Lafayette Life Insurance Review

Pros Explained

• A+ (Superior) financial rating: Lafayette has consistently earned strong financial ratings and has an A+ (Superior) rating with AM Best. 
• Few customer complaints: The company has fewer customer complaints than expected for a company of its size, according to records from state regulators.
• Pays dividends to eligible whole life policyholders: Lafayette is a mutual company, meaning the policyholders own it. It has paid dividends to its whole life policyholders for more than 100 years. 
• Some policies have no maximum coverage amounts: If you’re willing to take a medical exam, Lafayette’s term and whole life policies do not have formal coverage limits.

Cons Explained

• Online quotes not available: Many companies offer an online quoting tool that gives applicants an indication of the costs of its policies. Lafayette doesn’t provide this convenience.
• Online applications not available: Once you have received a quote, the next step is to apply for the policy. While other companies allow you to complete an application online, Lafayette requires you to speak with an agent to apply for a policy.
• No universal life policies: Lafayette focuses on traditional term and whole life policies. If you want a universal life policy with more premium flexibility and cash value investment options, you should look elsewhere. 
• Low coverage limits for no-medical-exam policies: You can only apply for coverage worth up to $100,000 without taking a medical exam at Lafayette. We found other insurers willing to sell $1 million or more of coverage without the exam. 

Financial Stability

AM Best is the credit rating agency that rates insurance companies for financial strength. Lafayette’s A+ rating means the company has a superior ability to meet its financial obligations. In our evaluation of life insurers, only seven other companies achieved the higher rating of A++. 

Customer Complaints 

The number of complaints an insurance company receives gives you a fair indication of how good your experience will be.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) tracks complaints sent to state regulators and assigns an index to companies based on how many they receive relative to their market share. An index of 1 means a company received the expected volume of complaints for its size. An index below 1 means a company received fewer than the expected number of complaints for the company’s size. An index above 1 means the number of complaints is greater than expected for its size.  

Lafayette’s average index over the last three years is 0.307, which is better than expected for its size. 

Types of Life Insurance Offered by Lafayette

Term

Term life insurance lasts for a set number of years, typically five to 30 years. Lafayette offers two term policies for people up to age 75, depending on the length of the term. In contrast, other companies we reviewed, such as Globe Life and Prudential, issue term policies to applicants up to age 85 or 90.

You can choose 10-year, 20-year, or 30-year terms starting with $100,000 in coverage. Here are the issue ages for these terms.

• 10-year term: Ages 18–75
• 20-year term: Ages 18–65
• 30-year term: Ages 18–50

Once the term ends, the policy is annually renewable, meaning you can renew it yearly at a higher premium. If your circumstances change and you decide you want a permanent life policy, you can convert your term policy to any permanent plan at any time until you reach age 65.

Lafayette automatically includes an accelerated death benefit rider with many term policies at no cost. You can also add riders for waiver of premium and children’s term at an additional cost. 

This policy starts with an initial premium that increases annually to age 100. Policies are available for new applicants up to age 75 and can be renewed without evidence of insurability annually to age 100. The minimum issue amount is $25,000. This policy doesn’t include any riders, but policyholders can add an accelerated death benefit rider for an additional cost.

Whole Life

Whole life policies provide a death benefit to your loved ones for your entire life. They include a cash value account that provides a living benefit that allows you to take loans or withdrawals from the cash value.

Lafayette issues whole life policies up to age 85. Other companies, such as MassMutual and Thrivent, will issue them to age 90.

Lafayette offers six different types of whole life insurance policies that pay dividends with minimum coverage amounts up to $100,000.

The Heritage policy is a basic whole life policy that includes accelerated death benefit riders for terminal illness, chronic illness, and critical illness. 

The Contender policy is similar to the Heritage policy with the added benefit that it may pay dividends. It includes the same accelerated death benefit riders as the Heritage policy.

The Patriot policy is the same as the Contender policy, but it includes the option to add a terminal dividend endorsement, which will return premiums paid if you surrender the policy within the first five years.

The Sentinel policy is designed for those who want to build up cash value by making higher payments for a limited period of 20 years or until they turn 65. At that point, the policy is considered paid in full. As with the other policies, the Sentinel includes accelerated death benefit riders at no cost. 

The 10-Pay Life 2022 policy is similar to the Sentinel policy, except that policyholders pay higher premiums for the first 10 years. The policy is then paid in full, and the death benefit is guaranteed for a lifetime. The terminal, chronic, and critical illness riders are also included in this policy. 

The Liberty policy allows policyholders to pay their life insurance premium in one lump sum at the start of the policy while guaranteeing the death benefit for a lifetime. This policy includes accelerated death benefit riders at no cost and may also earn dividends. 

Final Expense 

Lafayette offers two types of final expense insurance policies: a simplified issue policy and a graded death benefit policy.

