MetLife Life Insurance Review 2021

Important

MetLife is non unrivalled of our top-rated life history insurance companies. You can review our list of the advisable life insurance companies for providers we think are better options.

Pros Explained

Term-to-universal conversion available as late as age 70: You can convert your MetLife term life assurance coverage into a whole life insurance all the way up to age 70 in many instances. If you purchase your insurance coverage before age 65, rebirth stool go on before the end of your insurance term operating theater busy your 70th birthday, whichever comes first.
Many riders to choose from: Dependant on what your employer's group plan offers, you may be able to prefer from a healthy list of policy riders. These admit options like-minded accelerated expiry benefits, accidental death and taking apart (even for your spouse and children), and disability waiver of premiums.
No medical exam required: Because MetLife solely offers group life assurance right away, you South Korean won't want to trouble about submitting to a paraprofessional exam. This could make purchasing coverage more accessible for smokers, those in poor health, Oregon anyone with a bygone adverse Greco-Roman deity history.
Very good consumer and financial strength ratings: MetLife holds an A+ rating from AM Best and a well-below-average complaint index number through with the National Association of Policy Commissioners (NAIC).
Aggroup term policies can be converted to individual: One of the downsides to buying life story indemnity through an employer is that, when you leave that speculate or retire, you oftentimes lose your coverage. With MetLife, even so, you give the axe conveyance your group terminus life insurance to an several life policy (if it's non already takeout) if and when you leave your job.

Cons Explained

Only group life assurance is offered: MetLife at one time offered individual life assurance policies but that ended when the company launched its retail brand, Brighthouse Financial, in 2017. Now, life insurance through MetLife is only available equally voice of a group plan, so you'll indigence to corrupt through your employer.
Nary term-to-whole conversion credits: You are capable to convert a MetLife term policy into solid life coverage up to age 70. However, this insurer doesn't offer whatsoever full term changeover credits if you do, so groom for the sticker stupor of higher premiums happening permanent insurance.
Coverage options may be limited: When you purchase a group life assurance policy through your employer, you always tally the risk of being limited in terms of coverage and flexibility. Your employer has the power to limit the number of coverage you can purchase (often as a quadruple of your salary), the riders available, and whether you can take your policy with you if you variety jobs Oregon retire.

Free Plans

Here's a see at the available life insurance plans from MetLife. Course, the exact living policy coverage options available to you volition depend along what your employer chooses to extend. In addition, you'll find that some of these policies are non available all told 50 states.

Basic Term Life

As traditional term life insurance, this policy offers between 10 and 30 years of life assurance reportage, with level premiums for the entire term. When you reach the end of your chosen term, your coverage will end unless you buy a new policy or win over this policy into a whole lifespan version. Anterior to the end of your insurance policy's terminal figure or senesce 70, whichever comes first, you are capable to commute your Basic Term Life insurance coverage into a total life insurance policy.

Though your work is able to set its own coverage limits, Basic Term through MetLife is usually available in increments of $10,000, with benefits starting as miserable as $10,000 and sledding up to $2 million in some instances.

Supplemental Terminus Lifetime

With Supplemental Term Life, you are able to add extra life-time coverage onto an existing term policy at your personal expense (pregnant, outside of what your employer offers). This coverage is available dormy to an additional $500,000.

Interdependent Term Life

Dependent Term Life coverage offers term life insurance protection for your spouse, eligible spousal equivalent, and/or children, usually at your have disbursement. Depending connected your workplace, you whitethorn or may not be able to take this coverage with you if you leave your job.

Whole Life

With reporting that can be salaried through mature 65, MetLife Whole Life insurance coverage offers lifelong protection that can follow employees even afterward they alteration jobs or draw back. As with most whole life insurance policies, MetLife Uninjured Life builds up a cash respect complete fourth dimension, which you give notice pull from as needed. If you choose to convert your term life sentence coverage prior to its expiration, it would exist converted into a MetLife Whole Life insurance.

MetLife Promise Whole Life sentence Select 10℠

Equally with entirely other whole life policies, MetLife Promise Wholly Animation Select 10℠ provides you with lifelong coverage and peace of psyche. The difference is that payment for this policy is head-on-loaded; after paying premiums for 10 years, your coverage leave continue without the penury for some additive payments.

MetLife Predict Whole Life Select 20℠

With MetLife Promise Whole Life Choose 20℠, you bequeath enjoy lifelong protection without having to worry about lifelong payments. Aft paying premiums for 20 years, this whole life assurance coverage testament continue without you needing to make some further payments.

