Big Lou Insurance Review

Many people with pre-existing health issues find it difficult to navigate the life insurance marketplace. Big Lou’s mission is to simplify this process by educating its enrollees and helping them understand the ins and outs of the life insurance process.

Find out more about Big Lou Life Insurance below to find out if this company might be a good match for you. 

About Big Lou

Founded in the early 1980s, Big Lou is a national life insurance brokerage firm in Fort Walton Beach, FL. It solicits term and permanent life insurance policies, annuities and long-term care products nationwide. Its niche market typically includes upscale, affluent customers with serious insurance needs.

Big Lou is the brand name created and used by TermProvider in advertising. Symbolically, “Big Lou” represents an every person idea — he’s just like you in that he needs quality and reliable life insurance despite the health issues he struggles with.

Big Lou aims to get you the best price the first time with no surprises once the policy is approved, but it also works to guarantee the lowest price. It also doesn't ask new clients for money up front — no payments are required until you find the policy that’s right for you.

What Life Insurance Products Does Big Lou Offer?

Term Life Insurance

In most cases, a term life insurance policy is simply a guaranteed death benefit. It's money that can help the loved ones you leave behind cover the costs of expenses such as bills, funerals or even college educations.

Term life insurance is often the cheapest way to purchase a substantial death benefit, and Big Lou offers different forms of term coverage to help you find a policy that works for you and your budget.

• Level Term Life Insurance. The most common type of term coverage is guaranteed level premium term life insurance. With this kind of policy, the premium is guaranteed to be the same for a given period of time (typically in increments of either 10, 15, 20 or 30 years). Throughout this allotted “term,” the premium cost remains the same.
  However, the longer the term, the higher the premium. The older, more expensive-to-insure years are averaged into the premium as a whole. When the term has run its course, the enrollee has the choice to either drop the policy or pay annually increasing premiums to continue coverage. 
  
  
• Return of Premium Life Insurance. The concept behind this type of term life insurance is that your premium payments over the fixed term get returned to you if you don’t use your coverage.
  For example — if you purchase a 30-year term policy for a grand total of $50,000 in premium payments over the course of that 30 years, all $50,000 will be refunded to you at the end of the 30-year term if you are still alive and have not used the insurance. However, if the policy is canceled in the midst of the term, no money is returned. 

Whole Life Insurance

Whole life insurance combines the concepts of a term policy with a cash value component. It’s meant to add support to your retirement budget and provide substantial benefits in certain circumstances. When you pay your premium, a certain percentage of your payment goes into a tax-deferred, investment-like savings component, which increases the cash value of your policy.

By adding funds in increments over time, your policy builds substantially in value by the time of your retirement or other date. Once you’ve accumulated a certain cash amount, you can access this money similarly to an actual savings account with a bank.

You can withdraw funds, take a loan out against them or even use it to gain tax exemption on your retirement income. Much like with term coverage, you can lock in the same monthly payment throughout the duration of your coverage; however, one thing you can do to increase your policy’s cash value is pay more than your required premium. The excess funds go straight into the cash value, thus building it exponentially faster than you could simply paying your minimum premium.

Universal Life Insurance

The concept of universal life insurance policies was directly developed from whole life insurance. Universal policies are based purely upon their cash value. Each month, the cash value collects interest, and if you’re unable to make a premium payment, your monthly cost of insurance (COI) charge is subtracted from your policy’s value.

The advantages of universal coverage lie both in its flexibility and its potential for exponential growth in cash value due to interest accumulation. Additionally, the death benefit amount can be adjusted without surrendering the policy altogether and having to enroll in an all new policy (a measure that’s necessary in the event of whole life coverage).

However, with this comes a greater responsibility on the enrollee’s part of maintaining the death benefit. In a whole life policy, the death benefit is guaranteed as long as every premium payment is made. A universal policy will lapse if the policy’s cash value or premium payments aren’t enough to cover the cost of insurance. 

Big Lou also offers living benefits and term layering with certain coverage options.

Pros and Cons of Big Lou

PROS:

• Known for excellent customer service.
• Multiple options and offers to help you find the best rate for the best coverage to meet your needs.
• Excellent track record over 30 years.
• Customers seem to love this company, as over 99% of its online reviews are overwhelmingly positive.

CONS:

• You cannot obtain an instant, on-the-spot quote. 
• Big Lou serves a niche market, and the demographic of their clientele is fairly limited.
• The underwriting process used to gather information about a potential new enrollee’s medical and driving history is particularly lengthy. 
• As with any insurance firm, not all who apply for coverage qualify. 
• Big Lou doesn’t offer burial insurance or guaranteed issue life insurance.

Big Lou Reviews: What People are Saying

As mentioned above, customer reviews of Big Lou’s services are overwhelmingly positive. Many reviewers note Big Lou’s professional and kind customer service, citing their insurance agents as being both helpful and highly knowledgeable. Reviewers also seem to appreciate Big Lou’s competitive rates. With an overall online review rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars, customers seem to love Big Lou’s proclivity for keeping the life insurance process simpler to understand. 

Is a Big Lou Life Insurance Policy Right for You?

With its extra-mile customer service and primary focus on providing policies to those with pre-existing health conditions, it’s no wonder Big Lou is a national leader in impaired risk life insurance. If you are slightly overweight, diabetic or experiencing symptoms of another health risk and are searching for a life insurance policy to fit your needs at a comfortable cost, Big Lou might be just the provider you’re looking for.