Ethos Life Insurance makes some bold statements in their advertisements, claiming to offer “the best online life insurance”. Does Ethos back this up?
In our opinion, no. As a life insurance brokerage, Ethos connects customers to policies offered by partner insurance companies through their online application process. Ethos’ online application is easy, but it takes a lot of control out of applicants’ hands. It’s tough to tell what rates you’ll get from an Ethos policy before applying, highlighting a lack of transparency.
Final Expense Benefits believes that transparency is one of the most important services a life insurance brokerage can provide. We’re proud to work with over 20 of the top-rated companies on the life insurance market, and show you rates you can really expect – not just the best rates only available to “ideal” applicants.
If you’re interested in getting a real rate and real help, call us at (866) 786-0725 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET, and check our free online quoting tool for a personalized pricing estimate.
What Is Ethos Life Insurance?
Founded in 2016, Ethos Life Insurance is an independent life insurance brokerage located in Austin, Texas, and is partnered with five providers. Their website looks nice and highlights their simplified coverage options and partner life insurance providers, but lacks substance to back up their “low-rate” claims.
Their partners range from trusted options like Mutual of Omaha and Legal & General America to less reliable life insurers like John Hancock. Although they are happy to share their partner insurers, finding real Ethos Life Insurance rates can be tough.
The only rate Ethos advertises is $60 per month for $2 million of term life coverage, though it’s unclear what provider this coverage comes from and what is covered.
Without transparency, how can you know if you’re getting a good deal? And what about the “easy online application”?
Ethos Life Insurance: The Best Online Life Insurance?
Ethos places a lot of emphasis on their “easy ten-minute application”. This application offers a simplified process, but you lose a lot of control for convenience. When you apply with Ethos, they handle the entire application process for you, and you will have little control over what plan you get.
We take customer needs seriously. Without being able to provide input, how can you be confident your policy offers the rates and coverage you need? Final Expense Benefits considers your needs throughout the entire process. Unlike Ethos, our agents prefer to help you determine the plan that works best rather than telling you what you need.
Ethos Life Insurance Coverage Options
Ethos offers several term life, whole life, indexed universal life, and burial insurance options from a small selection of carriers. Ethos insurance options include:
1
Ethos Term Life Insurance
Ethos’ specialty, term life insurance, covers specified periods and only provides payouts if the policyholder dies during that time. Terms typically range from 10 to 30 years. These policies offer large death benefits and are usually used by young adults and other workers to cover loss of income in case of death.
Term policies claim to offer low rates, like Ethos’ $60 per month offer for a $2 million death benefit, but this offer requires near-perfect health.
Ethos states that this offer is for a 37-year-old female applicant for a 10-year term; this sample applicant is likely in great health.
Term life doesn’t work great for seniors. Health requirements set by underwriting are restrictive, and most applicants risk outliving their coverage. Once terms end, they must be renewed, usually at a higher cost. If you don’t renew, your policy lapses with no payout, a common outcome for term policies.
2
Ethos Whole Life Insurance
Whole life insurance covers for life, if premiums are paid. Seniors trust whole life insurance because coverage and rates are locked when the policy starts, benefits that grow in cash value, and payouts focus on their needs.
Traditional whole life insurance is a great choice, but high-value plans can have restrictive health requirements that could exclude seniors with pre-existing health conditions.
3
Ethos Indexed Universal Life
Related to whole life insurance, indexed universal life insurance offers lifetime coverage with investment upside. As premiums are paid, they are invested in an account managed by your insurer, allowing the death benefit to grow in value.
Indexed universal life insurance is a great choice for young adults, but it doesn’t work as well for seniors for several reasons. Seniors typically want guaranteed returns, so tying benefits to investment performance can be risky. Plus, universal life insurance plans generally require near-pristine health, excluding most seniors.
4
Ethos Burial Insurance
Also called final expense insurance, burial insurance is the most trusted whole life option for seniors. Offering all the upside of whole life policies like cash value growth, locked rates, and coverage, burial insurance is cheaper.
Burial insurance death benefits are lower, but these policies have simplified health requirements. However, rates are also low, ranging from around $30 to $120 per month, depending on health status and death benefit size.
Seniors frequently use life insurance to cover funeral costs and end-of-life expenses ahead of time, so the lower death benefits don’t hurt.
For seniors with major pre-existing health concerns like cancer, dementia, or terminal illnesses, Ethos’ partners offer policies with guaranteed approval. These policies’ death benefits and rider options are more limited and cost extra.
Benefits normally range from $5,000 to $50,000, easily enough to cover funerals, which average around $10,000. Ethos burial insurance is their best option for seniors.
Not sure how much coverage you need? Try our free Funeral Cost Calculator, or check our online quoting tool.
Ethos Life Insurance Pros & Cons
Pros
- Simplified application process
Ethos’ online application is great for saving time, simplifying the complicated parts of life insurance applications. - No medical exams
Not needing to take a medical exam as part of the application is convenient. - Free will consultation
Ethos offers free will consultation services with qualified life insurance purchases.
Cons
- Mixed customer reviews
Ethos Life Insurance reviews on Trustpilot are overall positive, but Better Business Bureau complaints are plentiful. Many customer reviews mention frustration at being unable to select rates or plans. Some customers complain that payouts are unexpectedly withheld, a serious issue.
- Little control
Ethos focuses on term life insurance, but their overall simplified process takes a lot of control out of the applicants’ hands. You should be able to collaborate with an agent to find the coverage that you want, rather than what Ethos thinks you need.
