Washington National Insurance Company Review

If you’ve seen one of our reviews before, you’ll know that now is the time for the official ratings so you can get a better idea of how the company is perceived in the wider market. With every provider, we like to look at as many agency ratings as we have available and this includes ratings for finances as well as customer service. Since we’ve seen the financial strength, this combined with the fact they’re part of the CNO Financial Group means you can probably guess the financial ratings but how do they do with customer service?

A.M. Best – Founded back in 1899, A.M. Best has been offering financial ratings for financial providers for a very long time and this is why they’ve become one of the most reliable agencies in the market. Both alone, and as part of the CNO Financial Group, Washington National Insurance Company has a rating of A- (Excellent). Above all else, this means they are financially stable, can continue operating in the coming years, and have enough resources to pay out all claims that come their way. Considering we need to invest in a life insurance company because we need them to survive, this is a great start to the ratings section.

Moody’s – With a history that spans a time period just eleven years shorter than A.M. Best, Moody’s Investor Service is another one that looks at the finances but this time at the credit rating. Therefore, a company’s rating will tell you whether they’re able to pay all debts, interest payments, claims, and more. Currently, Moody’s has rated Washington National and CNO at Ba1 which has been upgraded within the last 30 months. Thanks to an improvement in finances and plans for recapitalization, their financial credit rating is improving all the time. With their involvement in CNO Financial Group, Washington National doesn’t actually get a rating of its own so this is important to remember because the four insurance providers all rely upon the rating of this group.

Better Business Bureau – In the past, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) has caught out several businesses with their poor practices, false advertising, misuse of company logo or name, and an overwhelming number of complaints. Nowadays, most people looking for life insurance rely upon their ratings to see how trustworthy the company is and how well they’ll be looked after with a potential policy.

In 2017, Washington National Insurance Company is accredited by the BBB and has been given a rating of A+ which is the very best rating available. With a score of between 97 and 100 (out of 100), it means the company receives a respectable number of complaints and has good business practices.

Customer Service – Following on from the previous point, how can you get in contact with the company? As we saw earlier with the four key values for the business, they’re extremely customer-oriented which is always good news because it means we have a friendly voice at the end of the line if we ever run into problems or even just have a question.

After visiting their ‘Contact Us’ page online, you’ll instantly be provided with opportunities to get in touch and we love the fact there are different phone numbers from which you can choose. Depending on whether you have a life insurance product, health insurance policy, or want to report fraud, there is a phone number for each department and this means you can get straight to the right person without having to mess around.

Additionally, you’ll also find different forms to complete certain tasks and even an address for letters just in case you need to contact them in a different way.

Health Insurance – Before we head into our main focus today which will be the life insurance products, we should briefly mention the health insurance products since these could prove to be important for some. With three different policies to choose from, you can start a policy depending on whether you need hospitalization coverage, cancer and critical illness coverage, or accident and disability coverage.

While all health insurance policies cover medical bills and the obvious expenses, the issue of deductibles and coinsurance often isn’t discussed which is where Washington National Insurance Company comes in. With the right policies in place, you won’t have to worry about your financial well being just in case you happen to be diagnosed with cancer or any other serious illness.

Employer Benefits – In addition to this, Washington National also offer the three health insurance policies and term and universal life insurance for employers. Nowadays, more companies are offering group insurance than ever before because of the many benefits that come with it and Washington National provides some fantastic opportunities to get it right so that every single member of the group has coverage within their role at the company and in their personal life.

We’ve reached the big one; life insurance. At this point, we hope you have some idea of what you’re looking for in a policy. As we’ve mentioned before, buying life insurance is a very unique process because the dream policy for one person could be a nightmare for somebody else and people often forget this. If you’ve got a large mortgage and a child to put through college, you’re likely to have very different needs to a slightly older person who no longer has these types of responsibilities.

Washington National Insurance Company offers the two main types, term life vs permanent life insurance.

With Washington National, the first product they offer is level term life insurance, which has an end date as you may know. If you’re just looking to pay your child through college or if you’re waiting for your mortgage to come to an end, these short-term policies can be the ideal solution. With living expenses for your loved ones, the potential to cover children, and benefits for critical illnesses, Washington National might be able to meet your needs.

Once the policy is in place, the premiums will never increase over your term which gives you protection and the ability to plan your finances in the coming years. As you’ll see a little later, there are also some riders you can choose for this policy too which adds value and even more protection.

Once again, you’ll benefit from guaranteed fixed premiums but whole life insurance offers guaranteed fixed premiums for life so you don’t have to worry about paying more money when you’re older. Furthermore, you’ll need to make a choice between level and graded benefit life insurance.

While  pays the full death benefit from the beginning of the policy, the latter will pay a smaller benefit if you happen to die within the first two years (other than accidental death). Once the two years have passed, you’ll essentially ‘unlock’ the full death benefit.

Indexed Universal Life is cash value life insurance, just like the whole life insurance option, but this time you can adjust your premiums to meet your needs as your finances and position in life changes. For further flexibility, you can actually access your cash value later in life as a living benefit. Finally, you can choose to have your cash value grow in line with the S&P 500 index.

Finally, before we let you get back to your day, we should mention the three main life insurance riders available for your term life insurance policy.

If you were to be diagnosed with a serious illness as you age, the Terminal Illness rider allows you to have access to a certain percentage of your death benefit early in order to cover medical bills and replace lost income. To access this money, the policyholder must only have months to live and Washington National Insurance Company provides access to 75% of the death benefit which can be a significant amount.

With term life insurance, the biggest issue is that all those premiums go to waste as soon as the term comes to an end. Return of Premium life insurance to the rescue. With a ROP rider you will actually see your premiums paid back to you if you outlive the policy. As you might expect, this will increase the premiums you pay but it can be a handy tool to have if you’re young enough to expect to outlive your policy. Let’s not forget, at the end of your policy, you’ll be older, more expensive to insure, and left without a policy in place.

Finally, this rider is essentially the same as the Terminal Illness rider but it protects against illnesses that aren’t life-threatening and haven’t put a clock on your life. If you want the added protection, Washington National even allows you to buy Critical Illness insurance as a separate policy.