Great Western Life Insurance Review (2023)

Great Western Insurance Company has an "A-" under A.M. Best, but its customer review rating at the Better Business Bureau is below average. Although Great Western earned over $100 million in 2019, its life insurance rates are private. You can find Great Western life insurance quotes through its website. Our free online quote tool compares multiple companies near you.

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Jeffrey Johnson is a legal writer with a focus on personal injury. He has worked on personal injury and sovereign immunity litigation in addition to experience in family, estate, and criminal law. He earned a J.D. from the University of Baltimore and has worked in legal offices and non-profits in Maryland, Texas, and North Carolina. He has also earned an MFA in screenwriting from Chapman Univer...

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Written by Jeffrey Johnson
Insurance Lawyer Jeffrey Johnson

UPDATED: Oct 2, 2022

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Company Details
Address: 601 Sixth Avenue
City: Des Moines
State: IA
ZIP Code: 50309
Phone Number: 1-866-689-1401
Year Founded: 1983
AM Best Rating: A-
URL where was collected the AM Best Rating: http://news.ambest.com/presscontent.aspx?altsrc=108&refnum=26530
Lines of Insurance: Annuities and Final Expense Life Insurance
States Licensed To Sell Insurance In: AL, AR, AZ< CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NM, NV, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY
Type of Insurance Company: Life Insurance Company
Parent Company: American Republic Insurance Company
Top executive Contact: Tom Swank
Title of Top executive: President & CEO
Assets & Premiums:

Total Assets: $1.34 Billion / Direct Premiums Written & Deposit-Type Contracts: $185.22 Million

Company Rating 0 (0 reviews)

Great Western Insurance Company provides annuities and final expense life insurance policies across the United States. The Des Moines-based insurance company has over a billion dollars in assets and earns over $150 million per year.

But how much are Great Western life insurance rates?

Our Great Western life insurance review has everything you need to know about the Iowa company’s products, third-party ratings, and history. Also, we’ll explain how you can get Great Western life insurance quotes to see if this carrier is right for you.

Explore your options further by entering your ZIP code in the free online quote tool to compare quotes from multiple companies to find affordable Great Western life insurance.

What products are available at Great Western Insurance Company?

Great Western doesn’t have traditional term life insurance policies. They do carry permanent life policies and an annuity program. Here’s a short list of what you can find at Great Western Insurance Company:

  • Final Expense Insurance
  • Preneed Funeral Insurance
  • Group Annuity

Under the Great Western final expense insurance program, you can choose between Assurance Plus and Guaranteed Assurance. Assurance Plus is focused on healthy policyholders while Guaranteed Assurance is a no-exam life insurance policy. As you might expect, there are limits to the coverage you can get with no exam at a higher price.

Group annuities provide annuities for several people, such as employees at a company.

Preneed funeral insurance establishes an agreement between the policyholder and the funeral home. That means your death benefits will go directly to the funeral home. This is increasingly popular among people who aren’t ready for a traditional life insurance policy. They just don’t want their family to worry about end of life expenses such as funeral expenses. Depending on the funeral home, you may even be able to plan part of your own funeral. Monthly premiums are fixed and won’t increase as long as you keep the policy active.

If you’re the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, start looking into estate planning law to know what to look for after someone has passed.

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How much are Great Western life insurance rates?

Despite Great Western’s earning potential and total assets, it’s private about the cost of life insurance and monthly annuity rates. The best way to find Great Western life insurance quotes for life insurance or annuities is to follow these steps:

  • Step 1 – Go to the Great Western website
  • Step 2 – Click the [Get Your Free Quote] button
  • Step 3 – Fill out your information
  • Step 4 – Click on [Get Your Free Quote]

Once you get a reliable Great Western quote, compare it to other companies near you to find the best deal. When you fill out your life insurance application on our site, we send the same information to different carriers to get quotes. If you’re applying directly on Great Western’s website, make sure you’re also entering the same basic information and choosing the same coverage amounts there. This is the only way to truly compare plans.

How do you file a Great Western life insurance claim?

Once Great Western agents issue life insurance, it’s a waiting game. Some life insurance policies have a waiting period meaning if you die during that period, they’ll give your money back, but your descendants won’t get the full policy benefit.

If you’re the beneficiary of a Great Western life policy, you can file a claim in 2 ways:

  • The first is to contact Great Western customer service and let them know you need to file a claim.
  • Second, download the claim forms on https://www.gwic.com/policyholders/forms. You can reach Great Western customer service at 1-866-689-1401

If you’re buying a policy, you should always make sure your beneficiaries know they’re on the policy ahead of time. This can minimize the hassle with pre-arranged funeral plans and payouts. If beneficiaries don’t know about the policy, they may try to make other plans or not know they need to file a claim.

What if I need to cancel a Great Western insurance policy?

If you’ve purchased a life insurance policy with Great Western, you should always look at your documents. You may find them on the customer portal. You can also call customer service to get a copy. Keep in mind, you cannot cancel the policy on the customer portal.

The policy will lay out the cancellation process and what, if any, fees you may owe throughout the process. If you’re looking to get money back, your policy will also detail that. If you’re concerned about things like coverage amounts or automatic payments, you can also talk to a Great Western customer service agent. They may be able to adjust your policy to fit your needs with minimal hassle for you.

If you still want to cancel final expense life insurance policies, you’ll need to submit the cancellation by email, fax, or mailing address:

  • Fax Number– 402-496-8199
  • Mailing Redirect URL– P.O. Box 14410, Des Moines, IA 50306-3410
  • Email (PDF files only)[email protected]

Preneed insurance policy cancellation is determined by the date the preneed policy was issued.

  • You should call 1-866-689-1401 for preneed policies submitted before November 1, 2019
  • Contact 1-800-995-9010 for preneed policies submitted on or after November 1, 2019

Policyholders can also call 1-800-733-5454 to stop their monthly payments from being drafted from their bank accounts.

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Does Great Western Insurance Company have good financial strength and customer reviews?

One of the best ways to know if an insurance company is reliable is to look at the financial strength and customer reviews.

Under the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Great Western Insurance Company has an A-, but it has a 1.8 rating for customer reviews.

According to A.M. Best, Great Western has an A- rating. What does that mean? The “A-” rating means Great Western has a stable financial outlook. Although it has a strong financial standing, Great Western has long-term credit risk.

What’s Great Western Insurance Company’s history?

John E. Linquist founded Great Western Insurance Company in 1983. Great Western originated out of Lindquist Mortuaries & Cemeteries – a five-generation family business.

Great Western is often confused with the Great Western Bank. However, the two are not related by anything more than a similar name.

In 2018, American Enterprise Group acquired Great Western Insurance Company. The company is still intact and provides permanent life insurance and annuities for current and new customers.

Great Western: What’s the bottom line?

The advantages (pros) of Great Western are the financial strength ratings and various products. The disadvantages (cons) are private life insurance rates and low customer review ratings.

It’s hard to determine whether Great Western is the right company because it is tight-lipped about its prices. You can get single quotes with an in-house life insurance agent. We help people find multiple policies to compare at once.

Enter your ZIP code in the free comparison tool below to compare multiple companies in your local area.

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