American International Group Life Insurance Review

 

With almost a century in business, American International Group (AIG) is one of the pillars of the life insurance industry. This international company holds one of the largest property and casualty insurers in the United States. AIG provides a wide range of insurance, retirement plans, property casualty, and financial services to over 80 countries across the globe.

AIG’s Founding Story

Employing more than 49,000 employees, American International Group has been in business since 1919. Its founder, Cornelius Vander Starr founded AIG in Shanghai. It was first named as American Asiatic Underwriters. The company grew exponentially and opened its first headquarters in U.S. in 1926. It was then named American International Underwriters Corporation.  After many consecutive years of expanding globally and growing their subsidiaries, the company was now named American International Group since 1967. In 1969, they have been made public.

The early 2000’s was a good thriving decade for the American International Group. AIG was held in question and placed under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.They faced fines and criminal charges fined by some key executives. By 2008, AIG faced even more troubles. American International Group was fazed by the financial crisis and ended up as a recipient of the controversial bailout package from the U.S. government. In 2012, the U.S. government sold their stock and made an intriguingly huge profit. 2013, AIG launched a media campaign that thanks the country for the bailout. The anomalies only were settled in 2015 after a lawsuit tried to question the legality of the way the bailout was dealt with.

During the entire daunting process, AIG sold off some of their holdings to recover from debts and pay back their loans. After a few trials survived, American International Group recuperated, gaining back their financial strength.

American International Group has plenty of products to offer from their personal and commercial lines coverage. They focus on marketing property and casualty, financial products and life insurance products. In addition, they also have medical insurance offers. Their products are marketed both directly or through insurance agents and brokers across the United States. AIG’s website gives you the convenience of accessing quick online quotes for your life insurance application. Some products might need a more in-depth quoting procedure such as annuities and investments.

Today, AIG’s main office lies in New York, New York. They also have numerous offices located across the globe and is affiliated with other notable insurance companies such as Travel Guard and Lexington. In 2017, AIG’s revenues topped $49.5 billion. Since 2013, approximately five years before, AIG paid out more than $40 B in claims and benefits

American International Group Life Insurance Products

As mentioned earlier, AIG has personal and commercial lines. Commercial lines have bigger varieties than that of personal life insurance. Their personal lines products are focused on financial planning and estate planning. Meanwhile,  the main areas of personal life insurance are life insurance and medical coverage.

In 2014, AIG was ranked the second among United States’ biggest life insurance companies by LifeHealthPro. AIG provides a wide variety of life insurance products and health coverage. These life insurance products are designed to meet the needs of any customer, offering them a wide array to choose from depending on their necessity,

Term Life Insurance- Term policies are offered to cover an individual for a limited amount of time. This can vary from 10, 15, 20 to 30 years. Term Life Insurance is known to be the most affordable. If you know an individual with relatively good health and a non-smoker, they have a chance to benefit from the top-tier health class enjoying affordable premiums. Term Life Insurance provides pure death benefit protection and does not feature a cash value accumulation, Term life insurance is a popular choice for people since you can obtain a high amount of coverage for a significantly low premium paid.

Whole Life Insurance-  If you want peace of mind and have permanent protection for as long as you live, get a whole life insurance. This type of life insurance coverage covers the individual for as long as 121 years. Whole life insurance provides a death benefit and a cash value component for the policy owner. As long as the premium is paid, the coverage will remain in place for as long as the insured lives. The cash value associated with the whole life policy is allowed to build up tax-free. The tax-deferred feature lets the cash buildup and withdrawal be free of tax. The tax-deferred basis lets you pass dollars along to your beneficiaries or your favorite charity in its full amount. The policyholders are given the option to withdraw or borrow cash from a whole life insurance’s cash value component. This may be for any purpose they wish to use the money for.  However, it is important to note that any unpaid balance by the time the insured dies will be against the amount of the death benefit that will be paid out to his or her beneficiaries.

Universal Life Insurance–  Think of this type of policy as a more flexible and more modified whole life insurance. With universal life insurance, the policyholders enjoy both death benefit and cash value. These policies are designed to be much more flexible than whole life insurance. Universal life insurance allows the policyholder to choose when to pay their own premiums, the frequency of payment and how much they should pay. The amount the policyholder decides to pay affects the overall amount of the death benefit and the accumulated cash value amount held within the policy.

