MetLife Homeowners Insurance Review

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The Bottom Line

Your home is arguably the most valuable asset that you'll ever own, so it's especially important that you protect it with good homeowners insurance coverage. MetLife excels in the coverage department, giving you the option of insuring your home at its full replacement cost regardless of the rebuild amount. However, Metlife received a low score in our customer satisfaction category due to below average ratings from J.D. Power and Trustpilot.

The Details

The Good

Multiple tiers of comprehensive coverage packages to choose from. Your homeowners insurance needs are determined by a variety of factors, including the size and construction type of your home, weather risk, theft risk, your personal belongings, and the amount of all of your combined assets. Regardless of your coverage needs, MetLife probably has you covered, offering three robust policy packages for you to choose from.

Identity protection coverage included with coverage at no extra cost. Identity theft is one of the most expensive and traumatic problems a person can experience. When you insure your home with MetLife, you're provided with a personal ID theft specialist who will help you recover your identity at no additional cost.

Excellent replacement cost coverage enhancement options for the home and personal property. One notable feature of MetLife homeowners insurance is the option of guaranteed replacement cost coverage for your home. This feature will pay the full cost to rebuild your home, even if it's more than the amount for which your home is insured.

The Bad

No online quoting tool. MetLife doesn't have an online application or instant quote feature on their website. To apply for homeowners insurance with MetLife, you have to call or request a consultation. For folks in need of a quick quote for the sake of comparison, the application process could prove to be time-consuming.

You must call or email to submit an insurance claim. MetLife has decent claims ratings, but they lack an online claims feature where you can submit and track claims from beginning to end.

Below-average customer experience ratings. MetLife earned a below-average 2 out of 5 rating with J.D. Power in their 2019 Home Insurance Study—a survey which rates every aspect of the insurance experience with individual carriers. MetLife was given a low score for their billing process and policy information, which rates company timeliness, clarity, and accuracy of their billing statements and policy information.

The price of homeowners insurance can vary considerably from state to state and house to house. While MetLife rates are higher than the average quoted policy with Policygenius, they're still among the most competitive in the industry in terms of cost. Homeowners who received a MetLife quote with Policygenius were quoted a $2,042 average annual premium.

Your rates are particularly impacted by the amount of coverage in your policy. Below is the average cost of homeowners insurance at different levels of coverage with MetLife.

Average annual homeowners insurance premiums for each coverage level were calculated using Policygenius quoting data.

Discounts

A great way to keep your homeowners insurance costs down is to take advantage of discount opportunities.

Some common discounts include protective devices discounts, claims-free discounts, and new home-buyer discounts. MetLife offers most of the standard discounts as well as a multi-policy discount if you get more than one property insurance policy with MetLife.

• Protective devices discount - If your home has security and safety features like burglar alarms, fire alarms, fire sprinklers, and storm shutters

• Mature homeowners discount - If you're 55 or older and retired

• Superior home discount - If the home was constructed within the last year

• Multi-policy discount - If you bundle your homeowners and auto insurance with the same company

Homeowners insurance protects your most important financial assets, so you'll want to be sure you're insuring your home, your personal possessions, and other assets with a company that will be able to pay out your claim in the event of a disaster. MetLife has been around for 150 years and has well-established financial strength with the top insurance rating agencies in the world. With MetLife, you can insure your home with confidence.

• Year founded: 1869

• Standard & Poor's rating: AA-

• Moody's rating: Aa3

• A.M. Best rating: A+

Standard & Poor's measures companies' creditworthiness and is used primarily by financial investors and other market stakeholders. S&P is also valuable in measuring the long-term financial stability of insurance companies. A AAA rating is the highest issuer credit rating assigned by S&P, so MetLife's AA- rating makes them a top-tier insurance company from a financial confidence standpoint.

Moody's is very similar to Standard & Poors, except rather than measuring a companies ability to remain financial stable and creditworthy, Moody's measures what the expected losses would be if a company were to go into default. It's particularly valuable in analyzing the value of stocks and bonds with certain companies. A AAA rating is the highest possible score you can receive from Moody's, so MetLife's Aa3 rating earns them a "very high" investment grade designation.

