Lincoln Financial life insurance review 2024
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At a glance
Bankrate's take
Customers seeking term life insurance through a financial advisor may want to consider a Lincoln Financial life insurance policy, but a lack of online quoting and no option for whole life insurance could be significant drawbacks for some shoppers.
- Multiple policy options geared toward high-net-worth applicants
- Access to long-term care planning and annuity products
- Access to financial planning advice from industry professionals
- Some applicants may be eligible to waive lab work requirements
New
Lincoln Financial Group was named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies® by Ethisphere in March 2024 for the third consecutive year.
Lincoln Financial life insurance review
Lincoln Financial Group’s life insurance offerings are more limited than some other companies, in that it only offers a few types of life insurance: term and permanent life coverage. It does not offer whole life insurance, however, the most popular type of permanent life insurance.
Lincoln Financial term life insurance
If you’re looking for a term life policy that only covers a certain period of time — such as the years you’re raising children or the length of your mortgage — Lincoln Financial offers two types of term life insurance. These policies typically carry significantly lower premiums than permanent policies and can be purchased for a period of 10, 15, 20 or 30 years.
Both policies offer convenient application processes (by phone or online for TermAccel and by phone for LifeElements policies), and some applicants may be eligible to waive lab work. However, it should be noted that neither of these policies are available in New York.
- Lincoln TermAccel Level Term: This policy option offers death benefits from $100,000 to $2,500,000, with annual policy fees between $80 and $90.
- Lincoln LifeElements Level Term: This option comes with higher death benefits, starting at $2,500,000 and with no stated maximum. LifeElements policies are also served by a dedicated underwriting team specializing in large cases.
Lincoln Financial permanent life insurance
A permanent life insurance policy remains active as long as you continue to make payments and includes a cash value account which can earn interest and returns for the policyholder. If you want your coverage to extend until your death or want an investment account linked to your life insurance, you may want to consider buying permanent life insurance — but prepare to pay higher premiums than you would for term insurance.
Lincoln Financial offers two primary types of permanent life insurance: indexed universal and variable universal life insurance. The company does not offer whole life insurance, a popular form of permanent life insurance, or guaranteed life insurance.
Instead, customers interested in purchasing permanent life insurance from Lincoln Financial can choose between:
- Indexed universal life insurance: Lincoln Financial projects medium growth opportunities from its indexed universal life policies, where the cash value account is tied to a market index. This policy also gives policyholders the option to access the cash value during their lifetime.
- Variable universal life insurance: Variable life insurance offers stronger investment opportunities than indexed universal policies, as well as a higher degree of flexibility in terms of premiums and benefits. Lincoln Financial offers several options for this type of policy, including single life and survivorship life insurance policies.
Pros and cons of Lincoln Financial life insurance
All life insurance companies have strengths and drawbacks, and the best fit for you depends on your policy needs. Keep these pros and cons in mind when considering a policy from Lincoln Financial.
Pros
- Fewer than baseline complaints filed with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)
- A variety of policy options, including options geared towards people with high net worth
- Helpful digital resources, including a live chat tool
Cons
- Scored slightly below average for customer satisfaction in the 2023 J.D. Power U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study.
- Does not offer whole life or guaranteed life insurance
- No direct online quoting; only available through employers or a financial professional
Lincoln Financial life insurance riders
When buying life insurance, you usually have the option to add riders to the policy. These riders modify some details of your policy or add additional benefits, such as allowing for early payouts if you’re diagnosed with a terminal disease. While riders typically add to the cost of your policy, they can be helpful for creating a truly customized package for your needs.
Some of the riders Lincoln Financial offers include the following, which are subject to availability and may not be offered on all policies:
- Accelerated benefits: Pays a portion of the death benefit (subject to state approval) if you become terminally ill, become critically ill or require permanent nursing home care.
- Long-term care expense protection: Pays out all or a portion of the death benefit to cover qualified long-term care expenses.
- Disability waiver of specified premium: Covers a specified monthly premium if you become fully disabled.
- Waiver of monthly deduction: Waives the monthly deduction if you become fully disabled.
- Waiver of premium: Waives your premium payments if you become totally disabled (only available on term policies).
- Supplemental term insurance on primary or other insured: Offers additional coverage for you or another insured person.
- Children’s term insurance rider: This lets you insure your child under your policy, which could help them secure more affordable life insurance later in life.
- Return of premium: Returns up to 100 percent of the premiums paid during certain policy years.
- Estate protection: Pays an additional term insurance benefit on a survivorship policy during the first four years of your policy.
- Extended no-lapse minimum premium: Extends your no-lapse premium as long as minimum requirements are met.
Lincoln Financial customer satisfaction
Each year, J.D. Power publishes a study of life insurance companies to guide consumer decision-making. To evaluate life insurance companies, J.D. Power assigns ratings in areas like pricing, policy options and claims handling, then gives each company a score on a 1,000-point scale to estimate overall customer satisfaction. Lincoln Financial Group scored 788 points in the 2023 J.D. Power U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study, putting it just below the industry average of 790.
AM Best affirmed a financial strength rating of A (Excellent) for the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, the life insurance subsidiary of Lincoln Financial Group. This rating indicates that Lincoln has historically been able to pay out its customers’ claims.
| Study or Rating Agency | Lincoln Financial | Industry average |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 J.D. Power Individual Life Insurance Study | 788/1,000 | 790/1,000 |
| 2022 J.D. Power Group Life Insurance Study | 815/1,000 | 797/1,000 |
| AM Best rating | A (Excellent) | N/A |
Lincoln Financial customer complaints
When purchasing a life insurance policy, it’s important to look for a company with a reliable track record for good customer service. The NAIC collects customer complaints and publishes an index indicating the number of complaints received by each company relative to its size. Companies with a higher number of complaints than expected have higher indexes, suggesting that customers run into difficulties more often.
