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Banner Life Insurance Company

Insurance Quotes 2 Day Team

Written By Doug Mitchell

Doug Mitchell, CLU holds a BA degree in Finance from Auburn University as well as having obtained a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation from The American College in Bryn Mahr, PA.  Doug has spent close to 30 years in the insurance and financial planning industry and has held licenses to sell securities, long-term care insurance, health.  Doug is also a financial blogger addressing the topics of life insurance, annuities and retirement income planning.

Holly Mitchell  &

Holly Mitchell’s background in life insurance insurance goes back to 1985 when she worked for her father who was a New York Life agent. Holly has a marketing degree from Auburn University and has had a life insurance license since 2008. In addition to advising life insurance for customers all around the country, Holly is our website fact checker.

Rob Pinner   &

Rob Pinner is the founder and CEO of Pinner Financial Services servicing all 50 states. Rob started his insurance career in 2002.

Louis LaBash

Results-driven and innovative life insurance professional with 30 plus years of life insurance industry sales and marketing experience. Recognized as a pioneer in the field, leveraging phone and internet channels to exceed personal sales of over $100 million during the first decade of the 21st century. Creator of a highly effective intuitive IUL life insurance sales software that facilitated the sale of millions of dollars of indexed universal policies by numerous life insurance agents. Proven track record as a Managing General Agent (MGA), Life Agent, IUL Life Insurance Sales Software developer, and leading-edge creator of insurance marketing tools, educational content, and delivery systems.

 6 minute read

Banner Life Insurance Company is also known as Legal and General and they do business in the state of New York as William Penn Life Insurance.

Banner Life Insurance is headquartered in Urbana, Maryland and the company is owned by Legal and General America.

Banner Life Insurance Company has been in the insurance industry for over 60 years.  In 1981, Legal & America Group constructed Legal & General America as a holding company and then purchased Government Employees Life Insurance Company (GELICO). 

Two years later, GELCO changed its name to Banner Life Insurance.

In 1989, Legal & General Group Plc purchased William Penn as a subsidiary of Banner Life Insurance Company.  Although both William Penn and Banner Life Insurance continue to be the companies that underwrite and distribute the policies, under the name of Legal & America.

 

How Banner Life Excels Compared to Their Competition

Banner Life Insurance is known for its inexpensive term life insurance premiums and aggressive underwriting for the following health conditions:

  • Asthma
  • Sleep Apnea
  • Anxiety
  • Epilepsy
  • Diabetes
  • Overweight
  • Some heart disease
  • Smoking, cigars and chewing tobacco, vaping

This is just a short list of health conditions we see Banner Life doing a great job at covering with life insurance.  

You may even qualify for a Banner Life Insurance policy up to $1,000,000 in coverage with no medical exam.

Banner Life has their own accelerated underwriting program that they call APPcelerate.

Banner Life Insurance Ratings [IMPORTANT]

Certainly, there is more to purchasing life insurance than just finding the lowest premium. After all, life insurance is simply a promise to pay a death benefit in return for a premium offered by the company. The promise that life insurance companies offer is a long-term agreement and so it’s critical that any company you selected shows the financial stability that they can keep their to you long term. Low premiums are meaningless if the company cannot pay the claim when the worst thing happens.

 Here’s what the national insurance rating services have concluded about Banner’s financial stability: 

 

Legal and General ratings

 

As expected, Banner Life Insurance Company is certainly proud of its standings among the top insurance rating agencies.  These high ratings are suggestive that Banner Life is completely able and willing to honor their commitments to their policyholders.

  • A+ from AM Best
  • AA- from S&P Global Ratings
  • AA- from Fitch Ratings

Banner Life can be reached for policy service at the number below:

Banner Life Customer Service

Banner Corporate Headquarters

Legal & General America
3275 Bennett Creek Avenue
Frederick, Maryland 21704
 

Banner Customer Service

Call: 800-638-8428 Toll Free
301-279-4800 Direct
Fax: 301-294-6960
Hours: 8:00–5:00 ET, Monday–Friday
customerservice@bannerlife.com

Benefits of  using Banner Life Insurance

 

Again, Banner Life Insurance Company is a good fit for our customers that are in perfect health as well as those that have some minor health issues or major health issues. 