A.M. Best is the most reliable credit-rating tool insureds can use to gauge the financial health of a particular company. Unlike S&P and Moody's, A.M. Best is focused exclusively on the insurance marketplace. A good score with A.M. Best means a company is more likely to fulfill their financial obligation to you when it comes time to file a claim. With a score of A+, MetLife has the second highest rating a company can receive with A.M. Best.

It's important to know what experts think about homeowners insurance companies - but it's also good to know what actual customers and consumer sentiment sites are saying, too.

MetLife has decent ratings with Consumer Affairs, Consumer Advocate and the Better Business Bureau, but they falter in other areas, like J.D. Power's overall satisfaction score, their TrustPilot score, and the NAIC's complaint index.

• J.D. Power: 2 / 5

• BBB: A+

• Consumer Affairs: 3.6 / 5

• Consumers Advocate: 4.1 / 5

• Trustpilot: 1.8 / 10

• NAIC complaint index: 1.64

J.D. Power provides studies that rate insurance companies across policy offerings, price, clarity of billing and policy information, interaction, and claims. An overall satisfaction score, "based on how customers view every experience of their experience with homeowners insurance providers," is reflected here and used for our ranking.

The Better Business Bureau ranks companies across a large swath of criteria. While consumers can submit ratings to the BBB, these scores are not taken into account in their rating, although tangential metrics that take into account customer experience are.

Consumer Affairs is a platform that lets consumers directly rate customers, while Consumers Advocate rates companies based on stability, reputation, and policy coverage.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners tracks the number of complaints submitted to state insurance departments with their national complain index. A score of 1 is the baseline average, and a score of 0 means there weren't enough complaints to count. MetLife's 2018 score of 1.64 means they received more complaints than the average company. That may seem high, but keep in mind their large customer base.

MetLife offers three homeowners insurance coverage packages that provide all of the primary coverages: dwelling, other structures, personal property, loss-of-use, personal liability, and medical payments coverage.

There is one standard policy with the bare-minimum that lets you add any additional coverages of your liking. MetLife then advertises two higher tiers of homeowners insurance that include more favorable claim settlement coverages and additional insurance protections like ordinance or law coverage and water backup coverage.

Here's some of the highlights of each of the three coverage tiers with MetLife:

MetLife standard

• Standard coverage

• Optional guaranteed replacement cost value settlements for home structure

• Optional replacement cost value settlements for personal property

• Identity protection at no extra cost

• $5,000 in personal computer coverage

MetLife Platinum

• Everything that's included in the standard plan

• Replacement cost value settlements for personal property

• $10,000 in water backup coverage

• No sublimit for computer coverage

MetLife GrandProtect

• Everything that's included in the Platinum plan

• Guaranteed replacement home coverage

• $25,000 in identity theft reimbursements protection

Note: The information above represents potential policy options and may not be available for every applicant. Speak to a licensed expert for a personalized look at your coverage options.

MetLife is available throughout most of the country, has numerous digital tools to manage your policy, but they lack an online application and claims process.

State availability

MetLife homeowners insurance is available in 42 states and the District of Columbia.

Digital tools

MetLife features online policy management, bill pay, and a mobile app.

The application

To apply for homeowners insurance with MetLife, you have two options: you can call and apply through their automated response system, or you can request a consultation with a MetLife insurance agent.

Ease of claims

MetLife doesnt have an online portal or mobile app to submit claims, but there are still a variety of ways to get your claim underway once disaster strikes. You can submit claims over the phone, through fax, by email, you can tweet their claims department at @MetLifeCares, and although they don’t offer flood coverage, MetLife has a helpline that can point you in the right direction if your home becomes flooded.

Additional claims service

• 24/7 claims service

• Claim repairs and construction through Crawford Contractor Connection

• Special disaster claim processing through MetLife’s National Catastrophe Response Team

Claim satisfaction

MetLife has average claims satisfaction ratings (3 out of 5) with J.D. Power.

Payment methods

• Online bill

• ExpressIT® automatic monthly premium withdrawal from your bank account

• Recurring credit card monthly billing to your VISA, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express card

• Direct bill to your mailing address

Policygenius offers insurance policies from many of the nation's top insurers, who pay us a commission for our services. However, all editorial choices are made independently.