Legal & General America also does business as Banner Life and William Penn.
How do I review, sign, and pay for my Legal & General America life insurance policy?
Your policy documents are available to access, review, sign, and pay for through Legal & General America's Docusign by clicking "Review Documents" in the email we sent over. You'll be prompted to verify your identity with an access code, which is generally a combination of the first five letters of your last name and the last four digits of your Social Security number.
You'll have the ability to review all the necessary documents that require your signature. From there, you can fill in all of the relevant information as prompted and click "Finish."
When will my Legal & General America life insurance policy be active?
Legal & General America determines your policy effective date, or the date that you officially have life insurance coverage, three weeks in advance upon issuance of the policy.
How do I create an online account with Legal & General America?
Login to your online customer service portal. You’ll be prompted to verify your identify with the following information:
Policy number
Social Security number
Date of birth
ZIP code
Email
Phone number
Need help registering? Call 800-888-2452.
What changes can I make on Legal & General America’s online portal?
After creating your account, you can make the following changes online:
View policy details
Obtain a copy of the full policy
Make a payment
Enroll in EFT
Remove EFT and change to direct billing
Update EFT
Change your contact details, such as your address, phone number, or email
Change your beneficiary
Obtain change forms
How often do I make premium payments?
You can pay your premiums monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually.
If you’re paying monthly, you’ll be required to set up automatic payments from a checking or savings account. Be sure to provide your banking information for your first premium and recurring payments.
Automatic payments aren't required if you’re paying annually, semi-annually, or quarterly, but policies paid via direct billing have a significantly higher lapse rate due to the frequency of missed payments.
What payment methods can I use?
Legal & General America doesn’t accept checks as payment for the first monthly payment, but checks are accepted for all other payments. Your first payment needs to be made via credit card by logging in to your online portal.
Why haven’t I seen a payment draft yet?
If you’re paying your premium via EFT, you may not see the premium drafted yet because banks don’t always process drafts right away.
My age is wrong on my policy. How do I fix this?
When it comes to life insurance, your age changes six months prior to your actual birthday — that means your age depends on your nearest birthday, not your last birthday. If your birthday is in January, your age would change every July since your nearest birthday is closer in time than your last one.
Most of the time, no correction is needed. But if you have questions, reach out to the Policygenius team.
I want to make changes to my beneficiaries. How do I do that?
You can change your policy’s beneficiaries using Legal & General America's online portal. To do so, you’ll need to provide some information:
Your new beneficiary’s name, date of birth, and their relationship to you
Whether they will be a primary or contingent beneficiary
When you add a beneficiary, you’ll also need to allocate how much of your policy’s death benefit they’ll receive. In total, your selections have to add up to 100%. So, for example, if you have four beneficiaries and you want them to receive equal parts of your policy’s death benefit after you die, each needs to have a 25% allocation.
There’s some incorrect information on my initial application that I need to update. How can I fix this?
You can usually make some small changes to your policy after you sign it, like your employer’s address, your address, and your occupation.
Other changes you make will require that your policy be reissued. This may happen if you let your insurance company know about changes to your health, doctor’s visits, and medications you’re taking that you didn’t reveal when first applying for coverage.
These kinds of changes will need to be submitted and sent back through the underwriting process for review and added to the policy before you can sign it and start your coverage.
I want to look into a whole life or permanent life insurance policy in the future. Can I convert my term policy to a permanent policy?
You may be able to convert your term life insurance into a permanent life policy before you turn 70, though it depends on how long you’ve had your coverage. If you’re thinking about converting your policy, it’s a good idea to review Legal & General America's conversion rules in your policy’s fine print. For help converting your policy, contact Policygenius by calling 800-741-7973 or scheduling a meeting online.
How does my beneficiary file a life insurance claim?
Your beneficiary can file a life insurance claim online by filling out a death benefit claim form or over the phone by calling 888-585-9198, ext. 6974.
Learn more >> How to file a life insurance claim
Can I decrease my coverage once my policy has been activated?
Yes, you can decrease coverage after the first policy year by reaching out to Legal & General America directly.
What happens if my term life insurance policy lapses?
If your life insurance coverage lapses, which can happen if you don’t pay your premiums, you’ll lose your coverage. Your beneficiaries won’t receive your policy’s death benefit if you die while your coverage is lapsed, no matter how long you’ve had the policy or how much you paid in premiums.
What is a grace period?
A grace period is the length of time that your policy stays active after a missed payment. States prevent insurance companies from canceling policies right after a missed payment. Instead, you have around 31 days to repay a missed payment before you’ll lose coverage — though grace periods vary by state.
Since you’re fully covered during the grace period, your beneficiaries would still receive a death benefit if you died during this time, though the missed payment would come out of your policy’s death benefit.
How do I reinstate my Legal & General America lapsed policy?
If you still haven’t paid your premiums by the time your insurance company’s grace period ends, your policy has officially lapsed and you no longer have life insurance coverage. At this point, you’ll have to contact your insurer to reinstate your policy.
Depending on your insurer, how long your policy has been lapsed, and whether you had any red flags in your medical history when you first applied for life insurance, reinstatement might also require new underwriting.
Some companies won’t require new underwriting if the policy has been inactive for less than six months; others may require only a limited underwriting process.
Can I cancel my Legal & General America life insurance policy?
Yes, you can cancel your life insurance policy at any time.
How do I get in touch with Legal & General America customer service?
You can get in touch with Legal & General America customer service the following ways:
Fax: 301-294-6960
Email: clientservice@bannerlife.com
Phone: 888-984-3393
Mail 3275 Bennett Creek Avenue, Frederick, Maryland 21704
You can access your online portal here.
