Equitable Life Insurance Company Review 2024

Highlights

• Equitable Life is one of Canada’s largest mutual insurance companies, which is good news for policyholders who will benefit from the company’s continued success
• They operate and sell their insurance products through a network of independent advisors across the nation (we are one of them!)
• They sell a large range of individual insurance and have developed an impressive array of group benefits solutions
• Product pricing for their insurance products is very competitive
• Customers report extremely good customer service and attentive staff

In This Article

• Equitable Life: FAQS
• Equitable Life: Company Overview
• Equitable Life: Pros & Cons
• Equitable Life: Insurance Products
• Equitable Life: Term Life Insurance
• Equitable Life: Permanent Life Insurance
• Equitable Life: Other Insurance Products
• Equitable Life: Customer Satisfaction
• Equitable Life: Customer Criticism

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What term lengths does Equitable Life offer?

A: Equitable Life offers 10 & 20 term lengths. In addition, Equitable Life offers a 30 Year Term/Term to Age 65 combined product. Unlike some other life insurance providers, Equitable Life does not offer 15 or 25 year term lengths. 

Q: Are Equitable Life’s term life insurance rates guaranteed?

A: Yes, the rates (and coverage amount) are guaranteed for the entire length of the initial term.

Q: Does Equitable Life offer any permanent life insurance options? 

A: Yes, Equitable Life offers a few different permanent life insurance plans – Equimax Estate Builder, Equimax Wealth Accumulator, and Equation Generation IV (please see below for additional information on each of these plans).

Q: How much life insurance coverage does Equitable Life offer? 

A: The amount of coverage offered by Equitable Life for term life insurance ranges from $50,000 – $10,000,000 ($11,000 – $20,000,000 for Whole Life). 

Q: What is the average underwriting time for Equitable Life?

A: There are numerous factors that play a role in the length of time that it takes from when an application is submitted to when it is approved. We typically see policies get approved within 5-7 business days with Equitable Life after all requirements have been met.

Q: Does Equitable Life charge fees to cancel a life insurance policy?

A: No, there are no penalties or fees to cancel a life insurance policy from Equitable Life (regardless if it is a term or permanent life insurance policy).

Q: Does Equitable Life allow annual payments?

A: Yes, you can either pay your insurance premiums on a monthly or annual basis. You will receive a discount if you pay annually compared to monthly (you save almost one month’s premium!).

Q: Does Equitable Life allow for credit card payments?

A: No, Equitable Life does not accept credit card payments for either monthly or annual premium payments. 

Q: Does Equitable Life offer any unique products in the insurance industry? 

A: Yes – Equitable Life offers a combined Term 30/Age 65 life insurance plan. Term 30/65 offers the lowest overall cost for 30 years of coverage. Premiums are payable to the later of 30 years or age 65, with no premium increases.

Q: Who can qualify for term life insurance through Equitable Life?

A: Term life insurance applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 75.

Equitable Life: Company Overview

• Year Founded: 1920
• Head Office: Waterloo, Ontario
• AM Best Rating: Not Rated
• Assets: Over $4B
• Annual Premiums: Over $1B
• Website: https://www.equitable.ca

The Equitable Life Insurance Company of Canada was born in 1920 in Waterloo, Ontario. Founded by Sydney Tweed as The Ontario Equitable Life and Accident Insurance Company, the organization rapidly outgrew its second-floor offices. Within the first twelve months, Tweed’s company had gone from $300 000 in active insurance policies to over $7 million. This growth rate is a Canadian record that any other insurance company has yet to beat.

The Great Depression tainted the early 1930s with unprecedented socio-economic difficulty and few countries suffered as much as Canada. Unemployment skyrocketed and millions were left jobless. By 1933, 30% of the labour force found themselves without an income, struggling to survive and in many cases, became homeless. Canada’s economy was (and continues to be) reliant in large part on the exportation of raw materials and farm goods. During the Depression, a crippling drought swept the prairies and compounded Canadians’ economic struggle.

The Ontario Equitable Life and Accident Insurance Company saw the desperate need for families to protect themselves as best they could in turbulent times. The company launched a new income policy specifically to help support families with monthly instalments. Together with the newly developed government social welfare program, Equitable Life helped support Canadians through the toughest economic struggle in modern history.^[2]

In 1936, the company officially changed its name to The Equitable Life Insurance Company of Canada to reflect its goal of bringing life insurance to citizens across the nation. Today, Equitable Life is one of the largest insurance companies in the country and supplies millions of Canadians with insurance coverage. They work with independent advisors and brokers to offer coverage to as many people as possible in every Canadian province. Equitable Life is a mutual company, which means it is owned by the policyholders. This corporate structure focuses the company’s interest on you, the client, and has proven effective year after year in reaching impressive financial records. 

