When you buy life insurance it is very important to check the financial strength rating for the company.  It is often attractive to gravitate to the least expensive option for your life insurance.  I completely understand that and that is an important component, especially if you are buying term life.  The reason it is important to check the company’s rating is to make sure they will be able to pay a claim if it happened to arise.   With that being said there are a lot of very good company’s that also offer very inexpensive term insurance.   One good example is http://www.ING-usa.com which always has very competive rates and currently holds an A+ rating from AM Best for financial strength.

You should look for a minimum of an A rating when selecting a life insurance company.   The rating services that matter are AM Best, Fitch’s, Moody’s, and Standard and Poor’s.   AM best has ratings that range from A++ to an F based upon the company’s financial strength and ability to pay claims.   Fitch’s assigns ratings from AAA to D, based on the company’s financial strength.  Moody’s goes from Aaa to C based on a company’s financial security and Standard and Poor’s goes from AAA to CC.   Ask your insurance consultant for financial ratings on the company’s that you are looking at to secure your family’s future.  A lot of company’s have recently seen a downgrade in their rating, based on the fact that they were heavily invested in sub-prime, etc.  Make sure you get the most recent rating and consider quality while you consider the price tag.

The rating that a life insurance company has is very important and something that should be paid close attention to when buying insurance.   It is always tempting to automatically go for the policy that is the cheapest to save money, but the ratings are based on the company’s ability to pay the claim.  With insurance the ability to pay is the most important thing.

When looking for life insurance, I usually suggest looking at company’s with a rating of at least an A from rating services such as  Standard and Poors and AM Best.  Another way to look at it is like renting your house to a new tenant.  You certainly want to look at their past history as well as their ability to pay.

When selecting your new policy or examining the existing one you have, make sure the company has a strong rating.