With a wide variety of policies, fairly competitive rates across the board, and an easy application process, AIG Direct is a solid choice for most life insurance applicants.
A.M. Best
A
BBB
A+
J.D. Power
742
AIG Direct Review
The Good
- Excellent financial ratings
- Quick and easy application
- Competitive rates for most applicants
The Bad
- Longer turnaround times
- Average customer service ratings
- Limited no exam products
Product Availability
Policy Types
- Term
- Quality of Life
- Universal
- Guaranteed issue
Riders
- Accidental death benefit
- Terminal illness
- Children’s insurance
- Waiver of premium
Review Breakdown
Overall
3.89
Price/Value
3.7
Financial Strength
2.9
User Experience
2.6
Product Availability
2.6
Brand/Size
2.4
Price/Value
One of the biggest factors involved in picking the right life insurance company is cost.
If a provider is financially stable and has the coverage you need, then the decision might ultimately come down to who offers the best rates.
In general, AIG offers lower rates than many of its competitors. Their policies are affordable whether you’re in your 20s or your 60s, assuming you’re in good health.
Each life insurance company treats health conditions differently, with some being more lenient to particular conditions than others.
As far as health is concerned, AIG’s prices are good or better than average for most conditions.
Their underwriting is particularly great for applicants who’ve recently lost weight and those with well-managed diabetes, but less forgiving with high cholesterol and negative family health history.
Financial Strength
When you buy life insurance, you need to pick a company you can count on to pay out as promised.
You can judge the financial strength and claims-paying ability of a life insurance company using credit ratings.
AIG has consistently received excellent ratings from the major credit rating agencies.
AIG has the following credit ratings:
A.M. Best | A |
Fitch | A- |
Moody’s | A2 |
Standard & Poor’s | A+ |
With an “A” or better rating from all four agencies, the current stability and solvency of AIG is top-notch, and the future is optimistic.
User Experience
There’s more to a good life insurance company than affordable coverage and a strong financial reputation.
Providing customers with a seamless user experience is an important component as well.
J.D. Power scores and ratings from the Better Business Bureau are helpful measures of user experience.
- J.D. Power: 2/5
- BBB: A+
J.D. Power gives AIG 2 out of 5 stars, their lowest score, based on consumer satisfaction with the application process, policies and price, and communication with the company.
The Better Business Bureau gives AIG its highest score possible, based on the company’s management of customer complaints and their business practices.
Based on the scores above, AIG provides its policyholders with an average customer experience, broken down below:
Availability
AIG’s term life insurance policies are available to purchase in all 50 states.
Their guaranteed policies, underwritten by American General, are not available in the state of New York.
Website
AIG’s website is simple, straightforward, and educational.
You can easily navigate through several learning resources, find readily available policy details, and get quotes or calculate your coverage needs.
Application
AIG makes applying for life insurance fairly simple. While their no exam lineup is limited, you can apply online for some guaranteed coverage.
For a traditional policy, like term life insurance, expect the following:
- Online quotes
- Brief phone call
- Application
- Medical exam
- Underwriting
AIG’s standard application is shorter than the industry average, meaning you should be able to complete it quickly and easily.
Once, you’ve applied for coverage, AIG has an average turnaround time for underwriting.
Product Availability
Currently, AIG Direct offers five different types of life insurance policies.
Term
Term life insurance provides protection for a specific period of time, usually between 10 to 30 years.
AIG Direct offers level term life insurance, the most popular form of term coverage, as well as renewable term coverage.
While most term life policies come in only 5 or 10-year increments, AIG’s Select-A-Term lets you pick from 18 different term lengths ranging from 10 to 35 years.
The policy is also fully convertible for the full length of the policy, or until the insured is 70 years of age (whichever is first).
Quality of Life
AIG Direct’s QoL Flex Term Insurance combines life insurance and riders, which are supplementary benefits that grant you access to the death benefit under qualifying circumstances.
The policy’s accelerated death benefit rider kicks in if you are diagnosed with a chronic, critical, or terminal illness, as defined below:
- Chronic: You must be diagnosed in the last 12 months with a condition that prevents you from performing at least two activities of daily living such as eating, bathing, dressing, walking, or using the restroom
- Critical: Considered a severe condition with rapid onset:
- Heart Attack (depends on severity and state of residence)
- Stroke
- Invasive Cancer
- Paralysis
- Terminal: An illness is considered terminal if your physician expects you have 24 months or less to live as a result of your diagnosis.
