Nationwide Life Insurance Review 2024

What’s New in 2021 for Nationwide Life Insurance

How Has COVID-19 Affected Nationwide Life Insurance

Nationwide Life Insurance’s response to the pandemic included deferred payments for customers and additional support for agents. The Nationwide Express platform now lets agents deliver life insurance quotes in a minute or less. Plus, a majority of the company’s employees started to work from home. Moving forward, Nationwide plans to implement a hybrid work model and outsource.   

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New Products or Changes

Nationwide recently added two new life insurance products. One lets customers grow supplemental income, and the other adds low-cost death benefits. The death benefit payout still meets minimum requirements. 

Nationwide Life Insurance in the News

In 2020, the company paid $1.2 billion in emergency Covid-19 loans and payments from retirement savings products, waiving all fees. CEO Kirt Walker said, “Throughout the year, we…achieved a profit in a challenging business environment.” 

2021 Latest Nationwide Life Insurance Reviews

Many of the latest reviews for the parent company are negative. Customers report problems with delays in processing claims, being denied claims despite proof, and poor customer service. A majority of the complaints came from customers holding pet insurance coverage from the parent company. Some reviewers report issues with emergency payments and roadside assistance. 

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company is a longstanding and well-known provider of both business and personal insurance services, based in Ohio.

Established in 1926, Nationwide serves customers across the country and offers robust online tools to enable customers to obtain the more specialized life insurance protection they need.

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About Nationwide Life Insurance

Over the years, the company has grown from a small mutual auto insurer into one of the top 20 providers of life insurance in the United States.

Nationwide Life Insurance Company underwrites its own policies, and provides services for not only life insurance, but also vehicle, property, and other specialty insurance coverages.

The insurer is now a Fortune 100 company with a wide service portfolio.

Nationwide Life Insurance Quotes and Application Process

Nationwide Life Insurance has a streamlined online process for customers to get a quote on life insurance coverage.

On their website, users can choose from the type of insurance offered and the level of required coverage to get an accurate cost quote for their policy.

Customers can also call a Nationwide agent through their toll-free number, or fill out a form online to schedule a conversation with an agent.

In order to get a quote, customers will need to provide basic personal information like their email address, phone number, and street address.

Agents may also ask for additional details for quote accuracy.

Nationwide also offers an online life estimator tool to help customers decide on the right policy and level of coverage.

The company also has online resources on topics like death benefit claims, choosing a beneficiary, managing insurance policy forms, and working with a financial advisor.

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Nationwide Life Insurance Policies

Nationwide is a traditional provider of life insurance coverage, with policies for term, whole, universal, and variable insurance.

Policies include a variety of customizable features, supporting flexibility for customers.

Nationwide provides considerable details about each policy type online, including the advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of coverage, as well as digital brochures for a deeper explanation on its offered policies.

• Term life insurance supports protection for a predefined period of time, including 10, 15, 20, or 30-year terms. Customers benefit from a predictable premium amount, which remains the same over the entire term of coverage. This type of coverage is best for customers who require protection over a certain period of time and are focused on cost efficiency. As Nationwide noted, this type of policy is traditionally less expensive than other options. Once the term of coverage has ended, policy owners can choose to renew their policy – but this renewal often comes with a considerably higher premium cost. Term insurance policies can potentially be converted to more permanent coverage in the form of a whole, universal, or variable coverage policy.
• Whole life insurance is one of the most common options and offers permanent life insurance with a fixed premium rate. Customers can choose how often they’d like to schedule their premium payments, and benefit from cash value growth over the life of the policy. This is one main advantage of permanent coverage compared to term life insurance – the ability to earn fixed rate interest on the policy, which predictably grows in value. Depending upon the premium payment frequency (annually, semiannually, quarterly, or monthly), some policies can be paid up after only a few years.
• Universal life insurance including Fixed Premium Universal Life and Flexible Universal Life enables customers to choose between fixed premium costs over the course of the policy, or the ability to adjust the protection level and payment frequency. In this way, while a Fixed Premium Universal Life policy provides predictability in cost, policy provisions cannot be changed. A Flexible Universal Life policy, on the other hand, allows policyholders to change their level of protection and payment schedule within the bounds of coverage. Overall, universal life is permanent coverage that also provides access to the policy’s tax-deferred cash value. This type of insurance is best for those looking to support their families, or for business owners concerned about continuation planning.
• Variable life insurance is a unique option in that it enables policyholders to take advantage of certain investment options to support things like family financial planning, retirement planning, business planning, long-term care and/or education funding. A variable life insurance policy also provides tax-free death benefits to policy beneficiaries, tax-deferred accumulation earnings (similar to Universal and Whole Life policies), nontaxable transfers between investment options and tax-free access to the policy’s cash value.

