Anyone try Ladderlife.com for Term Policy?

[Contentt]

Looking to add to the Term Life insurance and wondering if anyone has tried Ladderlife.com or Haven Life? Looks like Ladderlife is trying to go direct and bypass agents, I'm getting lower estimates than term4sale online.  Website says they are reinsured by Hannover Life Reassurance Company of America, which I still need to research.  Our current policies are with Banner.

Curious if anyone has looked at them?

 

[Scott at MD Financial Services]

I just ran 6 different variations and the rates I got were about 20-30% more than Compulife rate comparison (mother company of T4S) that we use for our clients.  I did a touch more looking and here is the company they are using.....LadderLife™ policies are issued by Fidelity Security Life Insurance.  Makes sense now.  FSL is an ok company but they don't have the sharpest pencil when it comes to rates.

[Contentt]

Thanks for the feedback! Nice to know they haven't replaced the humans yet.

[Contentt]

I reached out to our disability agent and her quote was the exact same as Term4sale, $100 a month for me for a 1m policy with Banner.  Ladderlife online quote tool is $86 a month. Can that price difference be explained simply by the rating difference between Banner and Fidelity?

Unless I'm reading your message wrong, I don't know how you are getting rates that are 20-30% lower that Ladderlife unless you are going with a lower rated insurer....?

[Jason Veirs]

If you were to provide your gender, health/underwriting class that you're quoting, DOB (or at least your month and year of birth) and the term length that you're looking for, then I would easily be able to tell you for sure as to who is the better option here.

Remember, with life insurance, you have the lowest rate, and then what you can actually qualify for. If you're extremely healthy, then these are oftentimes one and the same, but if you're not, this is where the rubber meets the road and you will find out 3-6 weeks later after you've gone through the Underwriting Process that will not qualify for the rates that were initially quoted. A good broker should/will field all of these things out during the Field Underwriting process, so that there are no "gotchas", but this is the reality when it comes to life insurance underwriting.

Also, although Banner Life is typically within the top 5 lowest priced Term insurance carriers on the market today, there's a chance that there are other carriers with lower pricing, in addition to LadderLife. If you're running the rates on T4S.com based on your actual DOB and they're lower with LadderLife, then in your situation, the pricing may just be less, but I highly doubt it.

To echo what Scott has previously stated, LadderLife is typically pretty competitively-priced, though, they usually aren't the lowest priced carrier, based on my experience. In addition, their Underwriting is pretty tight, as they're owned by MassMutual, who usually isn't the most forgiving when it comes to underwriting, but if you give me your gender, health/underwriting class that you're quoting, DOB, as well as the term length that you're looking for, then I'll be able to tell you for sure. Without knowing these 4 data points, we're essentially just shooting in the dark.

[Contentt]

I found my stupid mistake. I realized I ran the Term4sale quote using "Preferred" (I'm a pessimist when budgeting/fcsting) and Ladderlife never asked the question, so I'm assuming they are using the best case scenario (Preferred Plus/Excellent/whatever) in their online quote tool.

When I re-ran the numbers for what is probably an apples to apples comparison the T4S Banner policy was $4 a month less than Ladderlife.

On a side note, one thing I didn't consider until today was I might save a little money buying life from my home/auto provider (Erie), they throw on another discount, so something I'll compare against Banner rate from Term4sale.

I was hoping Ladderlife might be a loss leader to gain market share that I could take advantage of, or have found some magic cost cutting bullet by going direct, but the answer seems to be no. If anything the policy costs a little more to be able to manage your policy with a fancy website.

Thanks for all the input! When/if I make a broker switch I absolutely will be reaching out to one of the contributors on this site, appreciate the help and input.

 

 

[Scott at MD Financial Services]

The other thing you won’t see when you are running those quotes yourself is that on policy 2+ with some carriers they will waive the policy fee. That fee being waived translates to an extra $3-$6.50 per month discount to rates being displayed. Quote engines are great but they are simply a starting point, working with a rep that really knows this business might save you a few bucks and prevent a pitfall.
Let me know if we can help further.

[Jason Veirs]

Glad you noticed the difference in the health/underwriting class when running the quotes, as that will definitely skew the results.

To answer your question about Erie, most of these Property & Casualty insurance carriers cannot compete with the carriers on T4S.com when it comes to price (even when bundling home and auto), as they just don't specialize in life insurance - I always encourage people to run the numbers and see if they can beat the rates on T4S.com, but it usually doesn't happen. In fact, I actually have Farmers and State Farm Insurance Agency Owners who purchase life insurance through me, as they know that their rates are typically very overpriced, and their underwriting is not the most liberal. I also am writing a policy now for an Allstate Executive, so you just have to compare the rates.

Also, there are TON of VC firms who are eagerly trying to cut agents out of the picture and funding a lot of these direct to consumer outfits such as LadderLife, PolicyGenius, etc., but somewhere, there is an agent in the mix. I always tell people that a good broker shouldn't talk your ear off and the entire life insurance application process should only be about a 15-20 minute phone call, along with a 20-30 minute medical exam. Where these direct to consumer outfits miss the boat is that sometimes their algorithms are not as accurate as they should be and they just can't gather or convey what a 15 minute phone call with a knowledgeable agent/broker can.

For instance, I have a client that I'm working with as we speak who is a avid rock climber and also does ice climbing (most climbs being over YDS 5.10 and above). We have to be extremely detailed in running the situation by the various underwriters/insurance carriers, and explaining all of his previous and anticipated climbs, so that they can get the full picture of the situation. It essentially takes a bit of research and massaging, which you will not typically be able to work out with a robo agent. Sometimes, it's also takes multiple calls or emails back-and-forth with the actual underwriter in order plead your case. Because of not being able to color the situation and all of the ancillary details with a robo agent, you would most likely end up getting approved at a much higher rate.

Hope this helps!