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^[1] https://www.equitable.ca/en/who-we-are.aspx

^[2] https://archive.org/details/canadianeconomyi0000safa

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Equitable Life: Pros & Cons

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Equitable Life: Insurance Products

Equitable Life remains dedicated to providing financial stability to Canadian families. Their services range from individual and group insurance plans, to savings accounts and retirement funds. They also supply an investment management service designed to help you build a portfolio and increase your personal wealth through tactical expenditure.

Let’s take a closer look at what insurance products Equitable Life has to offer.

Equitable Life: Term Life Insurance

Equitable Life’s offering of term life insurance is quite easy to understand. They offer a traditional term life insurance product with three different variations of term lengths. Term life insurance provides life insurance coverage for a specific amount of time, with the option to renew or adapt to a new policy once the term period ends.

• Equitable offers three different term lengths: Term 10, Term 20 and Term 30/65
• Term 10 offers level premiums and death benefit for 10 years, and is renewable until age 85
• Term 20 offers level premiums and death benefit for 20 years, and is renewable until age 85
• Term 30/65 offers level premiums and death benefit for 30 years or until age 65, whichever is later and is not renewable
• You can convert any of Equitable Life’s term life insurance policies to their permanent life insurance products
• To qualify for preferred pricing, the coverage has to be over $1,000,000
• Ability to add optional riders and benefits to the policy such as critical illness, children’s life insurance, guaranteed insurability, disability waiver of premium and more
• Privilege of switching a 10 year term to a 20 year term within the first five years of the policy

Please contact us if you are interested in learning more about Equitable Life’s term life insurance product.

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Equitable Life: Permanent Life Insurance

If you need life insurance protection for your entire life, you should consider permanent life insurance. Equitable Life offers two participating whole life insurance products called Equimax Estate Builder and Equimax Wealth Accumulator. They also have a universal life insurance product called Equation Generation IV. Their simple, yet powerful permanent life insurance products have made Equitable Life a brand name in Canada when it comes to permanent life insurance, especially with their whole life insurance products. Let’s take a peak at these products in more detail.

• Equimax Estate Builder (Whole Life)
• Equimax Wealth Accumulator (Whole Life)
• Equation Generation IV (Universal Life)

Equimax Estate Builder (Whole Life)

Equimax Estate Builder is one of two participating whole life insurance policies offered by Equitable Life. They provide a clear peace of mind for their policyholders as they have not missed a dividend payment on their participating whole life insurance products since they first offered them in 1936.

The Equimax Estate Builder is designed to provide lifetime insurance protection with an emphasis on the long term growth of cash values and death benefit. This is a great whole life product for someone looking for permanent life insurance to cover estate issues such as taxes at death, estate issues and final expenses.

• Choose from coverage amounts between $11,000 and $20,000,000
• Can pay premiums for life or pay policy up in 20 years (also referred to as 20 Pay Whole Life)
• Provides guaranteed death benefits, cash values and premiums
• Policy types include single coverage, joint first-to-die and joint last-to-die
• Ability to increase policy values by making additional deposits into the policy (Excelerator Deposit Option)
• Five dividend options to choose from
• Ability to add optional riders and benefits to the policy such as term life insurance, critical illness, child insurance, accidental death, disability waiver of premium and more

If you’re looking for a quote, you’ll have to contact us as they have to be done manually. Click here to contact us to get a free quote.

Equimax Wealth Accumulator (Whole Life)

Equimax Wealth Accumulator is the second of two participating whole life insurance policies offered by Equitable Life. The strength of Equitable Life’s dividend paying ability is also shown with the Wealth Accumulator as dividends although not guaranteed, are being paid consistently every year.

The Equimax Wealth Accumulator is designed to provide lifetime insurance protection with a focus on high early cash values. This product is a great solution for those needing access to the cash in the early years of the policy for education purposes, business needs or to help supplement income in retirement.

• Very similar features as Equimax Estate Builder
• Choose from coverage amounts between $11,000 and $20,000,000
• Can pay premiums for life or pay policy up in 20 years (also referred to as 20 Pay Whole Life)
• Provides guaranteed death benefits, cash values and premiums
• Policy types include single coverage, joint first-to-die and joint last-to-die
• Ability to increase policy values by making additional deposits into the policy (Excelerator Deposit Option)
• Five dividend options to choose from
• Ability to add optional riders and benefits to the policy such as term life insurance, critical illness, child insurance, accidental death, disability waiver of premium and more

If you’re looking for a quote, you’ll have to contact us as they have to be done manually. Click here to contact us to get a free quote.

