Prudential Life Insurance Review 2024
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Prudential
on Nerdwallet
Financial strength rating
Online purchase
NAIC complaints
Policies offered
on Nerdwallet
Prudential
Financial strength rating
Online purchase
NAIC complaints
Policies offered
Founded in 1875, Prudential Financial is one of the largest life insurance companies in the U.S. The company offers a broad slate of universal and term life insurance policies, and allows policyholders to customize coverage with a range of riders.
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Prudential life insurance rating
Prudential earned 4 stars out of 5 for overall performance. NerdWallet’s ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula takes into account consumer experience, complaint data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and financial strength ratings.
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Prudential life insurance policies
Term life insurance. Prudential's term life insurance policies cater to people with different budgets and coverage needs. These are the options:
Term Essential: This affordable policy is available in 10-, 15-, 20- or 30-year terms, with a premium that stays level over the course of the term. If you decide to keep the policy after the term is complete, your premiums may increase. You can convert the policy to permanent life insurance, and you can enhance your coverage with riders.
PruTerm One: This policy is a type of annual renewable life insurance. It offers coverage for one year at a time, which may be useful for paying off short-term loans.
Permanent life insurance. Prudential offers several types of universal life insurance, indexed universal life insurance and variable universal life insurance, including survivorship policies. Survivorship life insurance insures two people on the same policy. The policy pays out when the second person dies.
Permanent life insurance policies typically build cash value. The cash value growth in the indexed policies is based on the performance of a financial index, such as the S&P 500. With the variable policies, you pick the underlying investments that will be the basis for cash value growth.
Prudential also sells final expense insurance, which is a form of whole life insurance that pays a small death benefit to cover funeral costs and other final expenses when an insured person dies. Customers ages 50 to 85 can purchase a policy with coverage as high as $30,000. Individuals in standard and modified risk classes have access to slightly lower issue age (50-80) and coverage range (up to $15k).
Prudential life insurance rates
Below are monthly rates for a 20-year, $500,000 term life insurance policy from Prudential. These are sample rates for a nonsmoking man and woman in excellent health — the final quote you’re offered will depend on factors like your age, health, lifestyle, occupation and driving record.
Age | Monthly rate - man | Monthly rate - woman |
|---|---|---|
20 | $39.82 | $23.16 |
30 | $34.82 | $27.32 |
40 | $45.65 | $40.65 |
50 | $100.21 | $86.47 |
60 | $316.79 | $215.16 |
70 | N/A | N/A |
Source: Quotacy. Rates reflect the super preferred class and were generated on 7/5/23. | ||
Prudential customer complaints and satisfaction
Over three years, Prudential has drawn fewer than the expected number of complaints to state regulators for a company of its size, according to a NerdWallet analysis of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Prudential ranked No. 16 out of 22 companies in J.D. Power's 2023 U.S. Life Insurance Study for overall customer satisfaction.
Where Prudential stands out
Prudential's lineup of term life insurance policies caters to diverse needs. These include people who only want to buy a year of coverage at a time, as well as those on a budget or in the market for instant term life insurance. Prudential also offers life insurance for pre-existing conditions like HIV.
Where Prudential falls short
Prudential is a large company with a varied selection of life insurance policies. However, it could improve on its reputation with customers after getting a below average score in a recent survey.
More about Prudential
On the Prudential website, you can get a quote, learn about life insurance basics, update your personal details, change your beneficiary and make premium payments.
Prudential also offers a suite of financial products, like annuities, investments and workplace benefits.
Life insurance buying guide
Before you start comparing companies, choose the type of life insurance you want, such as term or whole life. Decide which life insurance riders, if any, you want the policy to include. Calculate how much life insurance you need and how long you want the coverage to last. Check that the insurers you’re considering offer the coverage you’re looking for.
When comparing rates, be sure the quotes are for the same amount of coverage over the same period of time. It’s also important to make sure the policy’s medical requirements match your needs. For example, if you want to skip the life insurance medical exam but don’t mind answering health questions, confirm that the application process for each policy you're comparing aligns with that.
Price may not be the biggest driver behind your decision to buy. Look at the number of consumer complaints each company receives, as high numbers can be a red flag about the quality of service.
For more guidance, see our life insurance buying guide.
Methodology
Life insurance ratings methodology
NerdWallet’s life insurance ratings are based on consumer experience, complaint index scores from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners for individual life insurance, and weighted averages of financial strength ratings, which indicate a company’s ability to pay future claims. Within the consumer experience category, we consider ease of communication and website transparency, which looks at the depth of policy details available online. To calculate each insurer’s rating, we adjusted the scores to a curved 5-point scale.
These ratings are a guide, but we encourage you to shop around and compare several insurance quotes to find the best rate for you. NerdWallet does not receive compensation for any reviews. Read our editorial guidelines.
Insurer complaints methodology
NerdWallet examined complaints received by state insurance regulators and reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2020-2022. To assess how insurers compare with one another, the NAIC calculates a complaint index each year for each subsidiary, measuring its share of total complaints relative to its size, or share of total premiums in the industry. To evaluate a company’s complaint history, NerdWallet calculated a similar index for each insurer, weighted by market shares of each subsidiary, over the three-year period. NerdWallet conducts its data analysis and reaches conclusions independently and without the endorsement of the NAIC. Ratios are determined separately for auto, home (including renters and condo) and life insurance.
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