Specializing in insurance and personal finance, Chris Kissell is a writer and editor whose work has been featured at Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, MSN Money, Fox Business, Yahoo Finance, Bankrate and Money Talks News. He is based in Denver.
Nupur Gambhir is an insurance expert and managing editor of Insure.com. She specializes in life and health insurance content, and has experience as a marketing consultant.
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Our take: Bestow comes out on top for a quick and seamless application process. After answering just a few questions about your health and lifestyle choices, you can get a quote and purchase coverage.
Bestow is a relatively young insurer that offers term policies and provides insurance at a competitive rate. Bestow offers people an expedient life insurance application and quick turnaround time. Your coverage is active immediately after your application is approved. If you want coverage now, Bestow is the way to go.
Additionally, Bestow makes getting the right coverage for your unique needs a lot easier by connecting you with a live agent. The insurer provides a scheduling service so it is easy to book a call with an insurance agent and talk through your needs.
What Bestow has to say: “Today’s customers expect a frictionless online buying experience for everything, including life insurance,” says Melbourne O’Banion, Bestow’s co-founder and chief executive officer.
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Trustworthiness: The Better Business Bureau evaluates businesses on their behavior, trustworthiness, and performance. A business with a high ranking from the BBB can be trusted to meet its commitments. The BBB gives Bestow an A+.
Financial strength: A.M. Best evaluates a company’s financial health and its ability to meet its financial obligations. A.M. Best gives Bestow an A+ — a superior rating.
Customer experience: Trustpilot is an online platform for individuals to provide reviews of companies and their customer experience. Trustpilot gives Bestow a rating of 4.6 out of a possible 5.
Bestow’s life insurance premiums are generally higher than the industry average for men. For example, a 25-year-old male purchasing $1 million in life insurance coverage for a 20-year term is quoted $66 from Bestow, while the industry average for that demographic is $42. The price discrepancy for women is a lot lower. A 25-year-old female purchasing the same policy is quoted $29, while the industry average for that demographic is $28.
The following table shows Bestow monthly rates by age and gender for healthy non-smokers purchasing 20-year term policies.
The following table shows Bestow monthly rates by age and gender for smokers purchasing 20-year term policies.
The following table shows how Bestow’s monthly rates for a healthy 35-year-old compare with selected competitors for $500,000 in coverage.
Company background: The company was founded by entrepreneurs Melbourne O’Banion and Jonathan Abelmann. O’Banion says that getting life insurance has traditionally been a four- to six-week process that involved medical exams and working with an agent. “We just thought that was crazy,” he says.
Bestow says it differs from other online life insurance companies in that it uses its own technology to underwrite the policies it offers — allowing it to accelerate the underwriting process.
Interesting tidbit: In July 2022, the insurer partnered with Empathy, a company that developed a bereavement-care platform. Bestow customers can access Empathy’s app, which helps simplify tasks — such as the end-of-life paperwork and estate administration — that arise when a loved one dies.