Equation Generation IV (Universal Life)

Last, but not least is Equitable Life’s universal life insurance product called Equation Generation IV. It provides permanent life insurance protection and a built in tax-advantaged savings and investment component. You are in full control of your policies features and performance with the wide range of investment options to choose from to hold inside of your policy. It provides the ability to make changes to your premiums, insurance coverage amount and investment options to meet your needs over time.

• Choose from coverage amounts between $50,000 and $10,000,000
• Cost of insurance options available are Level, YRT (yearly renewable term) and YRT to Level
• Policy types include single coverage, joint first-to-die and joint last-to-die
• Wide range of investment options for the tax-advantage investment account
• Ability to add optional riders and benefits to the policy such as term life insurance, critical illness, child insurance, accidental death, disability waiver of premium and more
• Click here for a great brochure for Equitable Life’s Equation Generation IV product

Interested in learning more? Click here to contact us to get a free quote or ask any questions.

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Equitable Life: Other Insurance Products

• EquiLiving Critical Illness
• Group Benefits
• Savings & Retirement

EquiLiving Critical Illness

Equitable Life’s EquiLiving product is a very popular and competitive critical illness insurance plan in Canada. It provides coverage for 25 conditions with three different policy options to choose from (10 year renewable term, level term to age 75 and level term to age 100). You can purchase this product as a standalone or add it as a rider on one of Equitable Life’s other life insurance products. They add an additional five coverages for those who are between the age group of 30 days old to 17 years age. Coverage options available between $25,000 and $2,000,000.

Please contact us if you would like more information regarding Equitable Life’s EquiLiving Critical Illness plans.

Group Benefits

Group insurance refers to insurance that is provided by an employer to their employees. Your employer will either pay some of or the whole amount of your monthly premiums and answer any questions you have about your policy. Equitable Life works with employers through a network of advisors to find the best group benefits for any collective of employees. Equitable Life’s group insurance is available to covers a range of possible financial burdens including: group life and accident insurance, health and dental coverage, disability management, and health care spending accounts (HCSA).

The Equitable Life myFlex benefits also lets employees choose from a range of plans, features a built in HSCA, and lets employers choose their coverage while employees can purchase their own add-ons. In short, whether you operate a large or small company, Equitable Life has a group benefits program for you.

Please contact us if you would like more information regarding Equitable Life’s group benefit plans.

Savings & Retirement

Equitable Life sells various savings and investment plans to help you save for the future, or enjoy your retirement. Some of these include:

• Guaranteed interest accounts with competitive interest rates, no policy fees, creditor protection, estate planning and flexible payment options
• Payout annuities that guarantee income for a limited term or for life, flexible payments, preferred tax-treatment, probate avoidance, and creditor and policyholder protection
• Registered Retirement Savings Plan with 18% earned income annual limit contributions, a home buyer’s plan (which allows you to withdraw up to $35000 tax-free to purchase your first home), income splitting (especially important if you and your partner earn different amounts), and a tax-sheltered retirement income fund

Please contact us if you would like more information regarding Equitable Life’s savings and retirement plans.

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Equitable Life: Customer Satisfaction

After a thorough read of online (verified) customer feedback reviews, Equitable Life shines in several areas.

• Customer service: Equitable Life has one of the best customer service systems in the industry and works hard to provide personalized care to each and every customer. Staff are trained to deal with a huge variety of customer queries and the service hours are accessible. Customers report that the company is very responsive and attentive to individual policyholders. This is in part due to Equitable Life’s extensive network of independent advisors who work to match each customer with their perfect coverage plan.
• Affordable rates: Equitable Life has competitive insurance rates, especially for clients aged 30-55. Many customers are impressed at their rate of return after purchasing a policy.
• Easy claims process: Those who have filed a claim with Equitable Life report that the process is smooth and relatively speedy. The online platform allows customers to film claims online, via email, phone, or fax. The feedback for all of these methods is generally excellent.

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Equitable Life: Customer Criticism

• No electronic policies: Currently, Equitable Life only issues paper policies and does not trade in electronic copies. Because they operate with in person advisors, you will need to purchase a policy through these agents. While this might be frustrating for clients looking for speedy coverage, it does mean more a personalized policy as well as generally higher insurance amounts.
• Slow payouts: As with many insurance companies, a source of frustration for clients is the company’s slow insurance payouts. It can take some time for Equitable Life to deliberate and settle on the exact terms of a policy if the circumstances surrounding the claim are in any way unusual. This being said, the problem is not unique to Equitable Life. Most insurance companies will stall when it comes to letting go of large funds.

That’s all folks! We hope you have found this review of Equitable Life helpful and are now a little bit closer to closing in on your perfect insurance provider.