Banner life is a great fit for a broad range of our customers, offering very competitive life insurance quotes for all age groups.

Bottom line, Banner Life in a low-cost life insurance leader.  Even their rated policies due to pre-existing conditions are issued at a lower insurance rate.   Banner Life Insurance Company offers competitive underwriting for a wide range of substandard health conditions, such as sleep apnea, diabetes, and atrial fibrillation, just to name a few. 

Banner is excellent for those with diabetes.  In fact, Banner provides very affordable term life insurance and universal life insurance rates for diabetics.

 

Banner Life No Exam Life Underwriting

In Banner Life’s attempts to enter into the no-medical exam life insurance arena, in May 2016 APPcelerate was introduced. 

This underwriting program qualifies potential policyholders through an automated process now used by many life insurance companies today.  They do have to meet certain criteria such as age, tobacco use, prescription use, and pre-existing conditions in order to be considered for accelerated underwriting. 

This means that qualified applicants may be eligible for life insurance coverage without the required life insurance medical exam.

APPcelerate is available for individuals between 20-50 years of age, and coverage amounts are available for up to $1,000,000.  

 

Banner Life Insurance Company Products

 

Banner OPTerm Life Insurance

Banner life’s most popular offering is their term life insurance product.   This is the OPTerm product and is issued in 10, 15,20, 25 and 30-year rate guarantees.  OPTerm is renewable until the age of 95, and fully convertible to permanent life insurance offering a competitive edge among other companies restricting the age to 90. 

Like all other term life policies, OPTerm from Banner Life is ideal for when individuals need coverage for a certain amount of time.  Term life insurance coverage can be bought in large amounts for low rates.

Be assured that Banner Life will be on the list of Dave Ramsey life insurance companies.

 Here are Banner’s actual rates for a male non-smoker in a preferred underwriting class. We have posted the ages down the left side and the coverage amounts across the top. The rates are for a 20-year policy. 

 

Banner Life Review

Age of Applicant$250,000$500,000$750,000$1,000,000
25$15.81$24.95$34.85$42.40
30$15.95$25.80$36.13$44.12
35$16.85$27.08$38.04$48.21
40$21.61$37.94$54.33$75.03
45$32.42$57.87$84.22$106.78
50$47.79$87.38$128.48$165.75

 

Banner Life Step Universal Life

For those individuals that have a need that is longer than 30 years, a universal life insurance policy could be the best way to cover that need.  Banner life has a universal life policy, Life Step UL, with a level premium guaranteed for your lifetime.  Life Step UL can be purchased in amounts as low as $50,000 making this an affordable option.  The Life Step UL is a very low cost universal life policy. 

This policy guarantees its premium rate and offers flexible coverage.  You may also choose to prepay your premiums in say 10 year or 15 years and stop paying.  Not only are the premiums guaranteed in the Life Step UL but cash values that build up in the policy are too.

Riders Available with Banner Life Insurance

In order for a policyholder to be able to adjust their coverage as they see fit or edit certain standard features of the policy they’re purchasing, life insurance riders are added to a policy.  There are three riders available with Banner Life for both their universal and term life insurance products.

Accelerated Death Benefit

In the event that a policyholder is diagnosed with a terminal illness, they have the ability to withdraw a portion of their life insurance in order to help to pay for important expenses, such as medical bills or hospice.  

Waiver of Premium

In the event that an individual is totally disabled for at least 6 months, this rider allows them to cease making payments while they’re disabled.  The policy will remain active, however, the disability cannot occur before the age of 65.

