Speak with an experienced advisor! Quick tip: If you’re interested in converting your West Coast Life term life insurance policy, fill out the form on the side and we’ll help you with your options.
West Coast Life Insurance was acquired by Protective Life Insurance in 1996 and is a subsidiary of Protective Life. Currently, West Coast Life isn’t being sold anymore, but all of their policies are being serviced by Protective Life Insurance.
So if you have a West Coast Life term insurance policy, you can still convert to a permanent policy under Protective’s suite of permanent products.
In this article, we’ll tell you about your conversion options with West Coast Life and how to go about getting rates to see if a term life insurance conversion makes sense for you.
West Coast Life Conversion Information
With West Coast Life, you have the ability to convert your life insurance policy up to the age of 75.
However, if you look at the terminology in your West Coast Life Insurance policy, you’ll find that West Coast Life left their options on what you can convert to open. And currently the conversions options aren’t that great.
At the moment, there isn’t a guaranteed universal life product to convert to (guaranteed level premiums for life). There used to be when West Coast Life was selling their term, so don’t blame your agent on this. Back in 2010, West Coast Life/Protective changed what companies you can convert to and caused quite the outrage to agents because they didn’t even give us warning.
What this means to you is your life insurance policy is still convertible if you’re under the age of 75..but the maximum guarantee you can get is 10 years. By guarantee we mean guaranteed level premiums before your rates will likely go up, so you have 10 years before your premiums will go up and usually it’s a significant increase.
Not the best scenario, but also not the worst if your health has declined and your term is about to expire.
Here are the common conversion scenarios we’re seeing with West Coast Life:
(1) If your health hasn’t changed or there’s some minor health issues, we’re typically not converting your West Coast Life policy as we can find you something cheaper than the conversion product Protective is offering AND guaranteed level for life.
(2) If you’ve had health complications since you initially purchased your life insurance policy, we almost always exercise your conversion feature. If it’s unaffordable, we have a conversation about only converting a smaller coverage amount or dialing down the 10 year guarantee period.
(3) If you’re retiring and want to convert a small portion into permanent coverage, we weigh converting your West Coast Life policy or purchasing a new policy with guarantees and just letting your term policy lapse. I’d say it’s 50/50 if we convert or go with a new policy – it all depends on the situation.
How To Convert Your West Coast Life Insurance Policy
Easy. Contact us.
We convert West Coast Life Insurance policies all the time and there’s no charge for our service.
Our process is simple – we get to know your situation and budget, send you rates and if it makes sense for you, we’ll collect all the documents needed and process the paperwork on your behalf. We’ll then be the agent on your new policy.
We know it’s hard to get straight answers from the company itself. And even if you do get answers, designing a permanent life insurance policy takes experience and someone looking after your own interests.
Just know that we work on behalf of you and not West Coast Life/Protective. If it’s in your best interest to buy a policy outside of West Coast Life, we’ll make that recommendation like we mention in example #1 above. And if you end up converting your West Coast Life insurance policy, we’ll make sure we design a policy within your budget and make sure you understand all the guarantees.
Fill out the form on this page to get started or give us a call.