Accident and Health Insurance- This type of life insurance helps offset the financial burden a family suffers from after a sudden, unexpected death of their loved one. This covers both accidental death and dismemberment. This type of life insurance coverage will pay out an additional sum of money if the insured’s death is the result of an accident. If the insured dies out of sickness or natural causes such as old age, there is no additional amount paid out.

AIG’s Product Prices

A huge part of American International Group is not quotable through their website. This is because these types of products require more sensitive information upon application, and the rates can differ depending on the case and needs of the applicant.

AIG might be a big name in the life insurance industry, but the products are not aimed solely on an average person. Unlike other life insurance companies, American Internation Group does not advertise itself as an “affordable option” that can cover all walks of life. AIG’s marketing efforts are not geared towards making it a budget option, so its premiums are not the most competitive option in the life insurance industry market. American International Group offers an online quoting option for its term life insurance products. Also, this requires both personal and contact information for application follow-ups.  This sets American International Group different from other life insurance carriers with quoting options. Other carriers are not committed to having some sort of follow-ups after the quoting stage.

One example of quoting area AIG offers upfront computations is Accident and Health Coverage, which they advertise could be available at only $9 a month. This is for a $50,000 coverage without the need for a medical exam.  If you love to travel overseas and love to get into dangerous, adrenaline-rushing activities, this might be a great start for you to get insured.

Like many other life insurance carriers, AIG sells most of their products with the help of agents and brokers. One thing to note is that this can bring you more costs as the price includes agent commissions and fees that impact rates. This is why working with an independent agent is a smart choice in getting insured under life insurance carriers. Hi BMI takes you by the hand throughout the whole process, ensuring you get the best amount that fits your budget and suffices your needs.

AIG might not be the most economical option in the life insurance market, but they focus on competitive product rolls and great customer services.

AIG’S Ratings

While this company is working hard to clear their reputation from fraud cases filed and high executives put behind bars, American International Group is continuing to establish a better name in the insurance industry.

Here are their ratings based on different credit bureaus:

Standard & Poor’s rating is A+ that stands for Negative

A.M. Best rating is A, denoting the company’s claims-paying ability is Stable

Fitch gave them A+, Negative

And Moody’s Investor Services gave AIG an A2 for being Stable

American International Group’s Claims Filing System

Given that AIG offers different types of insurance policies, including auto and homeowner’s policies, claims processing in AIG varies. Claims processing are handled differently from each insurance policy. AIG’s claims options are listed on their website. Phone numbers for different businesses claims in different parts of the world present. Travel insurance is handled by Travel Guard, while claims for the Private Client Insurance program are handled by the management.

American International Group’s website does not offer online claims filing for life insurance and medical coverage. This is because of the more sensitive information these types of policy require, both for verification and release purposes. American International Group offers the IntelliRisk Services programs. This helps their clients manage their risks and their claims.  This helps AIG and their clients to deal with complex insurance needs. 

All client claims are handled through a network of both local and international services omni-channel to provide information. These types of omnichannel servicing such as trunkline, website fill-up, and email handle the different types of claims AIG deals with.

Consumer Reviews and Feedbacks for AIG

Although American International Group is not BBB Accredited, it received a decent A+ rating with BBB. AIG only had 70 complaints filed based on the BBB record for AIG’s headquarter in New York.  28 of these complaints have been closed for the previous 12 months. The number is quite low for a huge company but still impacts their reputation and the diverse array of their offered products and services. The complaints, however, are not filed on headquarters records but rather local branches.

Now, the number of complaints on customer review sites such as ConsumerAffairs are low. Given that the products and services are on a wide spectrum, their policies do not have the frequency of claims and customer service intervention for both auto and home insurance.

Most of the complaints filed against the life insurance carrier are claims that are of delayed payment, claims denial for various reasons and irate customers who do not see the denial acceptable. These complaints are mostly centered on personal products such as life insurance, accidental death, and dismemberment insurance, and travel insurance.

AIG provides a great choice for those in need of financial planning for their retirement and wants to protect a number of assets. If you are a family breadwinner and have income dependent family members, you can secure their future through getting a personal loan. Want to keep your established business secure after your death?  Are you of high net worth? Then, AIG provides some of the best options for you to choose from.

Get a quote now and we can get you insured fast.