Columbus Life Insurance Company Review | Good Financial Cents® (2024)

Purchasing life insurance coverage can be a key component of your overall financial plan. This is because life insurance proceeds can mean the difference between your loved ones suffering financial hardship or being able to go on with their lives in the future in the case of the unthinkable.

When you buy a life insurance policy, there are several key criteria that are important to keep in mind. These include both the type and the amount of coverage that you are obtaining. Also important, however, is knowing that the company you are purchasing the policy from is strong and stable financially.

This is because should your loved ones need to file a claim; you will want to know that the underlying insurance carrier will be there in the future to make good on its financial promise. One of the top life insurance carriers, that has had a long-standing positive reputation in the industry, is Columbus Life Insurance Company.

The History of Columbus Life Insurance Company

Columbus Life Insurance Company has been in the insurance industry for over 110 years. This carrier offers a wide range of products that can help its customers grow and protect their wealth.

Back in 1906, this insurer began in Columbus, Ohio, as The Columbus Mutual Life Insurance Company, and was founded by Channing Webster Brandon. The company’s founder had a mission of offering the very best insurance coverage for the lowest premium price.

Throughout the years, the company has kept true to its mission – and has offered low-cost, high-value insurance coverage. It has also implemented some new advancements that have allowed it to expand in size, and offer coverage to an exponential number of policyholders.

In the 1970s, Columbus Life started issuing its individual life insurance coverage using a computerized system. This Automated Life Insurance System, the ALIS, allowed the company to double in size within just a four-year period.

By 1980, Columbus Mutual Life Insurance Company had approximately $4 billion of life insurance in force – and just two years later, the company was acquired by Western and Southern Life Insurance Company of Cincinnati.

As it continued to use technology, Columbus Life was the very first of the Western and Southern companies to have an Internet website, as well as to offer continuing education credits for its insurance agents online.

Columbus Life Insurance Company Review

Today, Columbus Life Insurance Company does business in 49 of the U.S. states, as well as in the District of Columbia. The company offers its products through more than 3,000 financial services representatives. It is still headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

Western and Southern Life Insurance Company is still the parent company of Columbus Life. This firm is today considered to be one of the strongest insurance groups in the world, having a total of six life insurance subsidiaries.

The financial strength of Columbus Life is reflected in its high ratings. The company has the power to help protect its policyholders and to ensure that it can meet its future obligations to them.

Columbus Life Insurance Company Ratings and Better Business Bureau Grade

Columbus Life has some of the highest ratings possible that are given by the insurer ratings agencies. These are reflective of the company’s strong and stable financial position, as well as its good and positive reputation for paying out its policyholder claims.

The company’s ratings include the following:

The company also has a Comdex Ranking of 96 out of 100. The Comdex Ranking is a composite of all the ratings that a company has received from the major rating agencies. This ranking ranks insurance companies on a scale of 1 through 100, where 1 reflects the lowest, in an effort to reduce confusion over ratings due to each rating agency using a different scale.

Columbus Life Insurance Company has also been an accredited company with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) since November 2009, and it has been given a grade by the BBB of an A+ (out of an overall grade scale of A+ through F).

Over the past three years, Columbus Life Insurance Company has closed a total of four complaints through the Better Business Bureau, three of which it has closed out in the past 12 months. Of those four total complaints, three had to do with the company’s products and/or services, and one was in regard to the company’s billing and/or collections.

Life Insurance Products Offered by Columbus

Columbus Life offers several different types of life insurance coverage – which can help its clients to design the coverage that best fits their individual needs. These products include:

Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance can provide protection for a certain amount of time, such as for ten years, 15 years, 20 years, or even 30 years. With a term insurance policy, the insured is covered by death benefit protection, without any cash value – and because of this, the policy will usually be quite affordable.

Many term life insurance policies will offer certain riders that can be added to the plan that can enhance the coverage. Also, some term policies are also able to be “converted” over into permanent life insurance coverage – and in some cases, the insured will not have to prove evidence of insurability.

Permanent Life Insurance

Columbus Life also offers permanent life insurance coverage. This type of coverage includes both death benefit protection, as well as cash value. There are many types of permanent life insurance. These can include:

• Universal Life – A universal life insurance policy has a death benefit and a cash value. These plans are considered somewhat flexible. This is because the policyholder can often choose how much of their premium will go towards the cash value, and how much will go towards the death benefit. The policyholder may also be able to change his or her premium due date, as well.

• Indexed Universal Life – With an indexed universal life policy, the growth of the cash value is tied to the performance of an underlying market index, such as the S&P 500. In a good year, the cash will increase. But, in a negative year, the principal will be protected.

• Survivorship Universal Life – With survivorship universal life, there are two people who are insured under just one single policy. The proceeds are paid out upon the death of the second insured. These plans can be less expensive than purchasing two single life insurance policies.

Other Products Offered

In addition to life insurance, Columbus Life Insurance Company also offers annuities. Today, one of the biggest concerns on the minds of retirees, as well as those who are preparing for retirement, is whether they will run out of savings. Because an annuity can offer a guaranteed income for life, these products can help to alleviate that fear.

Columbus Life Insurance Company offers several different types of retirement annuities, including:

• Fixed Annuities

• Single Premium Deferred Annuities

• Single Premium Immediate Annuities

How to Find the Best Life Insurance Quotes

When seeking the best life insurance quotes, it often helps to work with an agency that has access to more than just one insurance carrier. That way, you can more easily compare in an unbiased manner – and from there determine which plan works the best for you. This is not only true for life insurance quotes but for other forms of insurance as well, such as seeking the best auto insurance company and policy!

If you are ready to move forward, we can help. We work with many of the top life insurers in the industry today, and we can assist you with obtaining the information that you require. In order to proceed, just use the form on this page to get your initial set of quotes.

The Bottom Line – Columbus Life Insurance Company Review

Purchasing life insurance is a pivotal decision, ensuring the financial security of loved ones. Columbus Life Insurance Company, with a history spanning over 110 years, has consistently upheld its mission of offering top-tier coverage at competitive prices.

Notably headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, it operates across 49 U.S. states and is backed by the global powerhouse, Western and Southern Life Insurance Company.

Its robust financial strength is evident in its ratings from renowned agencies. The diverse range of products, from term to permanent insurance, caters to individual needs. Additionally, they offer annuities, addressing retirement concerns.

When choosing a policy, considering multiple carriers for a comprehensive comparison is beneficial.

How We Review Insurance Companies:

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We actively collect information from insurance companies and place significant weight on customer feedback. By integrating this feedback with our research, we can offer a well-rounded evaluation. Each company is then rated based on multiple criteria, resulting in a star rating from one to five.

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