Western & Southern Insurance Company Review

Is Western & Southern a good insurance company?
Written by Rene Todd Fields
Written by Rene Todd Fields

Environmental and natural resource advocate and business owner, Rene Todd Fields, has more than 10 years of experience working within both private and public sectors and enjoys helping individuals understand their options and make solid coverage decisions.

Updated

Western & Southern Insurance Company at a Glance

  • Founded in 1888
  • Report a claim over the phone, callback, email, fax, or mail
  • Coverage available in most states
  • “A+” (superior) rating by A.M. Best
  • “A+” (excellent) rating by Better Business Bureau (BBB)
  • Free instant online quotes

Western & Southern pros: Well-established carrier with over 130 years worth of experience in the insurance industry. Highly rated by A.M. Best and the BBB. 24/7 claims reporting via phone, online, callback, email, fax, or mail. Coverage available in most states.

Western & Southern cons: They are not BBB accredited. Their website does not offer clients a way to make a payments for coverage. It seems they would rather clients meet with them face to face to discuss insurance matters.

What Type of Insurance Does Western & Southern Offer?

Western & Southern has been serving families and businesses with a diverse range of life insurance, annuities, and investments. Western & Southern offers the following insurance products.

  • Life insurance
    • Whole life insurance: This is permanent life insurance providing personalized, lifelong coverage.
    • Universal life insurance: This is a flexible, permanent insurance option that adjusts as your needs change.
    • Term life insurance: This is flexible, affordable protection for your short-term insurance needs.
  • Annuities
    • Fixed annuity: This option accumulates wealth based on a minimum interest rate for the life of the annuity.
    • Variable annuity: This option allows you to choose how to allocate funds within your tolerance and range from aggressive to conservative.
  • Investments
    • Mutual funds: These are pools of stocks, bonds, and other assets in which you and investors with similar goals invest your money.
    • Individual retirement accounts: These are special types of investments with tax features designed to help you prepare for retirement.
    • 529 college savings plan: This is a way for you to save for higher education for yourself or for loved ones.
  • Additional insurance
    • Accidental death insurance: This option is a complement to your life insurance policy and helps protect you and your family in case of an accidental death.
    • Critical illness insurance: This option is an individual health policy that pays you a lump-sum benefit upon diagnosis of a covered illnesses.
    • Medicare supplement insurance: This is additional insurance to help pay for some health care expenses not covered under Medicare.
    • Long-term care insurance: This is coverage for nursing home care, home health care, and other personal assistance you may require as a senior.
    • Disability income insurance: This is protection that can provide you a source of income to help pay living expenses if you become disabled.

Your independent insurance agent can help you find more information about the coverage offered by Western & Southern, and help you decide if this insurance company is right for you.

What to Know about Western & Southern

Western & Southern was founded in 1904, giving the carrier over 110 years worth of experience in the insurance industry. They are a lead company of a group of life insurance companies that have operated since 2000 under a mutual insurance holding company structure as the Western & Southern Financial Group.

The principles set out by the first members of Western & Southern focused on providing premium life insurance that industrial workers could afford and was established in Cincinnati to provide weekly premium life insurance benefits for its policyholders. Western & Southern specializes in providing personalized coverage paired with the expert advice of independent agents.

Today Western & Southern Financial, offers an array of life insurance products, annuities, accident and supplemental health coverages, disability insurance, and mutual funds. The achieve this by working through independent agents and brokers.

Coverage is offered in most states. The insurance company's LinkedIn profile states that Western & Southern has between 1,001-5,000 employees, with 1,444 of them found on the social media platform. As far as financial size, A.M. Best places the carrier in the $2 billion or greater category.

Established in 1899, A.M. Best is one of the oldest rating companies in the world. Reviews from A.M. Best indicate an insurance company’s financial strength and creditworthiness and are based on comprehensive evaluations of the company’s operating performance, business profile, and annual report.

Thanks to its long heritage of financial stability and strength, Western & Southern has earned a reputation as a superior insurance company with a stable outlook for the future. A.M. Best, the leading global credit rating agency monitoring the insurance industry, gives Western & Southern an “A+” rating, implying the carrier is a superior choice for insurance customers. High ratings from A.M. Best assure customers that Western & Southern can offer guaranteed, secure coverage from a financially sound insurance company.

What Discounts Does Western & Southern Offer?

Western & Southern does not offer discounts on their products or services.

An independent insurance agent can provide better discount information and premium quotes for coverage through Western & Southern. When it comes to coverage, independent insurance agents work hard to help to get you the most out of your money.

Western & Southern Customer Service

Western & Southern offers 24/7 phone and online claims reporting, tracking, and management for its policyholders. The carrier also provides the following customer service options.

