American General Life Insurance Company Review

Everything you want to know about American General is here.

Is American General Life Insurance Good?

American General is part of AIG Life and Retirement.

They have been providing life insurance protection since 1850.

American General is one of the many life insurance companies we offer at RiskQuoter.

Financial Strength

• AM Best – “A”
• S&P – “A+”
• Moody’s – “A2”
• Fitch Ratings – “A+”

Ratings as of 11/02/2020 and subject to change.

With $46 billion in revenue and nearly $577 billion in assets as of 2020, AIG companies have been there to pay claims.

As a comparison, New York Life Insurance Company has $700 billion in assets under management.

In fact, they have paid in excess of $44 billion in claims over the past 5 years alone.

AIG-American General has a good track record of being there when families need them.

Is it Easy to Get a Policy with American General?

American General makes it easy to apply for term and universal life insurance using their AG Quick Ticket.

It’s an e-application process where you provide us with some basic information.

We submit everything to the home office and then underwriting will call you to complete a phone interview.

A paramedical exam will be scheduled at that time.

Upon approval, your policy will be e-delivered to you for review and acceptance.

American General term life insurance policies often rank in the top 3 for best priced policies to meet your needs.

For permanent life insurance products, AIG recently introduced Agile Underwriting (AU+).

With Agile Underwriting, it’s possible for insureds age 50 and younger to receive up to $1,000,000 of coverage with no paramedical exam required.

How Does American General Underwriting Work?

American General has a set of underwriting guidelines that are used to determine what rate class they will offer you.

Underwriting Rate Classes Available:

• Preferred Plus
• Preferred Non-Tobacco
• Standard Plus Non-Tobacco
• Special Non-Tobacco
• Preferred Tobacco
• Standard Tobacco
• Special Tobacco

Underwriting Credit Programs

Crediting programs offer the possibility of receiving a better underwriting rate class than you might normally receive.

The benefit to you, of course, is a better price for your life insurance.

Underwriting credit programs include:

• Flex Credits Program – Introduced in 05/2019
• Lab Smart Scoring
• Healthy Credits – replaced by Flex Credits Program
• Preferred Offsets – replaced by Flex Credits Program

Flex Credits Program – This was recently introduced to replace the Health Credits and Preferred Offsets programs.

With the Flex Credits Program, you may receive one Preferred Class upgrade or one Substandard Class improvement if you meet any 4 of the following factors.

Special conditions may apply. Certain Flex Credits vary by age and credits may not be available for tests performed on younger individuals. All credits have additional requirements and time frame criteria required before they can be used to improve a rating.

Lab Smart Scoring looks at lab results from a mortality standpoint vs looking at the results to see if they are within the normal range.  

The result is that a Smart Score is developed based on all of your lab results, and the Smart Score may help you improve your underwriting offer.

Important to note is that these credits are automatically applied to your underwriting decision.

American General High-Risk Expertise

American General is one of the few companies that base their substandard high-risk life insurance rates off of a “special non-tobacco” rate

This is a huge advantage as most companies use a more expensive “standard” rate for pricing.

High-Risk Life Insurance Expertise in these areas:

• Build
• Asthma
• Heart Disease
• Sleep Apnea
• Diabetes
• Anxiety, depression and mood disorders
• Ulcerative colitis
• Seizure Disorders
• Thyroid Cancer
• Melanoma In-Situ
• Truvada Medication

With any high-risk life insurance case, we shop out to multiple companies to ensure that you receive the best quotes possible.

Types of Policies Available

You have a number of life insurance choices available with American General.

Term life insurance, universal life insurance, index universal life insurance, accidental death insurance, and whole life insurance are available.

AG Select-A-Term

Term life insurance offered by American General includes their most popular policy, the “AG Select-A-Term” product line.  

