Final Expense and Burial Insurance FAQ's

This is BY FAR the #1 question asked immediately by people who inquire about Final Expense. The cost is a function of age, health, lifestyle, tobacco use and other factors (including how much coverage you want/need). The best we do is say rates will range from ~ $9 per month (this would be a healthy non-smoking 50 year old female) up to $600 (this would be an 85 year old male smoker applying for $40,000 of coverage). Agree, 99.999% of sane people would never pay $600 per month for $40,000 of coverage, but there are policies and programs available for anyone and everyone between those two extremes. An average monthly payment is typically between $40-50 per month for $10,000 coverage (less if you are in your 50’s and more if you are in your 70’s or 80’s).

We can, but underwriters are still required to ask questions about health, lifestyle and tobacco usage. IF you are expecting (and are delivered) an immediate and fast real time quote, whether from a system, website or person, I GUARANTEE THAT YOU HAVE BETTER OPTIONS. Those systems and web pages are designed to make it easy and convenient to satisfy your hunger for an immediate quote. These systems are quoting ONE CARRIER/ONE POLICY or are providing information from inaccurate (outdated) quote data. The only way to truly compare carriers is to do it yourself or work directly with an independent broker (like us). If you are working with an independent broker, he/she will require 15-30 minutes to get quotes from multiple carriers to find the best option to meet your needs.

“I thought this was free”, we hear this frequently. The fact is that YES, these policies are state regulated. What the means is that the price/rate I give you will be the same price/rate the next person gives you. LIFE INSURANCE CAN NOT BE DISCOUNTED, THAT IS ILLEGAL!

 

, which is the oldest trick in the book for the snake oil agents. The “Bad Actors” in the insurance industry will use this tactic to collect your information, show up at your door and bait-n-switch you from believing it’s a state sponsored benefit into buying an expensive and unwanted policy.

We ALL love us some Alex Trebek, the face of Colonial Penn. Colonial Penn is the ONLY carrier that will promise you a plan customized to you for $9.95 per month. If ALL you want to or can afford to spend is exactly $9.95 per month, Colonial Penn is the ONLY choice for you and we would refer you directly to Colonial Penn. That said, if your goal is to find the most coverage for the lowest payment and have more than $9.95 in your budget, there are other that provide much more coverage for your dollar. We take GREAT PRIDE and spend a lot of time knowing the industry, learning all the carriers and learning all the policies. We selectively choose are carriers so that we have the absolute best options for most ages and health classes. Indeed, there are cases where our carriers will not be the best value/fit for you but our underwriters and brokers will always be open an honest with you about your best option (please read next FAQ).

Final Expense and life insurance is a CRITICAL DECISION, underwriters and brokers are trained to understand the industry, carriers, policies and balance that with YOUR needs. If they can’t find a good fit, it does more harm to everybody to push a policy that does not fit. Example (real example), in a case where a 70 year old non-smoking male inquired about insurance and insisted on $10,000 worth of coverage at the absolute lowest rate. The lowest rate you will find for this policy is Oxford (or Christian Fidelity if available in your state) – BUT – the agent may withhold that information if he’s not licensed or contracted to sell for that company. LITTLE KNOWN FACT – Independent underwriters and brokers work for YOU, not for any one individual company or carrier. Independents will (or should) find the best carrier and policy for you. BEHIND THE SCENES – Independents only earn a living if you KEEP your policy, if you cancel the policy or stop paying the agent does not earn a living. The #1 reason people don’t keep their policy is that it’s too expensive -> WE ALWAYS MAKE SURE WE WORK IN YOUR BUDGET!

This is a very important question and kind of a complex answer. #1) Historically the industry requires the underwriter to submit your application in person. Times have changed and many carriers (not all carriers) allow for this to be done over the phone. Old school insurance pros are still training new agents on old school ways. #2) The lifeblood (and raw material) for an agent is “leads”, agents will by leads from marketing companies and many of these leads inquire because of bait-n-switch tactics. The BEST way for that agent to sell you the bait-n-switch is in person, he/she is highly trained and skilled at switching you and will insist on an in person meeting, these agents tend to be very pushy. #3) Some underwriters and independents have “sweetheart” deals with one carrier, carriers will provide exclusive bonuses to push their product. This does YOU no good, that agent is compromising your best interest for a bonus to sell you specifically one policy from one carrier. RECOMMENDATION – If you meet with an independent agent, INSIST on seeing at least two quotes from different carriers.

VERY IMPORTANT, as mentioned above the insurance industry requires all carriers to subscribe to a federally regulated exchange so that consumers can transfer a policy from one carrier to another. This regulation is VERY VERY important to our industry and important to you. Have you ever had buyer’s remorse for anything? Buyer’s remorse in insurance is extremely prevalent, many people are left wondering and uncertain if they indeed found the right policy for them. The exchange gives consumers options for buyer’s remorse or even if someone is interested in making sure they always have the best policy to meet their needs.

Buying life insurance is a lot different than buying a car, do you agree? Assuming we agree, remember that these policies are State Regulated, whatever rate one person gives you the next person must give you the same quote. Second, with very few exceptions, all Final Expense and Burial Insurance policies are THE SAME. You are paying a premium for prescribe death benefit. The biggest difference from company to company is price (RATE). You can shop Final Expense or Burial Insurance all day and every day and waste a lot of time to get the same quote over and over again. The BEST WAY TO SAVE TIME AND MONEY is to find an independent broker (or website, but that website is ultimately managed by a broker) that will shop your needs around to the most # of carriers possible. We can be that person, we are contracted with and have access to dozens of companies, not many brokers can stake that claim!

VERY, VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION. We have all heard horror stories about death benefits getting hung up for many month or even YEARS. Each state has it’s own laws but most states allow insurance companies 30 days to evaluate the claim. Some states have laws that require the payout to be 30-60 days from when the claim was filed. DON’T LET THIS SCARE YOU – Most carriers have a reputation for paying out in 7-14 days from when claim is submitted. You can do a little due diligence and research ratings and reviews about company’s history for paying claims.

#1) Work with us because our 100% focus is to help protect you, your family and make sure you get the perfect policy from the right carrier at the best price. #2) Our underwriters and brokers are contracted with up to 12 carriers and are highly trained each carrier’s policies, enabling us to hone in the right policy at the right price for you. #3) If we do not have the best policy for you, we will gladly refer you elsewhere to make sure your best interest is served; #4) 2 of our 12 carriers provide our underwriters and agents custom and unique programs for specialized cases of age, health and tobacco use – At the ABSOLUTE BEST RATES IN THE MARKET. If you are between ages and 50-85 and are a non-smoker with a history of being “super healthy”, one of our unique programs (carriers) offers the absolute best rates. The other carrier and policy provides smokers with the ability to get non-smoking rates.

Scroll to top