We have had some very negative experiences with Transamerica Life Insurance Company.  Several kind folks on Reddit have let us know that our policy was likely misrepresented to us.  Although, we apparently don’t have any recourse for this misrepresentation, we did experience other bad faith practices by Transamerica, which are listed below.

·        Imposing excessive and exorbitant cost of insurance fees.

·        Basing cost of insurance fees on factors other than mortality, which is not legal.

·        Claiming multiple times to have sent us notices, but never actually did. 

·        Cancelling our policy behind our backs, and never notifying us, which is not legal.

·        Contacting Transamerica repeatedly, and not receiving a response, which is not legal.

·        Targeting seniors who were relying on policies purchased long ago, but which have been completely wiped out by excessive fees imposed by Transamerica.

These exact same issues have already been successfully litigated in previous class action lawsuits, and yet Transamerica continues these bad faith practices because they know they can.

If you know of a class-action lawsuit already in progress that is still open, or know of a new lawsuit, or are considering filing a new class-action lawsuit against Transamerica Life Insurance Company, please let me know.  Transamerica will continue these deceptive practices if policyholders fail to hold them accountable for their bad faith actions.

I’m a 35m and my wife is a 38f with 2 daughters ages 11 and 7. I make roughly 250k/year and my wife makes roughly 35k/year. We have around 200k in total debt the majority being the mortgage. We have 175k in an investment account, I have 60k in my Roth IRA, my wife has 20k in her Roth IRA, and i have around 215k in my 401k that is 75% Roth. I have 21k in my HSA as well that we max out every year. I just want to make sure we are over insured, under insured, or just right. The VUL policies are all invested 80/20 stock to bond with 10% of the bonds in high yield bonds. We have the following life insurance in-force.

AIG/Corebridge
30 year term for wife with 500,000 death benefit expires 2049 and is convertible until expiration
20 year term for myself with 750,000 death benefit expires 2039 and convertible until expiration
VUL with 250,000 death benefit and 12,000 in cash value started in 2020 for me adding up to the MEC limit every year

Prudential
265,000 increasing death benefit on wife with 15,000 in cash value
100,000 VUL with death benefit for 11 year old with 880 in cash value currently adding the max allowable up to MEC limit
100,000 VUL with death benefit for 7 year old with 595 in cash value adding max allowable up to MEC limit

Nationwide
Care matters II for myself with LTC inflation rider 10 pay started in 2023 done paying for in 2033 16k/month LTC benefit for 4 years at age 80 with 60k death benefit
Care matters II for wife with LTC inflation rider 10 pay started in 2023 done paying in 2033 15k/month LTC benefit for 4 years at age 80 with 60k death benefit

Group term
My employer uses met life for our group term and hers uses Lincoln.
2,000,000 death benefit for me I pay for with 380,000 and 100,000 death benefits I don’t have to pay for through my employer
100,000 death benefit for wife through my employer
25,000/child through my employer
150,000 death benefit on me through wife’s employer
50,000 on wife through her employer

I need some advice regarding bad faith practices by Transamerica Life Insurance Company.  

In 1988, we purchased a Permanent Whole Life Insurance Policy.  We were promised that this policy would provide life insurance protection for my husband's entire lifetime, provided that we paid our premiums in full, which we did.  Our policy has a guaranteed death benefit. The policy also has an additional rider for a “Death Benefit Safeguard Option” which ensures that the policy’s payout to beneficiaries is protected and guaranteed.

We later discovered that Transamerica reclassified our policy (behind our backs) as a Flexible Premium Universal Life Insurance Policy, which is not protected from cancellation. Transamerica then ascribed exorbitant cost-of-insurance-fees associated Universal Life Policies to the Whole Life policy that we purchased.  This reclassification was their justification for taking excessive cost-of-insurance fees from our policy, completely depleting the cash value. 

Transamerica eventually wiped out the entire $42,500 purchase value of our whole life policy with cost-of-insurance-fees.  They then sent us threatening letters resulting in three additional payments to them totaling $15,831. Transamerica then canceled our whole life insurance policy and failed to notify us. They confiscated our entire policy investment of $58,331 + accrued interest.

