Illinois Mutual Review

Named for its home state, Illinois Mutual is a life insurance company that also offers a few other related products. They offer coverage to individuals and employers across the country.

About Illinois Mutual

Founded in 1910 in Peoria, Illinois, the family-run Illinois Mutual Life Insurance Company has since grown and expanded but is still watched over by a member of the founding family on the board of directors.

The company focuses mainly on life insurance, but also offers individual disability income insurance and a suite of workplace insurance products. These products are voluntary benefits that can be offered to employees at a group rate as part of an optional benefits package.

Illinois Mutual writes policies in nearly every state, with the exception of New York, Hawaii, Alaska, and D.C. the full list of products is available in most states, with a few differences; disability income is not offered in California, and life insurance is not available in Montana. Products are sold through independent agents.

Illinois Mutual Products

Products from Illinois Mutual are broken down into three categories: life, disability, and worksite insurance.

Life Insurance

Illinois Mutual’s Path Protector line of life insurance products is mainly focused on term life insurance, although both whole life insurance and final expense policy are also available.

There are several term life policies with different goals. The Family Path policy is a 20-year term policy that is renewable up to age 25 or can be converted. The policy includes an Accidental Death Benefit as well as an Accelerated Terminal Illness rider. Spouse and child coverage can be added to the plan.

Home Path is a policy that is designed to pay off a mortgage and is available in either 15 or 30-year terms. It includes the same riders and benefits as the other Path Protector policies and is also renewable as well as convertible.

The Retirement Path product, rather than having a set number of term years, is designed to stay in place up until a set age, either 65 or 70. Even after that age, the policy can be renewed and has a conversion option. This product is also available in a Return of Premium version up to age 65.

The Return of Premium plan from Illinois Mutual is a term policy with the guarantee that all premiums paid will be returned at the end of the term. It is available as a 20 or 30-year term policy – or to age 65 as mentioned above. The death benefit ranges from $50,000 to $500,000.

Whole life is available with the option of a single-premium policy and provides lifetime coverage along with a cash accumulation account. A living benefits rider can be added to the policy, as well as a term rider and a paid-up benefits rider.

Final Expense life is also a whole life policy, offered with either a level or modified death benefit option. Death benefit amounts are not listed but are generally lower with this type of policy to make it affordable to retirees.

Disability Income Insurance

There are two disability income plans, one for individuals and one for businesses.

Personal Paycheck Power is the individual plan that pays a monthly benefit based on the options chosen at the time of issue. It provides guaranteed renewable coverage up to age 67. There are several riders that can be added on, including a return of premium rider, a retroactive injury rider, and a guaranteed insurability rider that allows increases in coverage over time.

Business Expense Power is the business plan, designed to pay business expenses when the insured (generally the business owner) is unable to work.

Illinois Mutual offers discounts and additional benefits to business owners choosing to take out both a personal and business disability policy at the same time.

Worksite Insurance

Illinois Mutual offers a list of voluntary employee benefits that employers can package or offer individually as group benefits. These can be paid by the employer or by the employee.

The coverage options are:

• Accident Insurance
• Critical Illness Insurance
• Short Term Disability
• Term Group Life in 10 or 20-year terms

Rates

We ran a quote for whole life insurance on the Illinois Mutual site based on a 30-year-old male non-smoker living in California. Normally, we compare rates on term life, but the term product from Illinois Mutual is not available in our sample state.

We requested a quote for $100,000 in coverage and returned a premium of $82.90 a month based on the continuous pay plan. Since we do not usually compare rates on whole life, it is difficult to say where this rate stacks up.

In order to get a rate for term life, we ran the same quote in the state of Oregon. We returned a rate of $10.82 a month for a 10-year term and $13.90 a month for a 30-year term. These rates are similar to what we have seen elsewhere, although as noted Oregon is not our usual comparison state.

Claims

There is a toll-free number to reach the claims department with different extension numbers listed for different types of claims. The line is open during business hours, which are Monday through Thursday 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central time, and Friday from 7:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. There is also an email address listed for the claims department.

Disability benefits can be paid out through monthly direct deposit according to the claims page, which directs policyholders to call or email for more information.

Beyond the basic contact information, the site offers no further detail on the claims process or what to expect.

Ratings and Consumer Reviews

Illinois Mutual has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and has been accredited there since 1943. There are no complaints listed and no reviews have been left on the file by customers.

In fact, we were unable to find customer reviews for this company in any of the usual places. That is rare for any insurance company, more so for a nationwide company. As a general rule, no reviews is good news when it comes to an insurance company. Most reviews are written by unhappy customers, which is why we expect to see more negative than positive for most companies. Customers that are happy are not as likely to go online to write a review, so a lack of reviews leans towards a positive reputation.

The Bottom Line

Illinois Mutual has some solid insurance products, and their prices appear to be reasonable based on what we were able to gather. There are no red flags and the company’s reputation appears to be good. They are worth a look for those seeking basic life or disability coverage.

For a list of companies that we recommend, visit our Best Insurance Companies page.

Review Information