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Ladder
Financial strength rating
Online purchase
NAIC complaints
Policies offered
Ladder
Financial strength rating
Online purchase
NAIC complaints
Policies offered
Founded in 2015, Ladder sells term life insurance online, with a fully digital application process. The company operates in all states and the District of Columbia, and offers a generous amount of coverage without a medical exam.
Ladder’s policies are either issued by Ladder Life Insurance Company or one of its partners, Allianz Life Insurance Company of New York, Amica Life Insurance Company, S.USA Life Insurance Company or Fidelity Security Life Insurance Company. The insurer your policy is ultimately issued by depends on factors like the state you live in.
» MORE: Compare life insurance quotes
Ladder life insurance
Ladder earned 3 stars out of 5 for overall performance. NerdWallet’s ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula takes into account consumer experience, complaint data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and financial strength ratings. Ladder's star rating reflects complaints and financial strength data for all its issuers, which include Ladder Life Insurance Company as well as third-party partners. It considers the consumer experience on Ladder's site only, since that is how the company's potential customers get quotes.
Learn more about NerdWallet's life insurance ratings methodology and how each factor is weighted.
» MORE: Best life insurance companies
Ladder life insurance policies
Term life insurance. People ages 20 to 60 can apply for Ladder’s term life insurance online, with most policies issued within minutes. You can buy $100,000 to $3 million in coverage without a life insurance medical exam — you'll just need to answer a series of health questions — or up to $8 million with an exam. The instant life insurance policy is offered in term lengths of 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years.
Ladder stands out for its flexibility. You can adjust your coverage amount at any time, and the insurer will adjust your premium to match. For example, if you decrease your coverage from $1 million to $750,000, your next premium will be 25% cheaper.
» MORE: Average life insurance rates
Ladder customer complaints and satisfaction
Over three years, Ladder's policy issuers combined have drawn far more than the expected number of complaints to state regulators for companies of their size, according to a NerdWallet analysis of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
How Ladder compares to other insurers
Ladder | Lemonade | Ethos | |
|---|---|---|---|
Star rating | |||
Financial strength | Exceptional. | Exceptional. | Strong. |
NAIC complaints | Far more than expected. | Fewer than expected. | Fewer than expected. |
Policy types offered | Term, no-exam. | Term, no-exam. | Term, permanent, no-exam. |
Read full reviews |
More about Ladder
Ladder’s site is sleek and mobile-friendly, and the online quotes system offers a quick cost estimate. (For a final quote, you’ll need to provide more in-depth information.) The site also features helpful guides and a calculator to figure out how much life insurance you need.
The Ladder mobile app is free to download, though it’s only compatible with Apple devices. You can apply for coverage directly through the app and decrease or apply to increase coverage at any time.
Ladder has a partnership with personal finance company SoFi and legal document platform NetLaw, which allows SoFi members to create wills for free.
Life insurance buying guide
Before you start comparing companies, choose the type of life insurance you want, such as term or whole life. Decide which life insurance riders, if any, you want the policy to include. Calculate how much life insurance you need and how long you want the coverage to last. Check that the insurers you’re considering offer the coverage you’re looking for.
When comparing rates, be sure the quotes are for the same amount of coverage over the same period of time. It’s also important to make sure the policy’s medical requirements match your needs. For example, if you want to skip the life insurance medical exam but don’t mind answering health questions, confirm that the application process for each policy you're comparing aligns with that.
Price may not be the biggest driver behind your decision to buy. Look at the number of consumer complaints each company receives, as high numbers can be a red flag about the quality of service.
For more guidance, see our life insurance buying guide.
Life insurance ratings methodology
NerdWallet’s life insurance ratings are based on consumer experience, complaint index scores from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners for individual life insurance, and weighted averages of financial strength ratings, which indicate a company’s ability to pay future claims. Within the consumer experience category, we consider ease of communication and website transparency, which looks at the depth of policy details available online. To calculate each insurer’s rating, we adjusted the scores to a curved 5-point scale.
These ratings are a guide, but we encourage you to shop around and compare several insurance quotes to find the best rate for you. NerdWallet does not receive compensation for any reviews. Read our editorial guidelines.
Insurer complaints methodology
NerdWallet examined complaints received by state insurance regulators and reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2020-2022. To assess how insurers compare with one another, the NAIC calculates a complaint index each year for each subsidiary, measuring its share of total complaints relative to its size, or share of total premiums in the industry. To evaluate a company’s complaint history, NerdWallet calculated a similar index for each insurer, weighted by market shares of each subsidiary, over the three-year period. NerdWallet conducts its data analysis and reaches conclusions independently and without the endorsement of the NAIC. Ratios are determined separately for auto, home (including renters and condo) and life insurance.
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