- Rates may not be ideal
Although Ethos usually doesn’t require medical exams for applications, many term and indexed universal life policies require a medical exam to get the best rates. If you apply for an Ethos term or universal policy without a medical exam, chances are high that you won’t get ideal rates. - Poor transparency
While Ethos shares their partner insurers, they don’t provide many real rate estimates. Transparency is a key service of a life insurance brokerage, and obscuring a part of the process is suspicious. We stand by our providers, proudly displaying our partners and rates that you can really expect.
Ethos Life Insurance Reviews: Third-Party Rating Services
Ethos Life Insurance AM Best Rating
1
AM Best is an agency that assesses insurance companies’ credit and financial ability. Because Ethos Life Insurance is a brokerage and not an insurer, they aren’t rated by AM Best.
However, Ethos’ life insurance partners each have high financial trustworthiness ratings from AM Best.
Ethos Life Insurance NAIC Rating
2
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) records insurance company complaint trends yearly. They only review insurance providers, so Ethos Insurance isn’t rated on NAIC’s scale.
Ethos’ partners have mixed customer complaint ratings; in particular, Ameritas and John Hancock are poorly rated by the NAIC.
Ethos Life Insurance BBB Rating
3
The Better Business Bureau evaluates how trustworthy businesses are by tracking customer complaints and resolutions. They also provide complaint resolution services for customers and businesses. Based on those complaints, they rate companies A+ to F.
Ethos is rated A+ and is BBB accredited, indicating a superior ability to handle customer complaints. However, Ethos Insurance’s current BBB customer rating is 2.07/5.
Ethos Life Insurance Reviews: Customer Ratings
Lisa V
1/5
I realized there was a few hundred dollar price difference between what I applied for and what I actually needed. I can’t not afford the higher price currently, so I cancelled. I’m now being told that I hit a “wrong button” and they can’t cancel. Do not recall doing this. Also I was told that since then there has been an update to their “policy” to provide full disclosure. HA! I feel more like trying to cover their back side. I also asked if someone could at least tell me about future charges – this site seems to have a mind of it’s own – didn’t hurt to ask…. NO ANSWER! They got my money and they’re done. Use at your own risk – one wrong button can cost BIG! (I would give zero stars is that was possible.)
Angeline P
1/5
It’s false advertisement with this company. Not understanding how they have an A+ rating when so many people have had very similar bad experiences. Bottom line, they say one thing and do another. Put your money into a company with integrity.
William T
1/5
I am strongly considering reporting your company to the Federal Insurance Office because my experience has bordered between possibly illegal and at best, complete apathy.
I initially signed up for a 1.1 million life insurance policy. I was aware that I could modify the policy, which I had intended to do because I was waiting for confirmation from my employer on how much they would cover. However, I did not receive any access to the policy until the actual start date of the policy 3 weeks later, so I was charged the full monthly amount.
Then, I called multiple times (twice no callback) and the third time I finally got a rep who said I would get a call from an agent to reduce my plan.
That didn’t happen, so I called again this time to cancel. Another promise I would get a call and a cancel contract within a couple days. It has now been a week, with no resolution.
Now I am back on the phone (on hold for 15 min now) with your abysmal company.
Final Expense Benefits: Quality Brokerage, Real Rates
Final Expense Benefits is proud to work with over 20 of the top life insurance companies in America and is happy to share real rates from real providers. We stand by our partners and are glad to connect you to coverage we trust.
As an example, here are the rates for burial insurance from some of our great life insurance partners. These rates are for a benchmark $10,000 burial insurance policy for a non-smoking applicant with no pre-existing health issues.
Burial insurance underwriting forgives many health issues, so unless you have a major health concern, you can expect to pay similar rates:
| Company |
Male 50y/o |
Female 50y/o |
Male 60y/o |
Female 60y/o |
Male 70y/o |
Female 70y/o |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
$34 |
$27 |
$50 |
$40 |
$70 |
$56 |
|
|
$31 |
$26 |
$43 |
$35 |
$71 |
$53 |
|
|
$31 |
$24 |
$44 |
$33 |
$75 |
$53 |
|
|
$34 |
$29 |
$45 |
$35 |
$79 |
$59 |
|
|
$33 |
$26 |
$48 |
$36 |
$82 |
$58 |
These figures are estimates only, based on a $10,000 final expense insurance policy with no applicant pre-existing conditions.
If you’re interested in these or any of our other life insurance options, call us at (866) 786-0725 to learn more and check our free online quoting tool for personalized pricing estimates.
Final Thoughts
Ethos sells their brokerage service on convenience, but if you are purchasing life insurance to provide for your family, don’t you want to ensure you get the best coverage? You may have difficulty finding your best coverage if your policy is chosen for you rather than having input.
Final Expense Benefits works with some of the best life insurance companies on the market, including:
It’s important to speak directly with a licensed life insurance agent to ensure you get the coverage that fits your needs and budget, not just what an online application thinks you need. Final Expense Benefits will respect your needs and help you determine the best policy, rather than telling you what you want.
For help finding great coverage that respects your needs, call Final Expense Benefits at (866) 786-0725 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET, and check our free online quoting tool for a personalized pricing estimate.
FAQ
Is Ethos a legit life insurance company?
Ethos is a legitimate life insurance brokerage, but does not provide life insurance or underwrite policies.
How does Ethos Life Insurance pay out?
Because Ethos is not a life insurance provider, they don’t pay policy benefits, which are instead paid by their partnered providers.
Who owns Ethos Life Insurance?
Ethos is an independent company, owned by a group of investors.
What is final expense insurance?
Final expense insurance is whole life insurance designed to help seniors cover end-of-life expenses like funerals and burial plot costs.