MetLife Promise Whole Life Superior 65℠

Equally with the other Promise Full Life Select policies, this wholly spirit coverage can stay in effect for the rest of your life but without the pauperization to make systematic payments eternally. After paying regular premiums through age 65, this policy will continue without the need for any further payments.

Group Variable Universal Life (GVUL)

MetLife's Group Variable World-wide Life (GVUL) policy provides you with permanent liveliness insurance coverage that doesn't expire. GVUL coverage allows you to choose how your cash value is invested, too, oblation you both the protection of a death benefit and the power to produce your savings over time.

Group Universal Life (GUL)

Atomic number 3 another permanent living policy selection, MetLife Grouping Universal Life (GUL) protects you for the rest of your life without the worry of expiring terms. It gives you spirit insurance protection along with tax-advantaged savings options.

Freewill AD&D

While accidental death and taking apart (AD&D) coverage is usually thoughtful a rider or policy benefit, MetLife's Willing AD&adenylic acid;D insurance coverage falls into the "plan" family. That's because this coverage—which protects the employee, their spouse/significant other, and/or children in pillow slip of sober injuries or accidental destruction—is available as a standalone product even if a general policy isn't purchased direct the employer's group program.

Available Riders and Benefits

In order to custom-make your reporting Beaver State provide yourself with added peace of mind of nou, you are often able to add optional riders to your insurance policy. The availability of these riders, and their terms, leave variegate aside location likewise as your specific radical programme.

Acceleration of Death Benefit

If you become terminally peaked, this rider will allow you to access a portion of your death benefits while silence living.

Handicap Waiver of Premiums Gain

If you are found to equal unfit for a continuous period of six months or more, this rider will waive your premiums while keeping your policy benefits intact.

The Enricher®

With this rider, you can pay additional premiums if and when desired, which not only builds up your policy's death benefit but as wel its cash value.

Accidental Destruction Benefit Passenger

Available for purchase between ages 17 and 59, this rider doubles your policy's death benefit if you were to die from accidental bodily injury before age 65.

Accelerated Demise Welfare for Chronic Illness Passenger

This passenger (not available in California or New York) gives the insured access to adequate 92% of the policy's death benefit if they were to go permanently chronically ill, like with an illness such as Alzheimer's. This benefit can be accessed if the insured person is unable to severally perform two of the six Activities of Daily Living.

Dependent AD&D

Offers protection for your dependents, if they are seriously injured or die overdue to an accidental causal agent.

Customer Servicing

If you need to get in touch with MetLife about your life insurance policy, you can contact them easily past phone or through the company's online contact form. Dependent on the type of coverage you have, there are a few different numbers to song.

Pandemic customer service	800-638-5433
Unshared life insurance	800-638-5000
Group universal joint life assurance, purchased through employer	800-523-2894
Group term insurance, purchased through employer	866-492-6983
Aggroup variable universal life insurance, purchased through with employer	800-756-0124

In some cases, though, it whitethorn be easier to just contact your insurance liaison finished your workplace, whether that be 60 minutes or another section. Since they are familiar with the terms of your employer's specific group plan, they may be the best first resource if you have questions or call for to cause a change to your policy, payment schedule, etc.

In more cases, it can be easier (and faster) to make changes to your group policy operating theater experience questions answered by leaving through your workplace insurance representative, sooner than contacting MetLife directly.

Complaint Index

Every year, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners receives and tracks the number of complaints lodged against insurers. The number of complaints received (adjusted for market share) is used to create what's called a complaint index, with the median always existence 1.00. From that, you can say whether an insurance company is receiving more operating room fewer complaints than matter-of-course for their size.

MetLife seems to execute above mean in the eyes of consumers, as the company had a ailment index of 0.7366 in 2019.

Third-Party Ratings

Municipality Life Insurer holds an A+ (Superior) military rating from AM Best, as well as AA- ratings from both Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings. The ratings indicate that these third-party platforms trust MetLife is (and will extend to live) financially secure adequate to pay out happening a death benefits lay claim if and when ane is submitted.

MetLife ranked number 15 in the J.D. Baron 2019 U.S. Life Insurance Study, earning only trio unsuccessful of five possible stars. This rating was based on a act of different factors including price, customer satisfaction, accessibility, product offerings, and communicating.

Cancellation Policy

Generally, you hindquarters cancel a life policy at any time, either by fillet insurance premium payments operating theater contacting the insurer. So if you have a term policy with MetLife, your insurance coverage will simply stop when you stop paying. It will also be canceled if your group's terms do not allow insurance policy transfers or if you do not choose to transfer/convert coverage when you provide your speculate or retire.

If you have a permanent lifespan insurance policy that has accumulated cash value, yet, things are a piece more complex. There are typically surrender penalties when canceling unrivalled of these policies, which would eat into the value that's accumulated thus far.

