Fidelity Life Insurance Review

The Details

The Good

No medical exams for permanent policies. Fidelity Life’s whole life, guaranteed issue, and final expense policies require no medical exam. If you need guaranteed coverage without the hassle of scheduling a physician visit, Fidelity Life could be the carrier for you.

Standalone death benefit policy available. If all you need is accidental death protection, Fidelity Life offers a quick accidental death benefit product with no medical exam requirement.

30-day trial available. Fidelity Life customers get a 30-day trial period. If you’re not satisfied with your policy for whatever reason you can cancel it and get your premiums back.

The Bad

Expensive rates. Fidelity Life advertises low prices, but any promising numbers you see on their site are for healthy, young people applying for low coverage amounts and short term lengths. Expect to pay much higher than the industry average if you’re older or have a pre-existing health condition.

Large amount of complaints. Fidelity Life has four times the amount of complaints than usual for its size, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioner (NAIC). That’s a lot of unhappy customers.

Term life not convertible. Fidelity Life’s term life policies are not convertible to permanent ones. If you want more insurance after the term ends, you’ll have to reapply – and that means higher premiums.

Whole life limited to ages 50 and older. Younger shoppers interested in whole life insurance are out of luck here. All of Fidelity Life’s permanent policies are aimed towards the 50-and-older set.

Misleading quote tool. It’s difficult to get a clear picture of what your monthly premiums will be with Fidelity Life’s online quote tool. You can’t select the state you live in, and terms and rates are all over the place. You’re better off calling an agent or their customer hotline.

The Breakdown

Fidelity Life has multiple term and whole life insurance products available, including several final expense policies and a standalone accidental death benefit policy.  

If you’re unsatisfied with a Fidelity Life policy, you can cancel it and receive any paid premiums or fees back after a 30-day trial period.

The focus of this review is Fidelity Life’s main term life product, RAPIDecision Life.

Term life insurance

None of Fidelity Life’s term life policies can convert to a permanent plan. That’s a detractor considering most carriers allow some kind of policy conversion. When your term ends, coverage ends. 

However, you can renew your policy every year up to age 95, or choose a different life insurance product. Keep this in mind if you were planning on converting to a whole life policy at some point.

RAPIDecision Life

Fidelity Life’s main term life product is pretty straightforward. It provides coverage amounts between $50,000 and $2 million for people between the ages of 18 and 70. 

Thanks to a quick underwriting process, Fidelity Life says you can have coverage within days based on the information you provide in the application process.

You will likely have to complete a medical exam for this policy, based on your answers to questions in the application. You will have six months to schedule and undergo the exam.

Available riders

• Accelerated death benefit. This rider lets you access some of your death benefit if you're diagnosed with a life-threatening affliction. It can be added to a term life policy at no additional cost.

• Accidental death benefit. This rider provides additional coverage, between $50,000 and $250,000, if you die in a car crash or similar event. It’s available for people ages 20 to 65.

• Child protection rider. An additional benefit with a range of $5,000 to $25,000 that covers children between the ages of 15 days to 18 years old. Convertible to a permanent plan within 30 days of the child’s 23rd birthday or the rider’s expiration date. Coverage ends on their 23rd birthday or the rider’s end, whichever comes first.

Temporary coverage

Initial coverage from day one is “blended”, or part all-cause, part accidental death coverage. You will have six months before the full policy kicks in.

RAPIDecision Senior Life Term

This policy is meant to pay off debt or medical bills, or cover final expenses. Applicants ages 50 to 70 can apply for coverage amounts between $10,000 and $150,000 for 10-, 20-, or 30-year term lengths.

There is no medical exam required unless there’s something in your medical history that needs clarifying. Otherwise, you simply need to answer questions about your health.

The benefit amount and policy expiration will vary depending on the term length you choose.

Temporary coverage

Partial coverage is provided immediately. Full coverage starts in year four of the selected term.

→ Read more about life insurance for seniors.

Permanent life Insurance

Fidelity Life’s permanent life policy products are simplified issue policies. That means they don’t require a medical exam to apply. If you’ve had trouble applying for life insurance before, or have underlying health issues, these could be great options. Just be ready for a higher premium than you’d pay with term life. 

Fidelity Life’s whole life policies build cash value over time.

Frustratingly, Fidelity Life’s online quote tool is pretty obtuse. It only reveals certain rates and products for certain age groups. And you can’t select the state you live in or your desired term length, both of which would affect your monthly premiums. We tried to make our sample rates as consistent as the quote tool would allow.

With the exception of the 50s and 60s age groups, these groups are all applying for 20-year, $500,000 RAPIDecision Life policies. The sample rates reflect a single male, employed full-time, and in “good” health:

The 50s age group is the rate for a 20-year, $100,000 policy, while the 60s range is for $20,000 of coverage for a 10-year term.

Based on these quotes, we’d hardly call Fidelity Life’s prices competitive when compared to carriers that offer similar benefit amounts. In fact, these rates are extremely high. 

For comparison, Banner Life offers an average rate of $23.80 for a healthy male in his 20s for a $500,000, 20-year policy. You’re likely not going to save money in the long-run with a term life policy from Fidelity Life.

→ Read more about what goes into determining your life insurance premiums.

To find out whether a life insurance business will last that long we turn to financial analysis agencies. 

Only one credit rating company, A.M. Best, has rated Fidelity Life. It might also help to know that Fidelity Life has been around since the late 1800s and they have $32 billion worth of life insurance policies currently active.

• A.M. Best: A-

• Moody’s: n/a

• Standard & Poor’s: n/a

A.M. Best, the credit rating firm that focuses specifically on the insurance industry, gives Fidelity Life an A- score (effective November 24, 2021), which is considered an “excellent” rating by the company. That means they are able to fulfill financial obligations to customers and beneficiaries. Basically, Fidelity Life’s financial outlook is stable.

Overall, for Fidelity Life, third-party sentiment is mixed. Third-party review site Consumers Advocate gives the company high ratings. But according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), there are way more complaints than the average for a company its size.

• Consumers Advocate: 4.5 / 5

• Consumer Affairs: n/a

• NAIC complaint index: 4.39

Consumers Advocate, which focuses on a company’s reputation, policies, and stability, gives Fidelity Life an “excellent” 4.5 out of 5.

Consumer Affairs lets customers directly review and rate companies, but there is no page for Fidelity Life available.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) tracks complaints submitted to state insurance departments. A score of 1 represents the baseline average, and a zero means there weren’t enough customer complaints to count.

Based on their complaint index, Fidelity life has a score of 4.39, which means they’ve received four times more complaints than usual. Complaints include difficulty with billing, rude customer service, delayed service response, and a preponderance of spam messages. 

When we last checked Fidelity Life’s complaint index score, it had a 2.21. Fidelity Life now has a history of negative customer interactions. 

Your application with Fidelity Life will differ depending on the product.

One constant is the frustratingly limited online quote tool, which doesn’t allow you to select the state you live in or your desired coverage amount. You should contact an agent instead of relying on their site’s quote tool.

However, there are FAQs, an insurance calculator, and a blog to brush up on life insurance information. 

There’s a live chat option, too, but Fidelity Life agents have not been responsive in our experience.

Application process

This depends on the product. You can apply for some of the simplified issue policies online within minutes, but others will require answering health-related questionnaires and scheduling medical exams.

The RAPIDecision Life term life policy will require a medical exam and a questionnaire.

Turnaround time

Fidelity Life says a decision only takes a few days. Still, if you have any issues related to your health, expect to wait anywhere from one week to a month before a decision is reached.

Policy delivery

Policies are delivered electronically and through the mail.

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.