Compare Prudential Life Insurance vs. Banner Life Insurance

Prudential and Banner Life are two of the most reputable life insurance companies in America. They both have A+ ratings from AM Best and hundreds of thousands of policyholders. Both companies have been in business for many decades and have weathered economic turmoil and major market disruptions along the way. By choosing a life insurance policy from either Prudential or Banner Life, you can be confident you're working with an upstanding and financially stable company.

But for all their similarities, Prudential and Banner Life vary in the products they offer and their pricing structures. When you compare Prudential Life insurance vs. Banner Life insurance side by side, you can see these differences emerge. The following sections break down the key differences between these two life insurance companies.

Compare Prudential Life Insurance vs. Banner Life Insurance: Policy Premiums

Before comparing the cost of life insurance from Prudential and Banner Life side by side, it's important to note that these prices reflect a hypothetical applicant of a specific age and specific health status, purchasing a specific type of policy for a specific benefit amount. In this case, we're looking at healthy applicants aged 30, 40 and 50, who are buying a 20-year term life policy with a death benefit of $500,000.

Because you might have a completely different applicant profile from our hypothetical policyholder, you should build a quote from each company and see which one offers the best rate for you and your family. Life insurance companies consider a number of factors when calculating premiums, and there are practically unlimited combinations of these factors, making it impossible to do side-by-side premium comparisons for every applicant out there.

As the table shows, Prudential has slightly lower average premiums for healthy applicants across different age brackets, but the difference doesn't become significant until age 50, and it's more so for male applicants than female applicants. Based on your unique applicant profile, you might find cheaper premiums at Banner Life, so it's vital to get quotes from both companies.

Source: Policygenius

Product Availability

Though the table above compares premium costs from Banner Life and Prudential for term life insurance, that is not the only life insurance product these companies offer. Prudential has an extensive suite of products, and Banner Life focuses on the two most common types of insurance.

The following are the major forms of life insurance offered by one or both companies.

Life Insurance Products Offered by Both Companies

• Term life insurance: Term life provides coverage if the policyholder dies within a specified time window, usually 10, 20 or 30 years. If the policyholder is still alive at the end of the term, the coverage goes away, or in some cases, the policyholder can roll it into a new term — at a higher premium amount, of course, because they're older now — or convert the policy to permanent life insurance. Because life expectancy in the United States is 80 years, most term life policies, even those taken out by 50-year-olds, don't actually pay out. Term policies taken out by younger people are even less likely to pay a death benefit. This allows the insurance company to charge much lower premiums than for permanent life insurance, which is guaranteed to pay out at some point down the road as long as the premiums are kept up.
• Universal life insurance: Universal life insurance is a type of permanent coverage that accrues cash value, which the policyholder can tap into while still alive. It differs from traditional whole life insurance in that both the premiums and death benefit are flexible. The policyholder can adjust them up and down during periods when they need more or less coverage.

Life Insurance Products Offered by Prudential Only

• Variable universal life insurance: Variable universal life insurance is a type of universal life insurance in which the cash value is invested in equities, including stocks and money markets. It offers more growth potential than a traditional universal life policy where the cash value grows at a fixed but secure rate, but it also exposes you to more risk during recessions and downturns in the equity markets.
• Indexed universal life insurance: Indexed universal life insurance is similar to variable universal life. The key difference is that the cash value of an indexed policy isn't invested directly into the market but pegged to a market index, such as the S&P 500.

Life Insurance Products Offered by Neither Company

• Whole life insurance: Whole life insurance provides permanent coverage at a fixed premium rate and accrues cash value, also at a fixed rate of interest. Neither Prudential nor Banner Life offers traditional whole life insurance.

Riders and Add-Ons

Life insurance policy riders provide additional protection for specific events, such as critical illness or accidental death. Prudential and Banner Life offer several of the same riders, but Prudential has one that isn't available through Banner Life.

Riders Offered by Both Companies

• Child protection rider: The child protection rider pays an additional benefit if the policyholder's minor child dies. The benefit is a fixed amount, usually enough to cover funeral expenses.
• Accelerated death benefit rider: The accelerated death benefit rider allows a policyholder to access their death benefit while still alive if they are diagnosed with a qualifying illness, usually a terminal one.
• Disability waiver of premium rider: The disability waiver of premium rider allows a policyholder to retain their death benefit without paying premiums if they become totally disabled.

Riders Offered by Prudential Only

• Accidental death benefit rider: The accidental death benefit rider pays an additional benefit upon the policyholder's death if it resulted from a qualifying accident.

Protecting Your Family With the Best Life Insurance Policy

Whether you choose a life insurance policy from Prudential or Banner Life, you can be sure you're getting protection from a top-rated insurer. Your specific needs will determine which company offers the best policy for you. A financial advisor can guide you in the right direction.