Transamerica Life Insurance Ratings
Life
Overall| Product |
HOW WE WEIGH OUR SCORE
Price
50%
Customer service
40%
Website and app
5%
Recommend
5% | Customer Service | Value for Price | Website and Apps | % Who Would Recommend to a Friend | WHAT IS THIS RATING? A.M. Best's Financial Strength Rating is an independent opinion of an insurer's financial strength and ability to meet its ongoing insurance policy and contract obligations. A.M. Best's rating is NOT used to calculate the overall score but it is important information to consider when choosing an insurance company. October 31, 2019 |
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Reasons for Buying from Transamerica
| Offered best price | 24% |
| Recommended by friend or family member | 17% |
| Was the company my parents had | 12% |
| Financial Strength rating | 9% |
| Reputation | 9% |
| Saw TV commercial | 8% |
| Other | 7% |
| I had other insurance with this company | 6% |
| Saw online ad | 5% |
| The company website and mobile apps are easy to use and helpful | 3% |
How likely are you to recommend this company to a friend, coworker or family member?
What kind of insurance do you have?
Website and Apps
How You Prefer to Deal with Insurers
About Transamerica
Products offered:
- Term life
- Whole life
- Universal life
- Variable Universal life
- Accidental Death
- Final Expense
Additional products offered:
- Dental insurance
- Long-term care
- Medicare solutions
- Mutual funds
- Annuities
- Retirement accounts
Best Life Insurance Companies 2020: How Transamerica Life Insurance Measures Up
In the 2020 Best Life Insurance Survey, Transamerica claimed 4th spot overall with a score of 88.33. Transamerica topped the ranking for the individual rating factor value for price and claimed 4th place for ease of use for website and apps and 5th for customer service. Nearly all of the surveyed Transamerica policyholders, 93%, said they would recommend the company to others.
Gauging an insurance company
Before buying with a company it is wise to check on a company's financial strength and complaint record. The A.M. Best rating listed above gives you an idea of Transamerica's financial strength to pay claims. A complaint ratio can be found on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) site. The median complaint ratio from the NAIC is always 1.00. This means half of the insurers have a complaint ratio of under 1.00 and half have a ratio above. Basically, numbers lower than 1.00 are better with fewer complaints than the median and a number higher than 1.00 has more complaints than the median. For life insurance, Transamerica (NAIC# 86231) had a complaint ratio of 1.44 for individual life and 2.03 for group life for 2018. 2019 complaint numbers will be available in 2020.
Company Background
An American dream
Transamerica was founded in 1928 and was based in San Francisco. Transamerica began as the vision of a young entrepreneur named A.P. Giannini, who took the first step towards realizing his dream by starting a small business known as Bank of Italy (later to be known as Bank of America).
In 1930, Giannini acquired Occidental Life Insurance Company and its $25 million in assets. With this purchase, Giannini created the foundation for what would be a strong and lasting company.
On October 1st, 2008, as part of an internal restructuring, Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Company merged into its affiliate, Transamerica Life Insurance Company. It is now owned by Aegon, which is based in the Netherlands. The Transamerica’s iconic “Pyramid” building is San Francisco’s tallest building.
Transamerica understands that one size does not fit all and, with that in mind, they work with policyholders to accomplish goals such as insuring their family during working years, accumulating cash value, or protecting them from future medical and estate taxes.
Contact information
Corporate headquarters
Transamerica Pyramid
600 Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
Policyholders and general questions: (800) 797-2643
New customers: (855)288-4181