Pacific Life Insurance Review (2024)

Pacific Life is headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif., and has an A+ financing strength rating from AM Best. The company offers many policy options and may be attractive to consumers seeking a robust number of riders, which can help create flexibility and customizable policies.

The company also has a solid track record for customer service and policyholder and applicant communications. One drawback to Pacific Life is that you can’t buy life insurance policies online — you must work through independent Pacific Life agents to purchase products.

Life insurance is a contract between a policyholder who agrees to make premium payments and an insurer that agrees to pay a death benefit to designated beneficiaries when the policyholder dies. Premium costs depend on a policyholder’s age, gender, health, lifestyle and other factors. Those same factors can affect the coverage amount, which the buyer can usually choose.

Some whole life insurance policies have a cash value amount plus a death benefit value. Cash value functions as a savings or investment account that earns interest over time, and the policyholder can borrow against that money in certain situations.

You can follow the below steps to shop for a life insurance policy:

• Choose the type of coverage you need — term or whole life.
• Determine the amount of coverage you need and for how long.
• Identify potential riders to customize your coverage.
• Request quotes from multiple providers to compare pricing.
• Check each company’s financial health and customer ratings.

Pacific Life offers the following types of life insurance policies:

Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance lets a policyholder buy coverage for a specific period, usually between 10 and 30 years. Pacific Life offers policies up to 35 years in length. If the insured person passes away during that period, the insurance company will pay a predetermined amount to the beneficiaries named in the policy. But if the policy period ends before the policyholder dies, the policy is no longer in force.

Many companies offer term insurance policies. Pacific Life offers two term life products: PL Promise Term and Pacific Elite Term.

• PL Promise Term has 10-,15-, 20-, 25- and 30-year term options. Customers can pay premiums annually, semi-annually, quarterly or monthly. Premium amounts do not change during the term. Death benefit amounts are flexible, but the minimum amount is $50,000. You can convert some or all of this policy to one of Pacific Life’s universal life policies at any point during your policy term until you reach age 70.
• Pacific Elite Term has 10-, 20- and 30-year terms, depending on the issue age, during which premiums do not change. The minimum face value is $750,000, with premium payment frequency available annually, semi-annually, quarterly or monthly. This policy lets you convert all or part of the policy to a Pacific Life universal life policy. If you have had a term policy for at least one year, you can also get a conversion credit equal to the amount of your Pacific Elite Term premium for one year.

Whole Life Insurance

Whole Life insurance is a permanent life insurance policy that covers the policyholder for life as long as premiums get paid. Unlike term policies, whole life policies also have a cash value component you can borrow against in certain cases.

Pacific Life Insurance offers the following whole life policies:

• Pacific PremierCare Choice 100
• Pacific PremierCare Choice Max
• Pacific PremierCare Choice Multi-Pay Max

The company offers all three policies to people ages 30 to 75 with coverage amounts of $36,000 to $600,000. Long-term care and terminal illness benefits are also available for each policy. If you are having trouble deciding on a policy, we recommend reviewing your options with an insurance agent.

Indexed Universal Life Insurance

Indexed universal life insurance is a type of permanent insurance with flexible premiums and death benefits. These policies last a policyholder’s entire life and cash value fluctuates based on index funds like the S&P 500.

Pacific Life offers five indexed universal life products, including:

• Pacific Horizon IUL
• Pacific Trident IUL
• Pacific Discovery Xelerator IUL 2
• Pacific Indexed Accumulator 6
• Pacific Indexed Estate Preserver 3

Variable Universal Life Insurance

Variable life insurance policies offer a high degree of flexibility, including cash value investments, flexible premium amounts, frequency of payment and death benefit options. Variable life insurance also includes the ability to borrow against or withdraw from your cash value.

Pacific Admiral VUL is Pacific Life’s flexible premium variable life insurance policy, which offers cash value accumulation based on your chosen investments. You can consider several variable investment options or select one of two fixed account options for lower risk. There are also three indexed accounts you can choose from. Additionally, you can vary the amount and frequency of your premium payments.

