Lafayette Life Insurance Company Review

While its product availability and rates are not the most competitive, Lafayette Life Insurance Company is a dependable carrier best known for its lineup of whole life options.

Product Availability

Price/Value

When you’re comparing reputable, financially strong life insurance companies, your choice of carrier will likely boil down to cost.

What you pay for life insurance depends on the company you choose, as well as the type and amount of coverage you need.

Life insurance rates also factor in your age, sex, and health.

Because Lafayette Life Insurance Company does not provide online quotes or sample rates, it’s hard to say exactly what premiums you can expect to pay without contacting an agent.

Overall, Lafayette is not one of the most competitively priced carriers.

The company’s best rates are reserved for young and healthy applicants, and individuals with adverse health conditions may fare better with another carrier.

Lafayette offers the most value to applicants looking for a range of flexible whole life options which can be tailored to their needs.

Financial Strength

It’s critical to work with a life insurance company with the financial stability to honor your policy.

To test Lafayette’s economic viability, we’ve examined the most recent results of the insurer’s parent company, Western & Southern Financial Group.

To date, Western & Southern Financial Group has over $100 billion of assets owned and managed.

In 2020, the company also reported $5.6 billion in life & health premiums and annuity deposits.

We can also assess Lafayette Life Insurance Company’s financial strength by looking to the world’s leading credit rating agencies.

Lafayette has the following ratings:

A.M. Best	A+
Fitch	AA
Standard & Poor’s	AA-

Based on its solid ratings and performance, Lafayette Life Insurance Company is clearly in good financial health.

It appears to be a company you can rely on to honor your life insurance policy.

User Experience

Financial strength and affordability are key considerations, but you shouldn’t overlook user experience when you choose a life insurance company.

Consumer ratings, a company’s online tools, and the ease of applying for coverage should also factor into your decision.

Ratings

Two of the best user experience ratings for life insurance companies come from J.D. Power and the Better Business Bureau.

A quick glance at Lafayette Life Insurance Company’s BBB profile shows surprisingly few complaints.

Lafayette is also accredited by the Better Business Bureau and holds an “A+” rating.

However, the company was not among those featured in J.D. Power’s individual life insurance survey, which ranks the top carriers based on overall customer satisfaction each year.

Website

Lafayette provides customers with a solid online experience. You can easily learn more about the company and its coverage options online.

Unlike many life insurance companies, Lafayette is transparent in its policy descriptions, sharing key policy features online.

The site also features a life insurance calculator and financial planning content to help shoppers define their needs.

Unfortunately, the site does not allow insurance shoppers to compare quotes or apply for coverage online, instead prompting them to call the company for more info.

The site also includes a policyholder portal where payments and policy updates can be managed.

Application

Applying for life insurance from Lafayette starts when you contact an agent in the company’s network.

Most of Lafayette’s policies are fully underwritten, requiring applicants to complete an interview, give access to their medical and driving records, and submit to a medical exam.

The average underwriting time for the industry is 4 to 6 weeks.

If you’re applying for a simplified policy from Lafayette, you may be covered without undergoing a medical exam, usually with a quicker turnaround time.

Product Availability

At present, Lafayette primarily offers two types of products:

• Term life
• Whole life

However, the company lacks universal, variable, and indexed policy options.

Term

Lafayette offers term life insurance through its Marquis Term Series.

With term life insurance, the death benefit is distributed to beneficiaries if you pass away during a set period of coverage.

Lafayette’s policies come in 10, 20, and 30-year terms, with a minimum face value of $100,000.

One excellent feature on offer at Lafayette Life Insurance is its convertability, which lets you switch your term policy to a whole life insurance plan without worrying about your future insurability.

Whole

For far higher premiums, you can secure permanent coverage with guaranteed fixed premiums via a whole life insurance policy.

In addition to the death benefit, you also get a cash value account.

The more you pay into your policy, the higher its cash value will be. You can access your cash value by obtaining policy loans, but they will decrease your death benefit.

