Colonial Penn Life Insurance Review 2024

Colonial Penn stopped selling term life insurance in 2021. Before that, its term life policies were available only in New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Colonial Penn Guaranteed Acceptance Whole Life Insurance

Colonial Penn’s guaranteed acceptance life insurance is a type of whole life insurance. You buy a number of coverage units from one to 15.  The per-unit price is a fixed amount, and pricing starts at $9.95 per unit. Several units can be purchased to build a bigger death benefit.

Colonial Penn policies are available to people ages 50 to 85 in most states, except Minnesota, New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the age ranges vary.  

The policy builds cash value after the first year of coverage and then you can borrow against that cash value. 

Colonial Penn’s guaranteed acceptance life insurance requires no medical exams and no health questionnaires. Someone can buy this coverage regardless of any pre-existing health conditions.

The policy has a two-year graded death benefit from non-accidental causes. If the insured person dies before the two-year period ends, the beneficiaries will receive the premiums paid plus 7% compounded annual interest.

For death from an accidental cause during the first two years, the full face amount of the policy will be paid. The accident must occur while coverage is in force, and the death must occur within 90 days of the accident (or 180 days in Oregon and Utah).

If the insured dies after the first two years, the full face amount will be paid for death, regardless of cause.

A life insurance rider lets you buy extra coverage or features to add to your policy. Colonial Penn offers:

• Accidental Death Rider. This rider from Colonial Penn allows someone 40 to 65 years old to add an accidental death benefit ranging from $10,000 to $50,000.
• Chronic Illness and Terminal Illness Rider. This rider enables you to tap into your whole life insurance death benefit if you have a heart attack, stroke or are diagnosed with a chronic or terminal illness.

Colonial Penn policies are available online or by calling the company’s toll-free phone number (877) 877-8052. Colonial Penn policies are sold by captive agents. When you speak with someone from Colonial Penn they will only offer you products from Colonial Penn.

You can file a Colonial Penn life insurance claim by filling out a claim form on the company website and then mailing it to the company at the following address. You can call customer service for more information at (800) 523-9100.

Colonial Penn Life Insurance Co.
Life Claims Dept
PO Box 1918
Carmel, IN 46082-1918

Colonial Penn’s complaint level for individual life insurance is extremely high, at more than seven times the industry average. For this reason alone we caution against buying a Colonial Life policy.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners collects complaint data from state insurance departments around the country. According to its data, most complaints against Colonial Penn are about delays in paying claims and poor policyholder service.

Established in 1963 by AARP co-founder Leonard Davis, Colonial Penn is now a subsidiary of Carmel, Indiana-based CNO Financial Group Inc. Two other CNO companies also sell life insurance: Bankers Life and Washington National. Colonial Penn is headquartered in Philadelphia.

In 1968, Colonial Penn became one of the first insurers to offer guaranteed acceptance life insurance solely for people ages 50 and over.