The industry average for the NAIC Complaint Index is set at 1.00. Higher numbers indicate a company with more complaints than expected, while lower numbers reflect lower overall customer frustration. Lincoln Financial’s life insurance index for 2023 was 0.32, which is a good indicator of positive experiences with customer service.
Compare life insurance providers quickly and easily
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Whole life insurance combines life insurance with an investment component.
- Coverage for life
- Tax-deferred savings benefit if premiums are paid
- 3 variations of permanent insurance: whole life, universal life and variable life include investment component
Term life insurance is precisely what the name implies: an insurance policy that is good for a specific term of time.
- Fixed premium over term
- No savings benefits
- Outliving policy or policy cancellation results in no money back
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Compare Lincoln Financial with other insurers
The best life insurance companies are based on your individual needs and financial goals. If you need more options to compare while determining whether Lincoln Financial is right for you, you may find it helpful to get and compare life insurance quotes and coverage or policy options from the following providers.
Lincoln Financial vs. SBLI
Unlike Lincoln Financial, SBLI offers whole life, guaranteed life and final expense insurance policies. However, SBLI does not offer universal life policies or have local agents or a mobile app like Lincoln Financial does. Shoppers up to age 60 may qualify for no-exam coverage on up to $750,000 in life insurance. While SBLI has a lower-than-baseline NAIC complaint index of 0.00 for individual life insurance, it did not rank in the 2023 J.D. Power Life Insurance Study.
Learn more: SBLI Life Insurance review
Lincoln Financial vs. Fidelity
If you’re looking for quick approval, you may want to consider Fidelity, which is known for its RAPIDecision policies that offer coverage on the same day or a few days after you apply. Although Fidelity offers term and permanent life insurance like Lincoln Financial, its permanent life insurance products, whole life, final expense and guaranteed issue, are only available to seniors. Fidelity is also not rated in the J.D. Power Life Insurance Study and has a higher-than-baseline NAIC complaint index of 2.45 for individual life policies.
Learn more: Fidelity Life Insurance review
Lincoln Financial vs. MassMutual
MassMutual offers term, whole, universal and variable universal life insurance policies. Its life policies are also available nationwide. Both carriers offer calculators, online tools, a mobile app and financial advisors to help you choose the policy that fits your needs. Like Lincoln Financial, MassMutual has a comparably low NAIC complaint index. However, while Lincoln Financial received a below-average score in J.D. Power’s 2023 Individual Life Insurance Study, MassMutual received the study’s third-highest score with 809 out of 1,000 points. It was also awarded a 2023 Bankrate Award for best whole life insurance.
Learn more: MassMutual Life Insurance review
Our insurance editorial team includes licensed agents with decades of combined experience, and we used our intimate knowledge of the industry to conduct this in-depth Lincoln Financial insurance review.
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Is Lincoln Financial a good insurance company?
Lincoln Financial offers affordably-priced life insurance policies, especially for anyone looking for term or universal life insurance. A wide range of available riders also gives customers the ability to customize their coverage. The major drawback is that Lincoln typically only offers policies through employers or the company’s own financial professionals.
If you’ve been offered a Lincoln Financial life insurance policy through your job or are working with a Lincoln Financial agent, it may be worth considering a life insurance policy through this company. However, be sure to shop around and compare your Lincoln offer to quotes from other providers — and if you want whole life insurance, you’ll need to go elsewhere.
What are real-life customers saying about Lincoln Financial?
Since Lincoln Financial Group works primarily with businesses to provide employee benefits, most customer reviews available online focus on the company’s health insurance offerings rather than its life insurance products. However, online reviews from TrustPilot and Yelp users show a pattern of dissatisfaction with Lincoln’s customer service and billing services.
One Yelp user, for instance, cited “nothing but issue after issue with their Life Insurance division and billing,” concluding that the company was “highly not recommended.” However, another user whose family got Lincoln Financial life insurance through their employer urged people to consider multiple perspectives: “As many bad reviews that LFG has gotten, I would say that you have to look at each case. It is more likely that a bad review will be posted rather than a good one. I do not know what would have happened if we didn't have LFG to depend on when we were in such a bad place.”
Lincoln Financial company details
For those interested in Lincoln Financial or current policyholders seeking assistance, here are the essential contact details:
- Customer service: 800-487-1485
- Employer benefits: 800-423-2765
- Website: https://www.lincolnfinancial.com/
- Mailing address for claims:
Lincoln Financial Group
Claim Dept. - 5310
P.O. Box 21008
Greensboro, NC
27420-1008
State availability
Lincoln Financial Group provides life insurance in all states except New York and Washington, D.C., through employer benefit plans and a network of financial professionals.
Lincoln Financial tools and benefits
Lincoln Financial offers a few additional tools and products for its customers beyond life insurance that you may want to take a look at as you decide if it's the right life insurer for you.
- Mobile app: Tech-savvy shoppers may appreciate Lincoln Financial’s easy-to-use mobile app, which received 4.5 stars on the Apple App Store. Android users do not have as positive an experience, however, as Google Play gives it only 2.2 stars, citing technical bugs and weak UX design.
- Digital tools: The company offers dozens of additional mobile tools to help with your financial planning, including online calculators and educational explainers of various financial products.
- Financial advisors: One of the company’s tools is designed to pair you with a local financial professional to help you put together a sound financial plan or find the right life insurance policy for your and your family’s needs.
- Annuities: The company offers annuities to help you meet your retirement goals.
- Long-term care planning: The company’s MoneyGuard® Solutions is designed to help customers set up a tax-efficient funding solution should they need long-term care later in life, as well as resources and support for those in need of long-term care.
Frequently asked questions about Lincoln Financial