Lafayette Life Insurance Company has a range of custom whole life insurance policies to choose from, including:

• Heritage 2020 Whole Life Insurance: With this policy, you pay level premiums for 20 years or until your 100th birthday — whichever is further away.
• Contender 2020 Whole Life Insurance: With this policy, you pay level premiums umtil the later of 20 years or your 95th birthday.
• Patriot 2020 Whole Life Insurance: With the Patriot 2020, you pay level premiums until the later of age 75 or 30 years.
• Sentinel 2020 Whole Life Insurance: The Sentinel 2020 offers level premiums until the later of age 65 or 20 years.
• 10 Pay Life 2020 Whole Life Insurance: With this whole life policy, you pay all your premiums across ten annual payments. Each payment is the same amount.

• Liberty 2020 Single Premium Whole Life Insurance: This policy option lets you pay for your coverage in one upfront lump-sum premium.
• Protector 2020 Simplified Issue Whole Life Insurance: This simplified issue policy is designed to help with final expenses and does not require a medical exam.

Brand/Size

Lafayette Life Insurance Company has over 100 years of experience in the industry, opening its doors in 1905.

They now offer a range of annuities and life insurance products to customers throughout the United States, excluding New York.

Lafayette Life is a member of the Western & Southern Financial Group— a large group of financial service firms based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The group of companies has experienced considerable growth over the past few years.

In terms of ownership, it is a mutual company, so the company’s policyholders are also its shareholders.

Founded in 1888, Western & Southern Financial Group has acquired a range of firms to diversify its service lines and has aligned with other top companies in the field—including Lafayette Life in 2005.

The company offers investment management, mutual funds, life insurance, and a host of other financial products.

Over the years, Western & Southern Financial Group has paid more than $4.3b in claims to its clients and policyholders.

Accolades

While Lafayette Life Insurance Company hasn’t received any specific awards or accolades, Western & Southern Financial Group has been recognized on several occasions.

Some of the most notable awards the company has received include:

• Fort Washington Investment Advisors’ Best Places to Work in Money Management: In 2020 and previous years, Western & Southern Financial Group received recognition for being an excellent employer in the money management field.
• Military Friendly Employer: In 2021, the company received recognition for being a Top 10 Military Friendly Employer.
• Fortune 500 Company: Western & Southern Financial Group is a Fortune 500 company, one of the 500 largest companies in the United States based on the annual revenues of every company in the country.

Philanthropy

Lafayette Life Insurance Company gives back to the community through the Lafayette Life Foundation.

Since 2005, the foundation has awarded over $950,000 in grants.

The company partners with many worthy organizations, such as:

• Food Finders Food Bank
• Habitat for Humanity
• Lafayette Urban Ministry
• Mental Health Association
• United Way

Brand Recognition

While the name might not be as familiar as some competitors, Lafayette Life Insurance Company has built up some brand recognition.

Its partnership with Western & Southern has only heightened its popularity.

After Western & Southern Financial Group financed its construction in 2011, Lafayette Life moved into the Great American Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Cincinnati. The tower currently serves as their headquarters.

While Lafayette Life does appear to have active social media accounts, Western & Southern has a presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twiiter, and Youtube.

Consensus

To round out our evaluation of Lafayette Life Insurance Comnpany, we assessed other industry experts’ opinions of it.

Lafayette is not featured as one of our best life insurance companies, nor does it rank on most lists of the top carriers overall.

With a limited policy lineup and less competitive term rates than competitors, Lafayette won’t meet every insurance shopper’s needs.

However, Lafayette Life is a solid choice of insurer if you’re looking for flexible whole life insurance solutions from a financially stable company.

The company’s transparency about its products and its finances is commendable, simplifying the research process for insurance shoppers and instilling confidence in the company’s financial strength.

To get the best rates on term or permanent coverage, take a few moments to compare quotes from several companies.