Nationwide also provides a Survivorship Variable Universal Life Insurance option that provides coverage for two individuals.

This kind of coverage is beneficial in estate planning situations in which death benefits aren’t required until both policyowners pass away.

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Nationwide Life Insurance Riders

Customers also have the option to adjust or change their policies with different insurance riders.

These can include add-on coverages to extend the policy.

• Child rider provides a benefit if a policyowner experiences the death of a child.
• Spouse rider provides term insurance for the policyowner’s spouse. This coverage can also be converted to a whole life policy, depending upon timing and the spouse’s age.
• Premium waiver rider enables the monthly policy premium to be waived if the policyholder becomes disabled during the life of their policy. This waiver comes after a six-month elimination period, but can last until the base policy expires or the policyowner reaches a certain age limit.
• Long-term care rider allows customers to add coverage to support long-term care for two insured individuals within one life insurance policy. This includes for an adult child and parent, or spouses or domestic partners.
• Estate protection rider provides additional, temporary coverage for an estate for up to a four-year period. This protection can be used to offset any added estate taxes.
• Policy split option rider is specifically for survivorship policies that include two insured individuals. This rider allows the two insured to exchange their joint survivorship policy for two individual policies within six months of a qualifying event (such as divorce or federal estate tax law changes).

Read more: Traditional vs. Hybrid Long-Term Care Insurance

Nationwide Life Insurance Discounts

While Nationwide does provide extensive information on its website about its available discounts for auto insurance – including those only applicable in particular states – it does not provide information about its life insurance discounts.

Details about any available life insurance discounts must come directly from a Nationwide agent.

Nationwide Life Insurance Financial Strength

• Underwriter: Nationwide underwrites its own life insurance policies.
• Marketshare: Nationwide is one of the top 20 providers of life insurance in the U.S.
• Premiums written: n/a
• Standard & Poor’s Financial Rating: A+
• Moody’s Financial Rating: A1
• AM Best Financial Rating: A+

While each agency uses its own set of criteria for evaluation and providing a rating, favorable ratings from three of the top organizations is a beneficial indication of Nationwide’s overall financial strength.

The company has earned some of the top ratings.

This, in addition to the fact that the company has been operating for nearly 100 years and its service portfolio only continues to grow, shows that Nationwide is particularly secure in its financial strength.

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Nationwide Life Insurance Reviews and Customer Service

Despite earning an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, (where customer reviews are not included in the rating calculation) customer reviews show the company is somewhat lacking in responsive support.

There are 89 reviews lodged by customers on the BBB website, and on average, Nationwide earned one out of five stars.

Complaints detail unresponsive agents and significant struggles during claims processing.

Customers also describe unfriendly and demanding agents.

There have also been two recent complaints filed through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Nationwide has also suffered some negative press recently – as detailed on the BBB website, a recent fake check scheme attempted to capitalize on the company’s recognizability by using its name within fraudulent checks.

The company is aware of the issue as of February 2019 and encourages anyone who receives a suspicious check to contact Nationwide’s Office of Customer Advocacy.

Nationwide Phone Number & Contact Information

• Homepage URL: https://www.nationwide.com/
• Company phone: 1-800-848-6331
• Headquarters address: One Nationwide Plaza, Columbus, OH, 43215

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