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At a glance
- NerdWallet ranking: No. 11 life insurance company (out of 23 evaluated).
- Offers both term and permanent life insurance.
- Offers application by phone on some types of policies.
Overview
Lincoln Financial Group got permission to use its brand name from President Abraham Lincoln’s son Robert Todd Lincoln in 1905. President Lincoln’s profile still serves as the company’s logo.
» MORE: The best life insurance companies
Find out more about each element included in our Lincoln Financial Group review by clicking below.
NerdWallet rank: 11th
Lincoln Financial ranked No. 11 out of 23 large companies scored by NerdWallet. NerdWallet’s life insurance company rankings are based on composite scores that combine A.M. Best financial strength ratings, volume of consumer complaints to state regulators and J.D. Power customer satisfaction scores.
A.M. Best financial strength rating: A+ (superior)
Lincoln Financial’s financial strength is “superior,” according to ratings agency A.M. Best.
Financial strength is important because it indicates how well an insurer can pay claims. It’s especially important when choosing a life insurance company because claims might not be made until decades after a policy is purchased.
Consumer complaints: Better than the median
Lincoln Financial drew significantly fewer than the median number of complaints to state regulators in 2017 for a company of its size, according to the latest data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
The association assigns a complaint ratio score to insurance companies, based on the number of complaints to state insurance commissioners, adjusted for market share. The median score is 1, and a score less than 1 means fewer complaints. The average score for Lincoln Financial’s life insurance subsidiaries, weighted for market share, was 0.12 in 2017.
J.D. Power ratings: AVERAGE
In a 2017 customer service survey by J.D. Power, Lincoln Financial scored “about average” in four categories and “better than most” in the fifth. The insurer ranked No. 13 overall out of 24 companies included in the survey.
More about Lincoln Financial
Life insurance options
Lincoln Financial offers two types of term life insurance:
- Lincoln TermAccel Level Term is for people age 50 and younger for coverage of $500,000 or less.
- Lincoln LifeElements Level Term is for people age 45 and older for coverage of $500,000 and above.
The application for both types is by phone, and some people can be approved quickly with no medical exam.
The company offers six types of universal life insurance and three types of indexed universal life insurance policies, including a survivorship indexed product. Survivorship life insurance insures two people, typically a married couple, on one policy. The policy pays out when the second person dies.
Lincoln Financial’s MoneyGuard II is a universal life policy that offers long-term care benefits. The death benefit is reduced if the policy is used to pay for long-term care. If no long-term care benefits are paid, then the policy pays out the full death benefit when the insured person dies. A policyholder can also give up the policy for a return of premiums paid after five years if no long-term care benefits have been used.
