Insurance Coverage
Universal life insurance is also a type of permanent life insurance coverage. It, too, offers both death benefit coverage, as well as a cash value component. However, it is much more flexible than whole life in that the policyholder, within certain guidelines, can choose when to make the premium payments, as well as how much of the premium goes to the cash component and how much goes to the death benefit.
Transamerica offers the following types of universal life (UL) products:
- Index Universal Life (IUL) – Index universal life (IUL) provides flexible premiums. The cash value growth is based in large part on the performance of an underlying market index such as the S&P 500. However, if there is poor market performance during a given time period, principal is protected.
- Variable Universal Life – With a variable universal life insurance policy, there is a guaranteed death benefit that is offered. The cash value component growth is based on the performance of an underlying equity market.
- Group Universal life – Transamerica also offers universal life insurance via employers on a group basis.
Accidental Death Insurance Coverage
Accidental death offers a death benefit – which is a guaranteed amount that is paid out to a named beneficiary – if an insured dies due to an accident. This benefit can be a stand-alone benefit, or it can be a benefit that is paid in addition to another life insurance policy. Also, accidental death can also provide a monetary compensation benefit if an insure loses his or her vision in an accident, as well as if he or she loses a limb.
Transamerica offers various accidental death benefit options. These include the following:
- Plan A – This pays out a benefit that is equal to $250,000 for a covered death that is accidental. The benefit will double for common carrier accidents.
- Plan B – Plan B will pay out a benefit to the named beneficiary that is equal to $125,000 for a death that is accidental in nature. The amount of the benefit will be doubled should the accident be due to a common carrier.
A family option may also be added. This option adds an additional amount of $125,000 to the payout on the death of the insured’s spouse, as well as a payout of $5,000 on the death of the insured’s children on Plan A. If the family option is chosen for Plan B, it will pay out $75,000 in benefits on the death of a spouse, and a benefit of $5,000 on the accidental death of any of the insured’s children.
Final Expense Life Insurance Coverage
Today, the cost of the average funeral in the United States can exceed $10,000 in many areas. This is especially the case when factoring in the added expense of one’s headstone, burial plot, transportation, flowers, and obituary notices. Unfortunately, many families and loved ones just simply do not have that amount of money that is readily available for paying out final expenses. This is why having a final expense life insurance policy can be extremely helpful. In fact, in many cases, it has been said that having final expense insurance is like giving your loved ones one last gift.
This type of insurance policy can essentially save loved ones from having to withdraw funds from their savings or from having to sell precious assets in order to come up with the needed funds for burying a decedent.
Final expense life insurance is typically purchased by those who are between the ages of 50 and 80. And, the death benefit amounts are generally in the range of $5,000 to $50,000. Qualifying for final expense life insurance is often not difficult.
Transamerica offers three final expense life insurance policies. These are the:
- Immediate Solution
- 10 Pay Solution
- Easy Solution
There are several advantages to purchasing final expense insurance from Transamerica, including:
- No waiting period for the coverage to begin.
- No increase in premium due to increasing age of the insured.
- Continuation of coverage – as long as the premium continues to be paid.
How and Where to Get the Best Life Insurance Premium Quotes
The purchase of life insurance is an important decision – regardless of how young or old a person is. The reasons behind the purchase can be varied – yet, it is essential to be sure of a number of different variables prior to moving forward with the transaction.
If you are seeking the best premium quote on life insurance policies from Transamerica – or from any life insurance carriers – then the best way to go about obtaining these is typically to contact an agency or a company that has access to more than just one single life insurance carrier.
Doing so will allow you to see multiple different policies, benefits, and carriers – as well as premium quotes, and from there to determine which of these will be the best for you and your specific situation.
When you are ready to move forward with the purchase of a life insurance policy, we can help. We work with many of the top carriers in the marketplace today – and we can assist you with finding the one that will be the best for you. We can do so for you quickly, easily and conveniently – and without you having to meet in person with an insurance agent. Whenever you are ready to proceed, just simply go ahead and fill out the form on this page.
If you should find that you have any additional questions regarding Transamerica Life Insurance – or even if you just have a question about life insurance in general – please feel free to contact us directly. We can be reached by phone, toll-free, by calling 888-229-7522.
Buying any life insurance can sometimes be a bit confusing. There are lots of variables to contend with – and you want to be sure that you have the right type and amount of coverage. You also want to ensure that the carrier you are purchasing through will be the right one for you and that it will be there in the future when you need them to be.
The good news is that we’ve done a lot of the shopping for you – so we can point you in the right direction – even if you’ve been turned down for life insurance coverage in the past. So, contact us today – we’re here to help.
