Is American Fidelity Life Insurance A Good Company?

American Fidelity Life Insurance serves a variety of specific markets with insurance products. Specifically, this privately-owned company focuses on four markets – education, public sector, automotive, and healthcare. Within those markets, employee benefits like life insurance, disability insurance, accident insurance, and other coverages are available. Also, the company offers reimbursement accounts, retirement savings, and other services.

If you’re a member of the military researching your life insurance options, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of American Fidelity Life Insurance Company. If you’re a civilian, the name above probably isn’t on your radar.

But just because the carrier isn’t as heavily marketed as some of its competitors doesn’t necessarily mean you should write it off. You also need to look at the company’s policies, features, and financial strength to judge it.

Our American Fidelity Life Insurance Company review pulls back the curtain to give you a closer look at what this provider has to offer you.

Types of Life Insurance Offered by American Fidelity Life Insurance

The life insurance offerings from American Fidelity are focused on two common types of coverage – term life and whole life. These are standard forms of life insurance that are offered by virtually every life insurance company, so the terms are likely familiar to you if you have any experience shopping for policies. For a refresher, let’s quickly define these two kinds of life insurance.

  • Term life insurance offers coverage for a pre-determined period of time. If the covered individual is still living at the time that the policy expires, no payout is made, and coverage ceases.
  • Whole life insurance, as the name would indicate, does not have an expiration date and is guaranteed to pay out when the covered individual dies. Since there is a guaranteed return along with this type of policy, it will be costlier than a term life option.

So, with those definitions out of the way, we can look at some of the details associated with term life and whole life coverage from American Fidelity. First, we can talk about the term life coverage that is offered. Terms are available at 10 years, 20 years, and 30 years. The rate of this coverage is guaranteed to remain the same for the duration of the initial term, and that rate will be based on the age of the individual requesting coverage.

When looking at whole life insurance, the rate is available based on age and again will not change for the duration of the policy. That duration runs to age 121, so the rate is going to remain the same as long as you are paying it. One notable difference between whole life and term life with American Fidelity is that the whole life coverage also offers a cash value that you can use for a variety of purposes. So, when considering the differences in rates, it’s worth remembering that the cash value of the whole life policy comes into play.

You don’t necessarily have to select between term life and whole life when making your life insurance plan. It’s possible to hold policies in both categories, so you have plenty of flexibility when trying to sort out your financial planning in this area.

Riders Available From American Fidelity Life Insurance

rider, in insurance-speak, is an additional enhancement to the standard coverage offered by a policy. In some cases, you can add riders at no cost, but often they will add to the price of your policy. With American Fidelity, several riders are available for an additional charge to add benefits to your life insurance policy. Picking out the right riders for your needs is a personal matter that will depend on your own circumstances, goals, etc.

The riders available on your American Fidelity life insurance policy will vary, but some of the most commonly seen riders in this industry include the following:

  • Accidental death. In the case of accidental death, a policy with this rider will not only pay out the amount due based on the policy, but also an additional amount as described in the rider.
  • Family income benefit. The one-time payout from a life insurance policy can be a big help to a family dealing with the unexpected loss of a loved one, but that payout might not be enough to last over the years. Adding a family income benefit rider to a policy will attach an additional, ongoing payment to the plan that can be used to cover living expenses.
  • Long-term care. Living in a nursing home can be expensive and covering those costs may be a challenge without some form of an insurance payout. Adding this type of rider is one way to protect against the unexpected cost of this type of ongoing care.

Careful planning should go into the decision of what riders to add to your policy and which to leave behind. Given the fact that an additional cost will be tacked onto your premiums when you add riders, only select those that are relevant to your life and would be beneficial for your family if they come into play.

How to Apply for American Fidelity Products

American Fidelity’s entire application is simple and straightforward. It takes less than 15 minutes to apply for traditional coverage.

Of course, you should be prepared to answer several questions based around topics such as your:

  • Overall health
  • Diseases or illnesses
  • Family health history
  • Lifestyle (smoking and drinking)
  • Work and activities

This risk assessment from your answers will be the basis of your coverage and rates.

You’ll be required to take a medical exam to qualify for service, then you can expect to wait between 4 and 6 weeks for approval after applying.

Pros

Despite their bare-bones approach to life insurance, there’s a lot to like about American Fidelity.

Here are a few of the company’s most notable attributes:

  • Reputation: Though you won’t glean much from the company’s website or encounter much marketing from American Fidelity, they do have a long history of success in the industry.
  • Strong support of military families: American Fidelity is resolute in its support of the men and women who protect our nation and their families, as reflected in their policy features and customer service.
  • Policy lineup: If you’re looking for a versatile selection of policies, American Fidelity has you covered with a variety of term and permanent solutions.
  • Simple application process: Though American Fidelity’s traditional underwriting process might seem to drag on, the application itself is short and straightforward.
  • Customer service: Customer service is highly prioritized by American Fidelity. Representatives are easy to contact by phone or email.

Cons

American Fidelity might not stand out from the competition on many fronts, but there aren’t a lot of negative qualities.

Regardless, here are a few of American Fidelity’s negative qualities:

  • Credit rating: Though it’s not in poor financial standing, American Fidelity’s rating is below average and only driven by a single rating agency.
  • Small market: While American Fidelity is open to the public, many of its policies are targeted towards the military, with other applicants faring better elsewhere.
  • Limited policies: A lot of American Fidelity’s products have small policy limits which might not be adequate to replace income, pay off major debts, or leave a legacy.
  • Online presence: American Fidelity’s website is far from user-friendly and provides inadequate information on its policies, features, financials, and application process.

Is American Fidelity Life Insurance A Good Company?

Yes, American Fidelity is a legitimate option for life insurance, as well as a variety of other products. With a history that dates back more than 60 years, you can trust that this is a suitable place to secure the policies you need to protect your family. Whether or not American Fidelity is the right choice for you will depend specifically on what you need in a life insurance policy, and what other kinds of coverages and services you may require.

American Fidelity Company Information#colpan#
Address9000 N Cameron Parkway
Oklahoma City, OK 73114
Telephone Number1 (800) 662-1113
HoursMonday – Friday 7:00 am to 7:00 pm CST
Website URLhttps://americanfidelity.com

Conclusion

One of the many advantages of living in our modern, high-tech world is having access to endless streams of reviews from other consumers. You don’t have to take a company’s word for what they will provide – you can turn to reviews to get a good understanding of how they really perform in the real world.

Looking around the web for reviews on American Fidelity provides some useful insight. For starters, the company has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and has been accredited with the BBB since 1975. Reading through some of the various consumer reviews will reveal complaints about the difficulty of getting a claim approved, but this is an issue that is common across the insurance industry. It’s best to take an overall view of a company’s profile before making a decision, rather than relying on the opinion of just a few disgruntled customers.

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