  • Phone, mail, fax, or online payments
  • Phone or online account management
  • Customer service availability - Western & Southern’s customer service is available as follows by phone, fax, or online.


Hours (Eastern)


Monday-Thursday 8 am – 10 pm


Friday 8 am – 6 pm


Saturday 9 am – 1 pm

Another sentence about customer service and independent insurance agents

Western & Southern FAQ

What is Western & Southern's average claim response time frame?

Western & Southern offers claims reporting through a few methods, via online, fax, callback, or phone. However, the insurance company does not provide an official claims response time frame promise. Western & Southern does encourage customers to file claims as soon as possible.

What is Western & Southern's customer service availability?

Western & Southern allows customers to file claims over the phone, fax, or online 24/7. Their hotline for customer service inquiries specifies business hours on their official website. The carrier’s social media presence extends across Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn, which makes them more accessible to clients.

What is Western & Southern's claims process?

Western & Southern offers a couple of options for claims reporting. The insurance company details their claims process on their official website. If customers have questions about filing or the claims process itself, they can contact Western & Southern via phone, callback, fax, or online, or get in touch with an independent insurance agent.

Does Western & Southern's insurance create a user-friendly experience for customers?

Western & Southern’s official website makes it easy to find the insurance options you are looking for in a life insurance policy. The provides information about their claims process but do not detail a claims response time frame. Online bill pay is available, as is 24/7 claims reporting via phone, callback, fax, or online, which are great, inventive customer service features. Thus, Western & Southern website is user-friendly.

Western & Southern Customer Reviews

https://www.freeadvice.com/
5 Stars
“Agent came to our home and sat with us after mom died. There was a lot of paperwork from other insurance companies that we did not know how to fill out. She filed the death claims for us, then handed us the money from mom’s Western & Southern policy. We had more money than we thought because some policies were paid off and we didn’t know about it. The company was kind, quick and honest.”
https://www.freeadvice.com/
5 Stars
“Was diagnosed with cancer after a year with a critical illness plan. It took them about two months and I got paid. What a blessing. I recommended this company to all my friends and family. Great service. Friendly and very caring agent at local office.”
https://www.freeadvice.com/
"They take forever to give you the check. They drag their feet and keep having you fill out more paperwork that you have already completed, to buy time before having to pay out claims. The agents are hard to get in touch with and bad about returning calls. We had trouble with claims for both my mom and dad policies.”
https://www.freeadvice.com/
"I had a policy with them and my baby sister had passed at the age of 6 due to a car accident. Had the whole family insured through them but when baby sister was born, we didn’t have the funds to purchase her a policy so we waited till she was almost 6 years old to buy it. When we process a claim, our agent was very understanding and explained everything to us in details of what will happen since we only had the policy for 4 months. She explained that because it's under a 2 years, there is a grace period, it was considered contestable and so we did not get her payout within the 10 working days. It took them 3 months to pay but they finally did pay. Agent told us that because they needed police report, autopsy and death certificate, it will take some time because they wanted to make sure it wasn’t an existing illness. They are a good company as far I can see. Sometimes, I think we complained about how unsatisfied we are because of our lack of understanding. It helps to go google it and learn it to our own benefits. Also…as a beneficiary, as I was reading some complaints earlier, I realized that some people are clueless. Just because someone puts us as a beneficiary, that doesn’t mean that they kept us on. In the original policy, it may have our name on it but I also learned that the owner of the policy may have our name taken out at any given time without informing us and its their choice, not an obligation. They, the owner can make that change as much as they want and there is nothing the beneficiary can do about it. Its educating ourselves that will relieve these frustrations.”
https://www.freeadvice.com/
“Sadly I had two life policies I had to claim and they were very quick in paying the benefits to me..”

TrustedChoice.com's Final Review

We award Western & Southern Company a final rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars. The insurance company has been around for over 130 years, which is no small thing within the insurance industry. And the carrier has definitely used this time to their advantage. Western & Southern specializes in providing personalized coverage paired with the expert advice of independent agents.

Western & Southern has received high ratings through A.M. Best and the BBB. Coverage is offered most states and they have many insurance options to choose from. The insurance company provides 24/7 claims reporting via phone, fax, and online plus online or via phone bill pay.

There is a ton of information available about the carrier’s different coverage options on their official website, however, there is no claims response time frame promise. It was not very easy to find a lot of positive customer feedback about Western & Southern online, but there are many really good reviews out there.

Therefore, our recommendation is that if you are in the market for life insurance or financial services, review your options for trusted carriers with your independent insurance agent, and look into how Western & Southern can help you out with life insurance.

Share this page on Twitter Share this page on Facebook Share this page on LinkedIn

linkedin.com

westernsouthern.com

bbb.org

ambest.com

freeadvice.com