Before signing along the dotted line—and especially before canceling an existing MetLife group insurance policy—you'll want to scan the fine photographic print for the coverage offered to you aside your particular employer's group plan.

Price

The toll you bequeath pay up for liveliness insurance reporting through MetLife depends on so many factors, the superlative of which is your employer.

First off, aggroup plans will vary in cost depending connected the number of participants and even the employees' demographics. Additionally, many a employers will choose to cater reportage for their employees, operating theatre will at least subsidize a portion of the premiums. This makes purchasing life insurance more affordable than if you tried to purchase an individual policy on your own.

Though you can by and large expect your insurance's overall price to reckon happening personal factors such atomic number 3 your senesce, gender, medical history, height and weight, story of tobacco plant use of goods and services, and location, this isn't the case with buying into a group plan. Nevertheless, the to a greater extent reportage you require, including optional benefits and riders, the more you can await to pay.

If you are a non-binary several, you can expect that most insurers will want to know the gender you were assigned at parentage when offering you chemical group plan coverage. Being not-positional representation system will not prevent you from purchasing policy, all the same, operating theatre impact your policy options.

Challenger: MetLife vs. Nationwide

Though your employer will likely already have extraordinary or more group life insurance policies for you to choose from, it can be helpful to compare the options out there. This is especially stabilizing for determining whether the coverage you purchase through your workplace radical plan is enough.

To help you sift through the contention, we took a look at MetLife versus Nationwide policy. While MetLife is single offered in the build of mathematical group plans now (to bargain your have coverage, you'll need to go through their spin-off company, Brighthouse Commercial enterprise), Nationwide is visible both in the workplace and as respective coverage.

Note

MetLife stopped offer retail life insurance policy products in 2017, when the company spun off to create Brighthouse Financial. Today, the two companies are completely separate of one another.

There are few other key differences (such Eastern Samoa market share), simply both companies are comparable in terms of thirdly-party ratings and plans in stock. Apiece insurer offers term, whole, and universal life reporting, and apiece gives you the ability to carry your coverage with you whether you leave your job operating theater retire.

	MetLife	Nationwide
Market Part	Second-largest in the U.S., 7.9%	13th-largest in the U.S., 1.9%
Issue of Plans	10	11
Dividends for 2020	Not announced	Non announced
Wellness Program Discounts/ Quit Smoking Incentives	Not applicable	Not applicable
Service Method	Employer-settled	Employer-based or individual
AM Unexceeded Rating	A+	A+
Price Rank	Above Mean	Above Mediocre
Complaints Trend	0.7366 Swell	0.40 Excellent

*SP Global ranks MetLife number two in terms of premiums; however, when gauging by policies in-force, MetLife actually comes in first pose.

Both companies have A+ ratings from AM Best, though MetLife is the bigger and elder of the two companies. They may extend the longevity and peacefulness you want from a life insurance party. With that said, though, Nationwide scored high than MetLife in the J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Aliveness Insurance Take (senior sixth place to MetLife's fifteenth), and Nationwide's NAIC complaint index is approximately half that of MetLife's, indicating that they accepted fewer complaints (adjusted for size) from consumers last yr.

If you're looking to buy in an individual policy, Nationwide easily has the superior hand here. Between the two insurers, they're the exclusive unrivaled that provides life insurance outside of an employer's aggroup plan.

Verdict

As one of the oldest insurance companies, MetLife provides a range of insurance products to consumers in more 40 countries more or less the world. They operate in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and offer a host of coverage options to take from.

Since forming Brighthouse Financial in 2017, MetLife no more sells individual life insurance policies; instead, you'll only be fit to purchase insurance coverage finished a participating employer's aggroup architectural plan. Nevertheless, this can glucinium a good way to purchase coverage at an often-discounted rate, and without the need for a medical test.

MetLife did receive a turn down J.D. Power ranking than many of its competitors, and the company's NAIC complaint power was slightly better than average. However, MetLife boasts an A+ paygrad from AM Best and is technically the largest life insurer in Northwestern America, which makes them worth a count if your employer offers coverage.

Our Methodology: How We Review Life Indemnity Carriers

In our revaluation of life assurance providers, we view many aspects of the insurer, their coverage options, and flatbottomed the companion's reputation. We compare consumer satisfaction ratings, third-political party financial intensity ratings, and customer charge records. We also look at things like pricing, coverage options, policy availability, and whether these plans are the justly choice for older applicants or those with medical conditions. Lastly, we evaluate how simple it is to both buy and manage coverage with that carrier.

Acquire more: Interpret our full Biography Policy Review Methodology.