Community Chat

[AuntG]

Others have experienced that too. Probably didn't seen like a big deal when people bought those policies, but at age 70 the companies do this.

[SusanH]

You have a term policy -- at 70 mine will increase as well.  I knew that when I took my policy out.  I converted some of my policy to whole life.  Once you hit 70 it is to late to change it.

[KKJ]

---

@esmerelda wrote:

---

@KKJ wrote:

DH and I are what you call insurance poor. We have several different life ins. policies we've been paying on prob.30 yrs.  They are ones that have accumulated cash value but the death benefit is set amount. Is that a term policy?

---

@KKJ  Only if you signed up for a 30 year term...which is unlikely.  My experience has been with 10-year terms.  I don't think any term policy accumulates cash value.  You get the death benefit if the insured dies during the term of the policy.

The OP has had their policy for 30 years.  Maybe you should prepare yourself for news like the OP has received.  Or call your agent at least.

eta...NOMB but why so many policies?  Don't say if you'd rather not.

---

At the time we started the policies we had a lot of debt with our business so it was to cover expenses if something happened to DH. Two of them do have a cash accum. value. Over past 20+ yrs one of the policies--$80,000 death benefit--now has a $25,000 cash accum. value. 

[Tribesters]

@lovesrecess 

Now you've got me wondering... DH received 2 phone calls/messages from the agent that sold him his life insurance policy many years ago. He figured the guy was just trying to sell him extra insurance with this virus going around. I guess I better make sure he calls him back. That would stink if you pay all these years & they can raise the rates that much. As someone else said find your policy & see what the terms are.

Doesn't Alex Trebek do a commercial for some life insurance where everyone pays the same amount? Not sure what kind of policy that would be but $1200 per month is outrageous. Good luck.

[Toppers3]

---

@lovesrecess wrote:
It is a universal life policy. We would never take out term insurance.

---

I was going to ask if you have a Universal Life policy, as I believe that this can happen with the premium when a certain age is reached. The premiums can sky-rocket like this.

With Whole Life policies, the premiums tend to stay the same for quite awhile, but it's my understanding that they too can increase as you reach a certain age.

I'm not in the insurance industry. My husband and I have had experiences with different types of policies over the years.

You can convert term policies to whole life policies. 

These situations can get complicated in my opinion, so I think that the best thing to do would be to speak to someone in the industry who knows about them. 

If you keep one of these policies long enough, the premiums can really change and increase as you're finding out, after 20-30 years. 

[Carmie]

---

@lovesrecess wrote:
It is a universal life policy

---

If it is, it's not a good one.  paying for insurance for 30 years  and its only has a cash value of a couple of hundred dollars is awful...unless they made withdraws from it in the past.

[mrssweetiebear]

That's a Term Life Insurance policy.  Premium amounts are low and are set for a "term" when young.  Then they go up after that "term".  That's why it is called Term Life Insurance and why you can get it so cheap early in life.

[Mominohio]

---

@Snowpuppy wrote:

Whole life policies are always a poor investment.

As you age the premiums go up exponentially as you just found out. While your coverage has a guarantee of paying $xxx no company will guarantee your the price of premiums over 30 yrs.

---

This is simply not true, at least for some policies. 

We have very old whole life policies that we have had since the age of 18 and the premiums are locked in at the original price. 

We actually don't even have to pay into them anymore, but the premiums are so tiny, we do and the policies are now worth in excess of the face value (way way in excess) and continue to grow. 

Insurance policies keep changing over time, and one really has to understand what they are buying. 

[Mominohio]

---

@50Mickey wrote:

That sounds like term insurance. When I retired in 2004 I took out 2 $150,000 on my self and my husband because I had a minor child and I wanted protection until she finished college. The premiums stayed the same for 15 years.  This term was level until 2019 and the then premiums went through the roof. We no longer need this coverage so I dropped it.  Term insurance is basically renting insurance for when you  need it and it is cheap. Once you reach a certain age it is no longer affordable.  Whole life basically has a premium that does not change but many do not think it is a good investment. 

---

I agree, it does sound like term insurance. 

I bought a lot of term on my husband (in addition to the whole life we carry) for when we were raising our son and paying for the house. 

The term expired last year, and the yearly premium doubled last year. We are nearing paying off the house, so I paid another year, and will consider it each year from here on out, but term is for those years when you are very over extended with a family, mortgage and other responsibilities, then it usually needs to be let go, as it becomes too expensive. It's cheap for the term and you can usually get a lot of coverage for little money while you are young. 

[Kachina624]

---

@godi wrote:

I wonder if it has to do with the virus?  That's alarming though. Can you call your area governors hotline? If that's gouging they should be reported. 

---

@lovesrecess    You should have a state insurance regulatory agency where someone could answer your questions.

I had the same thing happen to me with a long-term care policy.  I had a significant birthday and zoom, up it went.  I had to let it go.