You can purchase a Quality of Life policy from AIG Direct with automatic living benefits or buy a universal life policy or indexed universal life policy (via American General) and add the Quality of Life benefit as a rider.
Universal
Universal life insurance is a form of permanent coverage, similar to whole life insurance.
As long as you make your premium payments, your beneficiaries receive a death benefit regardless of when you pass away, with flexible premium payments and an investment component.
Guaranteed Universal
AIG’s Secure Lifetime GUL 3® offers a level death benefit and the possibility of cash growth.
As with other GUL products in the marketplace, you can modify premiums, when needed.
Indexed Universal
- Value+Protector: Focuses more on the death benefit and protection than growth.
- Max Accumulator+: Tied to a stock market index, this policy focuses on long-term growth.
Variable Universal
The Platinum Choice VUL2 is best suited for those who understand the risk of using mutual funds to pursue more aggressive growth.
Consumers must deal with a registered representative in order to gain access to variable policies.
Guaranteed Issue
Guaranteed issue life insurance (GI), also referred to as guaranteed acceptance, is a form of permanent life insurance that comes with a guaranteed yes, regardless of your health status.
This type of no exam life insurance is usually best for those who have exhausted all other life insurance options, with higher costs and lower coverage limits.
AIG’s guaranteed policies offer up to $25,000 of coverage to applicants between ages 50 and 85.
Accidental Death & Dismemberment
Accidental death insurance (AD&D) only pays a benefit for qualifying accidents.
The living benefits of this coverage take effect if you are blinded, paralyzed, or lose a limb, with the death benefit paying out to beneficiaries if you pass away in a qualifying accident.
AIG’s AD&D policies are affordable and easy to qualify for. You cannot be turned down for an AD&D if you are in poor health or have a dangerous occupation.
AIG Direct requires you to be between the ages of 18-80 to qualify.
Brand/Size
AIG has been in business for a century, beginning in 1919 as the American General Life Insurance Company with an origin story unique from many of its competitors.
Rather than the United States, the company’s American founder Cornelius Vander Starr set up shop in Shanghai.
In 1926, AIG opened its first U.S. office in New York City under the name American International Underwriters, moving its headquarters from Shanghai to NYC by 1929.
As it continued its expansion, the company solidified itself as an industry leader over the decades to come, launching AIG Direct in the 1990s.
By the 2000s, AIG Direct evolved into a fully online system.
While the turn of the new millennium saw fantastic growth for American General, AIG had a series of financial setbacks over the next two decades.
AIG fell into default, and the United State Government had to step in to aid them. This aid would run the reserve a tab of $85 billion.
Over the span of several years, AIG would recover its losses and pay back its loans to the Federal Reserve, restructuring, re-branding, and selling off different divisions of its business.
Today, AIG is in excellent financial shape, offering a number of life insurance products and having helped over six million people find high-quality coverage.
AIG’s 56,400+ employees positively impact communities around the world, with tens of thousands of hours of volunteer service under its belt and millions of dollars of charitable contributions matched each year.
In 2005, Life Happens began the Life Lessons Scholarship Program to provide college scholarships to students who’ve lost a parent.
In 2018, AIG Direct participated in the Life Lessons program for the first time, awarding two scholarships, totaling $25,000.
Consensus
Another helpful indicator of a company’s worth is consensus.
To gauge the general opinion of AIG, we looked at several online ratings, consumer reviews, and industry experts’s rankings.
While AIG isn’t at the top of the list of the best life insurance carriers, the general consensus is a positive one.
You can trust AIG to provide affordable rates on a versatile lineup of life insurance policies.
AIG Direct Review
- Website
- aigdirect.com
- Phone
- (888) 517-9797
- Address
- 9640 Granite Ridge Drive, Suite 200
San Diego, CA 92123
Company Name (and subsidiaries)
- American International Group (AIG)
- American General Life Insurance Company (AGL)
- AIG Direct Insurance Services, Inc. (AIG Direct)
- The United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York (US Life)