Protector 2022 Simplified Issue Whole Life Insurance is Lafayette’s version of a final expense policy. Applicants between the ages of 40 and 85 can choose death benefits starting at $3,000 and going up to $50,000. Those who wish to pay their premiums in a lump sum can get coverage of up to $250,000. 

This is a simplified issue policy, which means applicants only have to answer a few health questions and won’t have to take a medical exam. Applicants have the option of adding an accelerated death benefit rider.

The Protector 2022 Graded Death Benefit is a graded death benefit policy, which means beneficiaries get their premiums back plus 10% interest, not the full death benefit, if the policyholder dies during the first three years of the policy. 

This policy is reserved for individuals who don’t qualify for the Protector 2022 Simplified Issue policy. Issue ages range from 40 to 85, and the minimum death benefit is $3,000. It doesn’t include any riders.

Does Lafayette Require a Life Insurance Medical Exam?

Some Lafayette policies don't require a medical exam. You can qualify for the Protector 2022 Simplified Issue and Protector 2022 Graded Death Benefit policies without a medical exam after you answer a few medical questions. 

Available Riders From Lafayette

Most of Lafayette’s policies include accelerated death benefit riders that allow you to receive advance payments against the death benefit if you have a terminal, chronic, or critical illness. 

Depending on the policy, these other riders may be available.

• Paid-up additions: Allows you to pay to increase the death benefit and cash value without increasing the premium
• Children’s term: Additional life insurance coverage for your children
• Waiver of premium disability benefit: Waives your premiums if you become totally disabled and cannot work
• Premium deposit fund: Allows you to prepay premiums in a lump sum into a separate account, from which the insurance company draws to pay future premiums
• Accidental death benefit: Provides an additional death benefit if you die because of an accident
• Guaranteed insurability: Allows you to buy additional life insurance without a medical exam

How Much Does Lafayette Life Insurance Cost?

Lafayette Life Insurance doesn’t allow you to get a quote online, but you can get a quote by calling the company or going through a life insurance agent who contracts with the company. 

How Does Lafayette Compare to Other Life Insurance Companies?

How to Buy Life Insurance From Lafayette

You can get a quote by calling customer service or filling out Lafayette’s online contact form to connect with an agent. 

Customer Service

The Bottom Line

Lafayette Life Insurance offers a wide variety of whole life insurance policies, allowing you plenty of flexibility when it comes to how you pay your premiums and grow your cash value. Lafayette has consistently issued dividends annually, but we found higher dividend interest rates from several other companies. In addition, you must speak with an agent to get a quote or apply. You can’t buy a Lafayette policy online.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is Lafayette Insurance a Good Company? 

Lafayette Insurance is a longstanding, financially strong life insurance company with few customer complaints relative to its size. It offers a wide variety of policy types, including two types of term and final expense policies and six types of whole life policies. Most policies include accelerated death benefit riders, and many optional riders are available to add more policy benefits for an additional charge. 

How Long Has Lafayette Life Insurance Been Around? 

Lafayette Life Insurance was founded in 1905 in Lafayette, Indiana. In 2005, the company moved its headquarters to Cincinnati when it merged with Western & Southern Financial Group.

Do Lafayette Life Insurance Policies Build Cash Value? 

All Lafayette whole life insurance policies build cash value, including the Protector 2022 Simplified Issue and Protector 2022 Graded Death Benefit final expense policies. The only policies that don’t have a cash value account are term policies, which offer only a death benefit and terminate at the end of the stated term. 

Is Lafayette Life Insurance Good at Paying Out Claims?  

All indications are that Lafayette Life Insurance is good at paying out claims. Lafayette’s A+ financial strength rating from AM Best indicates that it has a strong ability to pay out future insurance obligations. It also has fewer complaints than expected for a company its size. Western & Southern Financial Group, Lafayette’s parent company, says life insurers typically pay out claims within a couple of weeks.

How We Review Life Insurance Companies

To compile our list of the best life insurance companies, Investopedia first conducted preliminary research on dozens of life insurance companies and determined that 45 met our minimum standard for financial strength, customer satisfaction, and online transparency. For each of these, we then gathered a total of 70 evaluation criteria, resulting in 3,150 data points altogether. Data was collected between May 20 and July 3, 2024, and sourced from company webpages, media representatives, third-party rating agencies (AM Best, NAIC, and J.D. Power), and customer service calls.

We combined subject matter expertise, consumer survey and company survey data, and industry research to create a quantitative model that scores each company based on six major categories:

• Application and Online Service Features: 15%
• Policy Types: 22%
• Policy Features and Riders: 35%
• Financial Stability: 6%
• Customer Satisfaction: 10%
• Cost: 12%

For more information, read our full methodology explanation.