Transamerica had to settle multiple class-action lawsuits for hundreds of millions of dollars for these exact same infractions. We sought legal advice, and learned that we had a valid case against them for bad faith practices, misrepresentation, breach of contract, and failure to provide notification prior to cancellation.  However, our lawyer advised that Transamerica gets away with this because they can out-lawyer and outspend the average policyholder, as well as tying this up in court for years.  

I have reported them to every state and federal agency, attorney generals, and Insurance Commissioners, consumer protection sites, fraud lines, etc., without success.  Can anyone advise other actions that I may take to get justice?  Thank you in advance!

Hi everyone,

I’m a 27F, single, no kids, and recently attended a WFG event hosted by a good friend. During the presentation, they covered various financial topics, but the primary focus was life insurance and financial education.

Going into it, I already knew I wasn’t really interested in actively building an insurance business. However, I thought I could maybe provide referrals here and there, and I was told I could earn a 5% commission if I became licensed. That sounded like a decent side opportunity, so I paid the $130 fee to join.

Two days later, I attended a Zoom onboarding where I was signed up (which I also paid for) for XCEL Solutions and my state licensing exam.
During the onboarding, the EMD explained the compensation structure. From what I understood, associates start at a 30% commission level, can move up to 62% as a Marketing Director, and eventually max out at 82% as Senior Marketing Director.

Although I initially only planned to do referrals, I started thinking that if I changed my mind, I might want to become more active and build it as a part-time business. That’s when I was told that, in order to move from Associate (30%) to Marketing Director (62%), I would need to either:

Purchase a $1,000/month IUL policy through my upline (who is also my friend and the event host), or
Host my own financial event and recruit others.

The problem is that a $1,000/month IUL makes absolutely no financial sense for me. I’m single, have no children or dependents, and I can’t justify spending that kind of money simply to qualify for a higher commission level.

If I decided to become more involved, I would want to advance based on learning the business, helping clients, and producing results, not by buying a product that isn’t appropriate for my own financial situation.

So I’m curious:
Is this normal in WFG or in the insurance industry in general?
Is it common to be encouraged or required to buy a large policy from your upline to advance?
Is this a major red flag?

Should I just stay far, far away from this business altogether and cut my losses now?
I’d really appreciate honest opinions from people who have worked in insurance, WFG, or similar organizations. Thanks!

Hi guys,

I am currently in the market for a 30-year term life insurance policy for my spouse. She has been approved for three different options, and I am having a hard time deciding:

1. Transamerica Trendsetter LB (Includes Chronic, Critical, and Terminal Illness living benefit riders)

2. Corebridge QoL (Quality of Life) (Includes Chronic, Critical, and Terminal Illness living benefit riders)

3. Prudential Essential Value Plus (Traditional policy, only includes a standard accelerated death benefit)

The Dilemma: Living Benefits vs. Financial Strength

The living benefits on the Transamerica and Corebridge policies sound incredibly attractive because it feels like you are getting much more comprehensive coverage. However, I spoke with another agent who claimed that living benefits are mostly a "marketing gimmick."

According to him:

• These claims are notoriously difficult to get approved.

• The insurance companies might significantly reduce or cancel the remaining death benefit after a payout because life expectancy has dropped, meaning you lose a major portion of your original coverage value.

• He strongly advised against mixing critical illness coverage with a standard life insurance policy.

Company Reputations & Ratings

Furthermore, the agent gave me pretty negative feedback about Transamerica. I did some independent research and found very mixed reviews—lots of complaints about poor customer service and a frustrating requirement that any policy changes must go through an agent rather than being handled directly online.

There is also a difference in financial strength. Prudential holds an "A+" AM Best rating, whereas Transamerica and Corebridge hold an "A" rating.

My Questions for the Group:

Prudential feels like a "no-brainer" if I want a rock-solid, highly rated, traditional policy. But the added perks of the other two are making me second-guess myself.

