Equitable Life Insurance Company Review 2025
Written by
Christine Lacagnina has written thousands of insurance-based articles for TrustedChoice.com by authoring consumable, understandable content.
Reviewed by
Cara Carlone is a licensed P&C agent with 20 years of experience. She has her P&C license in RI and TX and holds CPCU, API, and AINS designations.
Our Equitable Life Insurance Company Score
2 Stars
We award Equitable Life Insurance a final rating of two out of five stars. The insurance company is highly rated by AM Best. However, it has also had numerous complaints filed against it through the BBB, and has a below-average rating by the organization.
It’s also difficult to find any positive customer feedback about the carrier, which can be understandable, considering Equitable Life Insurance does not offer online or even phone claims reporting. Customers report frustration with long wait times concerning claims resolution.
But customers seem even more disturbed with the kind of interactions they have with the carrier’s staff members. Many policyholders report downright rude experiences with customer service representatives.
Founded in 1859 under the name The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, Equitable has more than 160 years’ worth of experience in the insurance industry. Equitable was the first insurance company to pay death claims immediately. The carrier’s parent company is now known as Equitable Holdings.
Bottom line: While a long history and high financial strength ratings are important features to consider in an insurance company today, what we’re always most concerned with is whether a carrier delivers on its coverage promises to its customers. In Equitable’s case, the insurance company seems to fall short in this category. So, if you’re in the market for life insurance, we highly recommend working closely with your independent insurance agent to survey all your other options for trusted carriers and skip looking into Equitable Life Insurance—especially if good customer service is important to you.
Equitable Life Insurance Pros and Cons:
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Equitable Life Insurance Products by Type
Equitable is a specialized insurance company with a focus on life insurance. The carrier's coverage offerings include:
Life Insurance:
Equitable Life Insurance
Equitable offers four types of term life insurance for customers to choose from.
Coverage types, features, and benefits:
Level term life
Equitable offers life insurance with coverage terms of 10, 15, or 20 years and limits starting at $1 million.
Annual renewable term life
Equitable offers term life policies that renew automatically each year without reapplying. However, premiums increase every year. This type of policy offers a minimum death benefit of $1 million.
TermOne
Equitable offers non-renewable term life policies that expire after one year. These policies come with a minimum death benefit of $25,000.
Term-in-10
Equitable also offers term life policies that can be issued within minutes to customers aged 18 to 60. The same term lengths are available as the carrier's other term life policies, but customers under the age of 21 can only apply for a maximum of $500,000 in coverage, while older applicants can get a maximum of $1 million.
Equitable Life Insurance Riders
Equitable offers an accelerated death benefit rider, which is added to most life insurance policies for no additional charge. Customers can also add a children's term life insurance rider or a disability premium waiver rider to their coverage, depending on the type of policy they have.
Equitable Life Insurance Average Prices
Equitable does not make information about its average life insurance premiums readily available. However, an independent insurance agent can help find exact Equitable life insurance quotes for you. You can also get a better idea of how much coverage might cost you by using our life insurance calculator.
What Discounts Does Equitable Life Insurance Offer?
While Equitable does not make information about its specific discounts readily available, most life insurance companies today offer several common discounts on comparable coverages. These discounts often include:
- Annual premium discount: Insurance companies often award discounts to customers who pay their premiums annually instead of monthly.
- Young applicant discount: When signing up for life insurance, considerable discounts are often awarded to applicants who purchase coverage when they are younger, such as in their 20s or 30s.
- Non-tobacco user discount: Life insurance companies tend to reward customers who do not use tobacco products with cheaper premiums.
- Healthy family history discount: Life insurance companies also reward applicants with healthy genetics or a good family health history.
- Safe hobbies discount: Life insurance companies often award customers who practice safe, non-life threatening habits (e.g., no skydiving) with cheaper premiums.
Your independent insurance agent can help you find more information on exact discounts offered by Equitable and additional ways to save money through the insurance company, helping you to get the most bang for your buck on coverage.
Equitable Life Insurance Customer Service
Equitable provides the following customer service options:
- Snail mail
- Fax
- Online account management
- Mobile app
- The main customer service hotline has the following hour restrictions:
| Days | Hours (ET) | ||
| Monday-Thursday | 8:30 a.m.-7:00 p.m. | ||
| Friday | 8:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. |
The best way to ensure a smooth customer service experience is by working with an independent insurance agent. Independent insurance agents can help make customer service easier for you by handling claims and other concerns.
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Equitable Life Insurance FAQs
Equitable allows customers to file claims only through snail mail. The carrier does not provide a specific claims response time frame promise, but claim tracking information should be available after about five business days. Many customers report frustrations with long wait times.
Equitable has just one phone line for customer service and all other inquiries. The phone line contact option is available during extended hours, Monday-Thursday, and during restricted hours on Friday. The insurance company also has a social media presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, which makes it a bit more accessible to customers.
Equitable only offers claims reporting through snail mail, which seems like an extremely outdated practice for a carrier today. The carrier breaks down its claims process into the following steps:
- Notify Equitable Life Insurance to initiate the claim.
- Complete claims paperwork.
- Mail the completed forms to Equitable Life Insurance.
- Track the claim's status, which should be available after about five business days.
An independent insurance agent can also help file life insurance claims for you and keep you updated through every step of the process.
Equitable Life Insurance only offers snail mail claims reporting, which is almost archaic by today’s standards. The carrier also provides very limited information about its products, etc., online. The website is shared with its parent company, Equitable. Overall, Equitable Life Insurance is certainly behind many modern carriers in terms of a user-friendly experience.
Equitable Life Insurance specializes in life insurance. Its term life insurance policies come with the following perks:
- Terms of 1, 10, 15, or 20 years
- Minimum death benefit of $1 million for certain policies
- Accelerated death benefit rider
Your independent insurance agent can help you find out more about Equitable’s term life insurance policies as well as their other products offered.
Equitable Life Insurance has an extremely long history in the insurance industry and a high rating by AM Best. However, the carrier has a below-average rating by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and has had more than 100 complaints filed against it through the organization in the past three years, which is very high.
The insurance company does not offer online or even phone claims reporting services. Further, the vast majority of customer reviews seem to be negative. So, we’re hesitant at this point to call Equitable Life Insurance a good insurance company.
Equitable Life Insurance's products may be right for customers seeking various types of term life insurance coverage.
https://equitable.com/
https://news.ambest.com/newscontent.aspx?refnum=264285&altsrc=23
https://www.bbb.org/us/ny/new-york/profile/financial-services/equitable-0121-336
https://www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/life/equitable-life-insurance-review