This sometimes looks very confusing, especially since there are over 1,600 insurance companies offering hundreds of life insurance products. You can, however, make use of some basic tips to guide you throughout the process of comparing plans and insurers.
Factors to Consider when Comparing Term Life Insurance Quotes
Term life premium rates are not the only factor to be considered: it is crucial that the differences in each individual life insurance policy's provisions are measured against the difference in premiums you are charged for the coverage.
To evaluate various term life insurance quotes, you should make sure that you compare different term life policies with similar term length and similar coverage amount.
For example, you should compare a 10-year level term life policy with another 10-year level term life policy, and not with, say a 20-year decreasing term life policy.
It is extremely challenging to compare different term insurance plans, such as a guaranteed level premium and an annual renewable term life policy.
It is of significant importance to find out how many years the premium rate is guaranteed to last, usually for a period of 10, 15, 20 or 30 years.
Check to see if the term life insurance policies have a convertibility option, i.e. if they can be converted to permanent life insurance policies at the same rate, without proof of insurability.
You should look at the period of time during which conversion can be made, and the number and kind of conversion options that the insurer provides to the insured.
It is very important that you are given the chance to purchase some or all of the following riders (which are addiitonal coverages you may be able to add to your policy): return of premium, child rider, terminal illness rider, disability waiver, accidental death benefit, family rider, and guaranteed insurability option.
Be sure to choose one of the best and most reliable life insurers by checking each insurance company's financial strength ratings according to rating organizations such as A.M. Best, Best, Fitch, Moody's and Weiss.
Typically, a good insurance company will be rated with an A, A+ or A++ financial strength rating.
Here's how to compare term life insurance rate quotes online from several of the best insurance carriers in America.