at a glance
- Offers several types of term life policies and a wide variety of universal life policies.
- Was first U.S. life insurer to offer coverage to people living with HIV.
Founded in 1875, Prudential Financial is one of the largest life insurers in the U.S. The company offers a broad slate of universal and term life insurance policies. Extra features can be added to some policies to customize coverage.
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Prudential life insurance
Prudential earned 4 stars out of 5 for overall performance. NerdWallet’s ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula takes into account complaint data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and financial strength ratings from A.M. Best.
Based on these ratings, Prudential is among NerdWallet’s Best Life Insurance Companies for 2020.
Several varieties of term life: They come with different features and options, and prices vary. The most basic and affordable is Term Essential. Other policies:
- SimplyTerm is sold online and policies can be approved within a few days without a medical exam for some applicants. Up to $500,000 in coverage is available for terms of 10, 20 or 30 years.
- TermElite and Term Essential offer more options, such as the ability to add life insurance coverage for minor children. If you convert a TermElite policy to permanent coverage within the first five years, you get a one-year premium credit.
- PruTerm One offers coverage for one year at a time. This may work for small-business owners who want coverage as they pay off short-term loans.
Wide selection of universal life policies: Several types of universal, indexed universal and variable universal life are offered, including survivorship policies. Survivorship life insurance insures two people on the same policy. The policy pays out when the second person dies. These permanent policies let you accumulate cash value. The potential for cash value growth varies among the products. The cash value growth in the indexed policies is based on the performance of a financial index, such as the S&P 500. With the variable policies, you pick the underlying investments that will be the basis for cash value growth.
Prudential complaints and customer service
Prudential’s life insurance subsidiaries drew fewer than the expected number of complaints to state regulators, compared with other life insurers according to three years’ worth of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners
Prudential scored “about average” for overall customer satisfaction in J.D. Power’s 2019 life insurance customer satisfaction study. The insurer scored “about average” across all six categories. Prudential ranked No. 11 overall among 24 companies surveyed.
| Customer satisfaction category | Prudential's score |
|---|---|
| Overall satisfaction | About average |
| Policy offerings | About average |
| Price | About average |
| Billing and payment | About average |
| Interaction | About average |
| Communication | About average |
| Application process | About average |
More about Prudential
Prudential also offers additional products like annuities, investments and workplace benefits.
Methodology: Life insurance ratings
NerdWallet’s life insurance ratings are based on weighted averages of complaint index scores from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners for individual life insurance, and financial strength ratings from A.M. Best, which indicate a company’s ability to pay future claims. To calculate each insurer’s rating, we adjusted the NAIC and A.M. Best 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.