Pacific Life’s Life Insurance Riders

Riders include extra coverage options to customize your policy. Rider availability varies by policy type, but with Pacific Life, you have several rider options:

• Additional insurance: Allows you to increase your death benefit when you have reached different milestones like a certain age, marriage, a new child, etc.
• Child life insurance: Provides a death benefit for your children
• Chronic illness: Allows you to access money from your death benefit without repayment if you are diagnosed with a chronic illness that prevents you from performing certain activities, such as eating, bathing or toileting
• Early/enhanced cash value: Adjusts the surrender charges and increases the cash surrender value if you need to cancel your policy within the first few years
• Estate protection: Helps offset estate taxes
• Lapse protection: Kicks in if you miss a premium payment and have insufficient cash value to cover it
• Long-term care: Allows you to take money from your death benefit to pay for professional care like a nursing home
• Overloan protection: Protects policyholders from lapses in policy loan balances exceeding the available cash value
• Return of premium: Will refund premiums you’ve paid for term life insurance if you outlive the policy
• Spouse/other insured: Covers named family members, like your spouse or children, and will provide you with a death benefit if they die
• Terminal illness accelerated death benefit: Allows you to access part of your death benefit if you’re diagnosed as terminally ill with 12 months or less to live. It’s paid as a lump sum up to a maximum of $250,000.
• Waiver of monthly deductions: Allows you to waive the accrual of a policy’s monthly charges if you become disabled

Pacific Life sells most of its policies through independent brokers, but some financial advisors and agents only sell Pacific Life products. You must work through one of these channels to get life insurance quotes for Pacific Life.

While each insurer has a specific methodology to price its policies, there are several standard categories underwriters consider when determining cost:

• Your age
• Your health and medical history
• Your gender
• Your lifestyle
• Policy type
• Coverage amount
• Your credit standing

Below is a snapshot of Pacific Life’s term life insurance costs for a 25-year-old male seeking quotes for a $100,000 policy for three terms: 10 years, 20 years and 30 years.

*Sample quotes for each life insurance company were provided by Quote-bot, a nationally licensed life insurance brokerage. Rates are accurate as of June 2023.

Pacific Life has a reputation for quality customer service among industry sources. The company ranked fifth for customer satisfaction in J.D. Power’s 2022 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) tracks the number of complaints insurance companies receive compared to company size and market share. The National Complaint Index is always 1.00. Pacific Life’s complaint index is 0.04, which means it has a low incidence of complaints.

However, there are a few scattered complaints about Pacific Life from customers on the Better Business Bureau and Trustpilot. While some customers note satisfaction with life insurance rates, others mention issues with payouts and company communication.

“Got a good insurance rate for term life. [Pacific Life] doesn’t notify you before scheduled payments. The website is basic and the billing history doesn’t actually show history. Nobody ever responds to emails. I would leave but now rates are higher everywhere else.” —Sam B. via Trustpilot

“I was receiving a pension check from [Pacific Life] for retirement. For over six years I received checks on time and with never a problem. But this past year, four checks bounced when deposited into my bank account. The last one was just a few days ago. Each time a check bounced, my bank took the amount out of my account and now for the first time ever, I have an overdraft.” —Linda B. via the BBB

“Before my father passed he told me of two Pacific Life insurance policies. After his death, I contacted Pacific Life multiple times, and multiple times it told me there was only one [policy]. After so many calls and time wasted, I finally accepted what [Pacific Life] said and redeemed the one policy. Nearly a year went by and I received a letter addressed to my dad notifying him of an RMD on a policy. Thankfully, I had his mail forwarded to my home. Again, I called Pacific Life and at first they denied it and I had to argue. Finally it ‘found’ the policy and made good on it. No admittance of error or apology.” —Bonnie P. via Trustpilot

Here’s how Pacific Life compares to a few other life insurance providers:

Pacific Life insurance has policies to fit customers in many different situations. With a diverse product menu and one of the widest selections of riders in the industry, customers can buy a policy that fits their specific needs in most cases.

Pacific Life sells policies largely through independent brokers, with some availability through financial advisors and agents that only sell Pacific Life products. While Pacific Life has a mix of customer reviews online, its policies may be cheaper than competitors and allow for flexibility and customization.

Our goal at the MarketWatch Guides team is to provide you with comprehensive, unbiased recommendations you can trust. To rate and rank life insurance companies, we created a thorough methodology and analyzed each company by combing through online policy information, speaking to agents via phone, reading customer reviews for insight into the typical customer experience, and reviewing third-party financial reliability scores. After collecting this data, we scored each company in the following categories: coverage, riders, availability and ease of use and brand trust. To learn more, read our full life insurance methodology for reviewing and scoring providers.

AM Best Disclaimer

Drew Gurley is a licensed life insurance expert with nearly 15 years of experience. During his career as both a licensed life insurance agent and industry executive, he has helped thousands of clients with their life insurance needs through his work at Redbird Advisors and Senior Market Advisors. When Drew isn’t working, he spends time with his family, supporting breast cancer and epilepsy awareness.

Tori Addison is an editor with over five years of experience in the digital marketing industry. Her includes communications and marketing work in the nonprofit, governmental and academic sectors. A journalist by trade, she started her career covering politics and news in New York’s Hudson Valley. Her work included coverage of local and state budgets, federal financial regulations and health care legislation.