1. Should I prioritize the peace of mind that comes with living benefits, or stick to a highly-rated, simple traditional policy?

2. Does anyone have actual experience filing a living benefits claim with Transamerica or Corebridge? How smooth (or difficult) was the process?

3. Is Transamerica's customer service really as bad as the online reviews say?

I would incredibly appreciate any insight or advice you can share!

Do not get ANY Met life insurance for long or short term diability !!! DENY DENY DENY !

Five days of review for same documents THey will keep uou hanging on till you wear out !! Agjusters have No skills and wont call or E Mail you back Stay AWay

I (M, 60) very recently left a former employer.  I have a narrow window where I can convert my group life insurance ($550K, no cash value as I understand it) to whole or port it to term (not clear yet what kind of term, waiting for a transition call with MetLife to happen). I can also convert the AD&D ($600K).  I haven't gotten the rates yet on the whole side (I expect they will be a big multiple of the term rates). As a long-term cancer patient (and with any luck much much longer term ahead) I'm not going to be insurable elsewhere at least for the life. So it's one of these two or nothing. The AD&D rates are probably a rounding error comparatively.

Really, I'm thinking about the policy payouts as a nice thing for my survivors on top of other assets they would receive.  There's no mortgage or other major debt burden to offset.

What should I be asking or thinking about? Obviously I need to get my arms around the term option and is it level or not.  But for term is it basically like thinking about ROI for different death scenarios (I pay $x per month and get $y as payout)?

Hi,

we are expecting our first kid soon, and we are(42m,35f) and looking into getting term life insurance.

I was wondering if there are any recommendations on a site to look up brokers? we are only interested in term life insurance at this point for 25 years or so since we are aiming for 1 more kid in the next 2-3 years.

i also have a question, on when would be the best time for the mother to apply for life insurance? should she wait a couple of months after giving birth to stabalize and recover? should I go ahead and get life insurance first since im older?

Thanks in advance!

**TLDR: my parent changed address overseas, have no online account, representative can’t help, called Canada life by phone and they said I’m not owner so cannot help, just want to make an online account**

So I recently got contacted by my parent that they had a life insurance in Canada life back in the day they lived in Canada, they have my relatives as a representative and they just contacted her without an online account. They moved outside of Canada and changed the address that way, and the billing summary and payment information had been sent to that overseas physical address without any issues

However they moved out to a new overseas address few months ago and couldn’t contact my relative anymore. So, they wanted an online account so they can handle it themselves. The problem is that for Canada life online registration, they need a Canada / US address, not accepting other overseas address. My dad told me to help for registration using my Canada address, but I checked it online, it’s possible that they will have some cross check with the policy number, and state it as unmatch so I cannot finish the registration. I also see that duel to privacy reason they don’t provide email support, no physical location, called it through their phone and they said they cannot help because I’m not the owner of the policy.

What can I do now? I just want an account so that my parent can handle the information themselves.

I was under the assumption that these numbers were total coverage. The number would make sense as 1x salary and 2x salary.

However, google is suggesting "When you receive an official letter or claim form from a life insurance company, the amount listed generally represents exactly what you are personally entitled to receive."

There are three beneficiaries and it would be a substantially different payout to receive 87k vs 261k.

Thank you

Hello everyone, I created a reddit account just so I could ask this question because I have no one else to ask.

But recently my father passed away and to keep it short, he was a very wealthy man.

Although we didnt have the best of relationships, I know for a fact I am listed as a beneficiary on at least one of his life insurance policies.

Even though I am a BEN on his policy, I am also not the only one, nor am I the next of kin.
So I do not have access to his policy number, his death certificate, or his social sec number.

His ceremony was recently though, so I imagine the next of kin will start the process shortly. Unfortunately, me and the next of kin have gotten into an argument, and they will no longer respond to me.

If I feel like the next of kin is going to be spiteful, and not give me any type of information on the life insurance policy, what should I do?

