MetLife Life Insurance Review

MetLife Ratings at a Glance

MetLife no longer sells life insurance policies directly to individuals. However, it does offer employer-sponsored plans. Here’s an overview of the plan options from MetLife.

Term life insurance: Term life insurance is a policy that will expire after it reaches the end date that is set forth in your policy documents. This kind of life insurance is typically the most affordable form.

• MetLife’s Basic Term Life policy is often paid for by employers and offers protection for a set period of time.
• Supplemental Term Life policies allow you to purchase additional protection if your needs change throughout the term. You may be able to add dependent, spouse or domestic coverage through this option.
• Dependent term life provides coverage for your spouse, civil union partner, domestic partner and/or eligible children. 

Group variable life insurance: This type of policy will last for your entire lifetime and can stay with you even if you change jobs or companies. It offers payment flexibility, meaning you can pay more than the cost of your insurance and put that money into investment options. You’ll also have an interest-bearing fixed account with a guaranteed minimum interest rate and access to the cash value of the policy when you need it. 

Group universal life insurance: Group universal life insurance is a permanent policy that combines life insurance and savings options. Like the group variable life insurance policies, this type of policy can move with you if you change jobs or companies. It can include a tax-deferred savings feature for added flexibility and be used as a supplement to your retirement income. 

Accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D): Accidental death and dismemberment coverage can be added to basic term life insurance to give further protection to your policy. MetLife offers several options for this coverage:

• Basic accidental death and dismemberment is employer-paid coverage that is equal to an employee’s basic term life insurance amount.
• Supplemental accidental death and dismemberment is paid by the employee to complement the value of a supplemental term life policy. It provides additional coverage and offers a percentage of the death benefit amount in the event of a non-fatal covered loss.
• Dependent accidental death and dismemberment can be added to provide spouses and dependents of a policyholder with a benefit that is equal to the dependent term life benefit amount. It is paid for by the employee.
• Voluntary accidental death and dismemberment is a stand-alone coverage option that is available to employees, spouses and dependent children. It can be purchased by the employee even if the employee does not enroll in a life insurance policy.
• Business travel accident (BTA) offers an additional benefit that covers accidents that result in death or serious injury for employees who are traveling on company business. It covers losses both domestically and internationally and is paid for by the employer.

MetLife also offers additional riders and benefits with its group policies. The availability of these options varies and may not be available in every location or with every policy.

Acceleration of death benefit: This feature allows you to access a portion of your death benefit while you’re still living if you become terminally ill.

Accelerated death benefit for chronic illness rider: With this rider, you can gain access to up to 92% of your policy's death benefit if you become permanently chronically ill. To qualify for this access, you must meet the criteria set by MetLife. 

Disability waiver of premiums benefit: With this benefit, if you’re disabled for six months at a time or more, your premiums will be waived while keeping your policy active.

The Enricher: This rider gives you the option to pay additional premiums to build up your policy’s death benefit as well as its cash value. 

MetLife offers customer service primarily through its customer service center, which is open from Monday through Thursday from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm EST and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST.

The company is not rated or accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB). However, it does have a large number of customer complaints and holds an average customer review score of 1.09 out of 5 stars. Fortunately, though the customer complaints don’t paint the best picture, the insurer does have strong financial ratings. 

MetLife recommends downloading the life insurance claim kit to start the process of filing a claim. The kit contains the claim form, which you’ll need to complete and return to MetLife. MetLife also needs the death certificate of the deceased and other documents as outlined in the kit. 

After MetLife has received the completed claim form, it will review everything within 5 business days. If more information is needed, the insurer will respond to your claim within 10 business days to let you know. Once the claim is approved, payment is sent via USPS within 5 business days.

Since MetLife only offers group life insurance through employers, individuals can’t get an online quote. You need to contact your employer to see if you can get a MetLife life insurance policy through them. 

The upside to group policies is that you’ll have access to competitive group rates instead of individual rates. Your employer may also contribute toward your premiums and allow you to deduct your portion of the premium from your payroll. 

Applying for a MetLife life insurance policy requires going through your employer, so it is not something that you can do on your own. However, this feature can make the application process easier because your employer will have already selected the plans that it will offer. 

MetLife has a mobile app, but it cannot be used for life insurance applications either. The MetLife app allows you to pay and manage other types of insurance but does not appear to offer any features that benefit those with a life insurance policy.

MetLife used to offer policies that did not require a medical exam. The availability of this type of life insurance policy may depend on your location and what is offered by your employer.

MetLife vs. Competitors

MetLife stands out because it only offers group life insurance policies at this time. Even so, you can get a life insurance policy when working for one employer and take it with you if you change jobs. MetLife is a long-standing and reliable insurer with good financial strength ratings.

MetLife is a reliable and trusted insurer that offers group life insurance policies through employers. The insurer used to offer individual life insurance policies as well but has since simplified its product offerings. The good news is that getting a group life insurance policy often means that you have access to better rates than you would if you purchased an individual policy. 

MetLife: Additional Options

MetLife offers a variety of additional options for employees and small businesses. Employees may have access to other insurance products through their employer, including auto insurance, home insurance, dental insurance and vision insurance. They may also have access to employer-sponsored retirement plans and annuities. 

MetLife also offers health savings and spending accounts as well as pet insurance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

1. Moody’s. “Moody’s assigns P-1 short-term insurance financial strength rating to Metropolitan Tower Life Insurance Company.” Accessed January 10, 2022.