The Select-A-Term offers a lot of features that other companies do not, including:

• Minimum Face Amount – $50,000
• Issue Ages – 20-80 years old (varies by term length)
• Choice of Term Lengths
  • 10-year term
  • 15-year term
  • 20-year term life insurance
  • 25-year term
  • 30-year term life insurance
  • 35-year term
  • In addition, AIG offers term in one-year increments – ex 16,17,18, 19 – 30 years.
• Great Conversion Options – Including conversion credits
• Accidental Death Benefit
• Child Rider
• Terminal Illness Rider
• Waiver of Premium Rider
• High-Risk Underwriting through Table “H”

Consumer Approved Brochure – AG Select-A-Term Life Insurance

Guaranteed Acceptance Whole Life Insurance

AIG – American General Life Insurance Company offers a Guaranteed Acceptance Whole Life Insurance (GIWL) policy.

With this type of whole life insurance policy, there is no medical underwriting.

• Face Amounts from $5,000 – $25,000
• Issue Ages 50 – 80
• There are no health questions
• No medical exam required
• You can not be turned down for health reasons
• One Page Application
• Graded death benefit:
  • Years 1 & 2 = 110% of premiums paid.
  • Year 3+ is full face amount less any outstanding policy loans.
  • Accidental Death – Full Face Amount
  • In the Event of Suicide – Full Premiums Refunded
• Premiums are level and are guaranteed not to increase during the policy’s life.
• Replacements of existing insurance are not allowed.
• Chronic Illness Acceleration Benefit – Not available in all states
• Terminal Illness Benefit – Not available in all states

Secure Lifetime GUL 3

Guaranteed universal life insurance is available with the Secure Lifetime GUL3.

The death benefit is guaranteed regardless of the policy’s cash values, assuming that you have paid the required premiums.

• Minimum Face Amount – $100,000
• Issue Ages – 18-80
• Policy Loans against the cash value
• Cash value withdrawals may be available after 5th year.
• Accidental Death Rider
• Child Insurance Benefit Rider
• Enhanced Surrender Value Rider
• Accelerated Access Solution Rider
• Lifestyle Income Solution Rider
• Spouse/Other Insured Term Rider
• Terminal Illness Rider
• Waiver of Monthly Deduction Rider

Consumer Approved Brochure – AG-Secure-Lifetime-GUL3

Elite UL

Universal life insurance protection that allows the tax-deferred accumulation of cash values.

Cash values may be used in future years towards supplemental retirement planning, college funding or cash emergencies.

• Minimum Face Amount – $100,000
• Issue Ages – 18-90
• Choice of Level or Increasing death benefit
• Policy Loans against the cash value
• Cash value withdrawals after year 1 may be available
• Accidental Death Benefit Rider
• Children’s Insurance Benefit Rider
• Spouse/Other Insured Rider
• Terminal Illness Rider
• Waiver of Monthly Deduction Rider
• Waiver of Monthly Guaranteed Premium Rider
• Maturity Extension Rider
• Overloan Protection Rider

AG Secure Lifetime GUL3 and the AG Elite Universal Life policies have full illustrations available for each product.

The illustrations are important as they provide insight as to how your premiums provide guaranteed and non-guaranteed features important to each type of policy.

You have a lot of choices with AIG, and we’ll help you determine what type of life insurance and how much life insurance you need.

Request your free, no pressure, no-obligation quote today.

Does American General Provide Good Customer Service?

You may reach American General at 800-888-2452 with questions about your policy.

You may also access policy information online

American General login – Client Access (a new window will open)

Address: 2727-A Allen Parkway – Houston, Texas 77019

Conclusion

American General Life Insurance Company is good carrier to consider for your life insurance.

Please submit your quote request today.

We’ll provide you with quotes from American General as well as competitors so you may see which company is best for you. thank you.

Other Companies Reviewed

• New York Life Insurance Company Review for 2022
• 2022 Prudential Life Insurance Review
• Illinois Mutual Life Insurance Review
• Cincinnati Life Insurance Review
• Gerber Life Insurance Review
• Foresters Life Insurance Review
• Fidelity Life Association Review
• Allstate Life Insurance Company Review
• Assurity Life Insurance Company Review
• American National Life Insurance Review

Policies issued by American General Life Insurance Company (AGL) except in New York, where issued by The United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York (US Life).

Issuing companies AGL and US Life are responsible for the financial obligations of insurance products and are members of American International Group, Inc. (AIG).

Products may not be available in all states and product features including rates may vary by state. Guarantees are backed by the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.