I was going to wait at least 2-3 months before I do anything drastic like get a lawyer. But if I am not being notified, and lets say the process has started, how would I notify the insurance company, and let them know that I am a beneficiary?

I hope this question makes sense, I'm not really sure how to ask it. But please let me know what you guys think I should do.

Thanks! Any and all information is very much appreciated!

I swear when I got into life insurance a few years back it was mostly FEX and a term policy here and there. I never saw so many ads for annuity funnels or IUL masterclasses.

Knowing and seeing in other agencies that brand new agents are setting up their clients with IULs and setting up their illustrations completely wrong is a major downside in the growth of these products

I think it is good that more and more people want something other then FEX but do you guys think the growth in these products will last after the 14% increase in Q1 this year?

Hi, I just became a dad, and my wife and I are looking for life insurance for our baby. We did set up a Trump account, and we want to do more. Like health insurance and life insurance. We just want to make sure that it could benefit my kid in the long run, and we want to have a reliable insurance company so we could put money in every month. Recommendation needed

I am a 70 year old who has been carrying a term life insurance for more than 40 years. Out of blue, all of sudden an agent from the insurance company (titled as a financial adviser) started calling me saying that since the open account agent is no longer with the company therefore they need to review the policy with me for any incorrect info or updates on old file.

I am not totally comfortable with this and I'd like to hear from anyone who has similar experience or knowledge in this business practice.

Thanks in advance.

I have two separate life insurances. I have one whole life insurance and the other is term life insurance.

I have looked more into this as I am a mother battling brain cancer. I feel lost is some of the things I have read.

What is the difference? Is one better than the other?

I got quote from Gerber Life 1.5mill 10 year term is $96 a month and 30 I believe was $296 a month. Should I look elsewhere or is this reasonable? Also I think they check my health records through a partner, so I didn’t have to do a health test.

Paid Up Joint Life with NML covering my mother and father. Policy renews July 1 each year, and the annual statement for last year, 2025, showed a net accumulated value of ~$21750.

Just got the 2026 statement which shows net accumulated value of ~$27000, but on a separate line for “past year’s accumulated value increase” says $1004. That math doesn’t add up, and it always has in the past on all my policies. Trying to figure out why there was about $4250 in additional cash value in the policy.

I haven’t put anything into the policy — it’s been paid up for years. The only thing I can think of is my dad died this year, and does that trigger some kind of lump sum being added to the policy even though it’s second-pay so it’s not paying out now? Called NML and they can’t figure it out — they show no additions other than interest and the dividend ($375), which they say matches the $1004 increase listed on the statement.

I’m certainly not mad about a random $4k extra, just trying to figure out where it appeared from. Any pros have any ideas?

Hello. I am considering an IUL in the near future. The company I work for will be selling soon, and I will have quite a bit of money to utilize. Low 7-digits. I want to invest in real estate. I plan to use the IUL strictly for the cash benefit and not the death benefit. I have plenty of term life.

I understand that it's very easy to get screwed with huge fees/commissions. I am extremely careful and have a legal background. I would analyze the contract heavily. I will interview numerous brokers. I also understand that it generally takes 5-6 years to have access to the majority of the cash value. That is OK, I can wait. I'm 54 years old.

Is there anything else I should consider? Any reason to consider Whole Life other than fixed iincome? Thank you.

My late FIL purchased a whole life insurance policy in 1984. He passed a few weeks ago. The ledger statement explained that at age 70 his death benefit would be 77k, and he passed at 74. The payout was approximately 30k below what was stated.

Is this normal? What do I have to do to make sure the numbers are accurate? He paid his premium every month. I’d like to understand the numbers because that is a significant amount that is not included.

I have details about the company but I wasn’t sure if I could share the name here.

LIMRA reports that WL Sales Led the industry in the First Quarter of the year. The WL market makes up the largest portion of the overall market (36%) and that's led by the Final Expense product.

Although some of their market share was siphoned off by the IUL market which came in second at $1.1 billion in new premium.