Trustage life insurance review: Instant low coverage
TruStage life insurance partners with credit unions and other companies to provide no-med life insurance in low coverage amounts.
By
Logan SachonLogan SachonSenior Managing Editor, Life Insurance & ResearchLogan Sachon is a former senior managing editor of life insurance and research at Policygenius. As a journalist, her work has appeared in The Guardian, Business Insider, CNN Money, BuzzFeed, Money Under 30, VICE, New York Magazine, and elsewhere.
Edited by
Adam MorganAdam MorganEditorial DirectorAdam Morgan is a former editorial director at Policygenius who led the editorial team. Previously, he led editorial teams matrixed across multiple financial publications at Red Ventures — including Bankrate, NextAdvisor, Million Mile Secrets, and others. As a journalist, his work has appeared in Esquire, Scientific American, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere.
Our proprietary ratings methodology takes multiple factors into account, including customer satisfaction, cost, financial strength, and policy offerings. See the “Ratings methodology” section for more details.
4.5
AM Best rating
AM Best is a global credit rating agency that scores the financial strength of insurance companies on a scale from A++ (Superior) to D (Poor).
A
Cost
Using a mix of internal and external rate data, we grade the cost of each insurance company's premiums on a scale from least expensive ($) to most expensive ($$$$$).
NA
The bottom line
TruStage, a subsidiary of CUNA Mutual Group, sells instant-issue term and whole life insurance, but coverage amounts are low and term life rates increase every five years.
Note: TruStage products are not available through the Policygenius marketplace.
Pros
Instant-issue life insurance options
No medical exam or underwriting required
Cons
Low coverage amounts
Term policies are renewable, not level, with premiums increasing every five years
Basic coverages offered
Simplified issue term life insurance: TruStage sells a five-year renewable term life insurance policy with rates that increase every five years. Coverage amounts only range from $5,000 to $300,000, and it is a "simplified issue" term life policy, meaning you can get covered by just answering a few medical questions online.
Simplified issue whole life insurance: TruStage also sells a simplified issue whole life insurance policy with coverage amounts from $5,000 to $100,000.
Guaranteed issue whole life: For applicants age 45 to 80, TruStage sells the TruStage Guaranteed Accepted Whole Life policy, a guaranteed issue policy that is available for coverage amounts between $2,000 and $20,000.
Additional coverages offered
Unlike most life insurance companies, TruStage does not offer any additional riders.
Ratings methodology
Customer experience
4.9/5
Our customer experience scale uses data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) complaint index. TruStage’s policies are underwritten by CMFG Life Insurance Company, which has an NAIC Index score of 0.51, meaning it has far fewer complaints than expected for a company of its size. (The expected score would be 1.0.)
Transparency
4.1/5
Our transparency rating scale measures how easily shoppers and policyholders can find information about TruStage’s life insurance offerings on its website. While the company makes it easy to find contact information online and get a quote, we’d love to see average rates posted outside of the quote tool and a chat feature.
Financial strength
3.6/5
Our financial strength rating is a weighted combination of three industry-leading metrics to measure a company’s financial health: A.M. Best, Standard & Poor’s, and Moody’s. TruStage has an A rating from A.M. Best, a BBB+ from Standard & Poor’s, and a Baa2 from Moody’s.
Note: TruStage does not have a price rating, as it does not offer a 20-year term policy with $1 million coverage, the sample policy we use in our price rating scale.
A closer look at TruStage
Who is TruStage best for?
TruStage may be a good option for people who need a small amount of coverage and don’t want to take a medical exam. However, if you need more than $300,000 in term life coverage (and many people do), all of our picks for the best life insurance companies offer higher coverage amounts than TruStage.
What makes TruStage unique?
TruStage only sells no-medical-exam products, and you can get covered without talking to an agent. Also, though the most popular type of term life insurance is level term life insurance, which has set premiums for the entirety of the policy, TruStage sells a type called renewable term, which has rates that increase every five years.
Who should consider a different life insurance company?
Most people looking for their best rates for either term or whole life insurance should consider a different company, as fully underwritten policies will almost always be more affordable if you qualify for one. Also, level term policies from competitors will have locked-in rates, instead of TruStage’s renewable term policies, which get more expensive every five years.
TruStage life insurance rates
TruStage does not publish its term life insurance rates. It also does not offer a $500,000 20-year level term policy, our standard sample policy for sharing rates. (Its term policy maxes out at $300,000, and it's a five-year renewable term policy, not a level term policy.)
TruStage’s history, reputation, and social responsibility
TruStage was launched in 2013 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the CUNA Mutual Group family of brands. Its life insurance policies are underwritten by CMFG Life Insurance Company, which has an A rating from A.M. Best. (CMFG Life Insurance Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of TruStage.) [1]
CUNA Mutual Group was founded in 1935 to provide life insurance products to credit union members, and TruStage partners with over 3,000 credit unions to market and sell its products. It also sells its products directly and through other partners, including Liberty Mutual.
In 2022, CUNA Mutual Group announced it would unify all of its businesses under the TruStage brand, in a process it expects to complete in 2023. [2]
TruStage in the news
In May 2022, CUNA Mutual Company announced it would rebrand its entire business under the TruStage brand, one of its subsidiaries. (Credit Union Times)
In January 2022, TruStage expanded into Canada as TruStage Life of Canada alongside CUNA Mutual Company’s acquisition of Assurant Life of Canada. (CUNA Mutual Group)
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TruStage vs. other life insurance companies
Compare TruStage to similar life insurance companies using the table below.
Policygenius uses external sources, including government data, industry studies, and reputable news organizations to supplement proprietary marketplace data and internal expertise. Learn more about how we use and vet external sources as part of oureditorial standards.
Logan Sachon is a former senior managing editor of life insurance and research at Policygenius. As a journalist, her work has appeared in The Guardian, Business Insider, CNN Money, BuzzFeed, Money Under 30, VICE, New York Magazine, and elsewhere.
Adam Morgan is a former editorial director at Policygenius who led the editorial team. Previously, he led editorial teams matrixed across multiple financial publications at Red Ventures — including Bankrate, NextAdvisor, Million Mile Secrets, and others. As a journalist, his work has appeared in Esquire, Scientific American, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere.
