Primerica Life Insurance Review: Pros and Cons of Coverage

When shopping for life insurance, you have your choice of providers. Primerica is a leader in term life insurance in the U.S., making the company one to consider as you compare your options. Knowing about the pros and cons of buying life insurance from Primerica can help you determine whether one of their policies is right for you.

About Primerica

In 1977, Art Williams founded A.L. Williams and Associates, Inc., with a vision of bringing a new approach to life insurance sales to middle-class families. Williams believed other insurers pushed clients into costly whole life policies to rack up commissions, placing unnecessary financial burdens on their customers.

To address this problem, his firm sold only term life insurance and encouraged clients to place the money they saved on monthly premiums into savings instruments and investments. Today as Primerica, the company Williams founded has over 117,000 sales agents in the U.S. and Canada, but it still focuses on helping middle-class families grow wealth through the right combination of life insurance and investments. Agents focus on providing financial literacy education to customers using a set of principles called How Money Works, so clients fully understand how life insurance and investments fit into their complete financial profile.

What Life Insurance Products Does Primerica Offer?

Primerica's primary focus is life insurance, but the company also offers other products and services. Its investment services give clients access to managed investments, annuities, mutual funds, educational savings plans and business retirement plans for as little as $25 per month. In addition, the company provides prepaid legal services and identity theft protection. Its Primerica Secure program allows clients to obtain low-cost auto and homeowner's insurance through partner insurer Answer Financial.

Compared to other life insurance companies, Primerica has a straightforward lineup of products. The company only sells term life and is the second-largest provider of this type of life insurance in the U.S. Customers can choose from one of two policies: Term Now and Custom Advantage.

TermNow Term Life Insurance

TermNow offers a death benefit of $15,000 to $300,000. It has a simplified underwriting process with no medical exam required. Instead, the underwriters only use information available through the state's Department of Motor Vehicles and the Medical Information Bureau. As a result, most people receive an underwriting decision in just a few minutes and can get a new policy in place fast.

Custom Advantage Term Life Insurance

Custom Advantage term life involves a traditional underwriting process with a medical exam. Usually, clients wait 4 to 6 weeks before receiving a decision. With the standard underwriting, you can choose the face value of your policy with the option to take out up to $400,000 insurance if you wish. The monthly premiums for Custom Advantage are generally much lower than those for TermNow policies.

The Pros and Cons of Primerica

Some of the pros of choosing Primerica for life insurance include:

• Online insurance needs calculator: Primerica offers a free tool that allows you to estimate how much life insurance you need based on your age, savings, debt, income and other factors.
• Expedited underwriting available: For those who need life insurance in a hurry, the TermNow policy provides lightning-fast underwriting.
• Medical exam not always required: Opting for the TermNow allows you to forgo a medical exam.
• Low number of complaints: For an insurer of its size, Primerica had a lower than average number of customer complaints, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).
• Simple product lineup: With just two term life products to choose from, Primerica simplifies the shopping process.
• Complete financial advising services: As a client of Primerica, you benefit from a complete financial health review with a trained advisor, so you can get advice on saving for the future, as well as life insurance.
• House calls available: Most Primerica agents will come to your home to discuss your life insurance needs.
• Fast claims process: Primerica pays out 91% of its claims within 14 days, meaning your beneficiary is less likely to have to wait for your death benefit.
• Easy renewal options: Primerica allows you to automatically renew policies at whatever the current rate is with no need for an additional medical exam.
• Increasing benefit option: You can opt to raise the face value of your life insurance policy by 10% every 10 years without having to undergo additional underwriting.

Some of the cons of choosing Primerica for life insurance include: 

• No permanent life insurance: Primerica doesn't offer any policies that remain in place for your entire life. Its lack of permanent life insurance also means you can't purchase a policy with a cash value or earn dividends.
• No online quotes or applications: You must contact a Primerica advisor to obtain a quote or complete an application. Primerica gives out very little information about its policies online, making it difficult to compare its offerings to those of competitors.
• Incentives for agents to sell: Primerica is known to set strict sales goals for agents and provides lucrative rewards for achieving them. As a result, some agents may be overeager to sell. However, Primerica has such a large network of insurers that you can often find a different agent if the original one applies too much pressure.

Primerica Reviews: What People Are Saying

In online reviews, clients express how Primerica treated them with respect, regardless of their income and health status. They describe how their agents went out of their way to fully explain life insurance and show them how a policy would fit into their complete financial profile. Customers also comment on how quick and easy the application process was, particularly for TermNow insurance. Some reviewers state that their sales agents were pushy or too eager. Others complain about the lack of online quotes and applications.

Is a Primerica Life Insurance Policy Right for You?

A Primerica life insurance policy may be right for you if you:

• Need protection but have a limited budget
• Only want life insurance for a limited period, such as until your mortgage is paid off or your children graduate from college
• Have other investments and don't need a policy with a cash value
• Want to have a policy in place quickly
• Don't know much about life insurance and prefer a simpler approach