Child Rider

This rider provides parents with financial protection in the event of the death of a child.  The coverage is added on and is typically available in coverage amounts of $5,000 and $10,000.  This feature costs as little as $27.50 annually and ends once the child is 25.  The ability to add this rider expires at the age of 65 for the parent.

Banner Life’s Liberal Underwriting

This company is one of the most unique in the insurance industry, with its primary underwriting practices being different than the other insurance companies.  For those potential policyholders with a lower than average health class,  Banner’s premiums are based on the Standard Plus rating table. 

This means that a portion, if not all, of their insurance premiums, are hugely discounted when compared to other providers.

While the underwriting practices are not the only unique feature Banner Life has to offer, it certainly has gives their life insurance products a competitive edge.  Banner Life continues to go strong in performance and their pricing models remain superior. 

Even though Banner Life hasn’t been around the longest, compared to other insurers, their reputation is certainly well respected among the other insurers.

Banner Life Timeline

Applications for Banner Life Insurance take longer to approve than the other leading insurers.  The reason is due to the thoroughness of their underwriting process, but lower rates are passed on to the consumer.  In comparison, other providers may take less time, but offer significantly higher rates.  Banner has stepped up to the plate to compete on affordability, and they do this by being the best at evaluating an applicant’s risk. 

Banner Life Summary

It’s a fact of life that purchasing life insurance can be somewhat overwhelming.  With so many factors that need to be figured in, it’s very important to be aware and understand your options moving forward.

In today’s society, we know that people are busier than ever before.  Most of us are just looking for affordable term life insurance policies with our having to do the research.  That is how Ogletree Financial can help.  We shop over 60 life insurance companies to help you find the lowest life insurance rates.   

 

We are Here to Listen and Serve
We know Banner Life and want to advise you. If you would like a personalized proposal, use the quoter on this page to get started.

Frequently asked Questions

Why is term life insurance so much cheaper than other types of insurance?

shopping for life insurance

Term insurance rates are much cheaper than whole life or universal life insurance because the insurance companies rarely have to pay out claims like they do on permanent insurance. Most term policyholders convert their term policies to permanent policies or cancel the term and purchase a permanent policy before the original term policy expires.

Does Banner Life have good ratings?

Yes, Banner Life is a highly-rated company and demonstrates financial stability year after year.
A.M. Best – A+
Standard & Poor’s – AA-
Fitch Ratings – AA-

How Banner's rates compared to other highly-rated term policies?

Life insurance at 60.

Banner Life Insurance Company is a good fit for our customers that are in perfect health as well as those that have some minor health issues or major health issues.  Even their rated policies due to pre-existing conditions are issued at a lower insurance rate

Does Banner Life require medical exams for term insurance?

IUL for physicians

In Banner Life’s attempts to enter into the no-medical exam life insurance arena, in May 2016 APPcelerate was introduced. This underwriting program qualifies potential policyholders through an automated process now used by many life insurance companies today.

author avatar
Doug Mitchell, CLU Independant Advisor
Doug Mitchell, CLU holds a BA degree in Finance from Auburn University as well as having obtained a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation from The American College in Bryn Mahr, PA. Doug has spent almost 30 years in the life insurance industry and has also held licenses to sell securities, long-term care insurance and home and auto insurance. Doug is a Top of the Table Million Dollar Round Table member (MDRT).  MDRT is a global, independent association of the world's leading life insurance advisors.  For two years, Doug served as President of the Auburn Opelika Association of Financial Advisors and has been a member of the Million Dollar Round Table. He obtained Life Millionaire status at Horace Mann Insurance Company and was awarded the Life Agent of the Year Award. Later in his career with New York Life he was an Executive Council Member. Doug currently serves as President of Ogletree Financial, a managing general agency serving life insurance agents and clients in all parts of the United States. Today, Doug’s main focus is servicing 1000s of policyholders and growing the agency through the reach of  insurancequotes2day.com.

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