Equitable Life of Canada Life Insurance Review (Updated 2024)

Looking to buy an insurance policy that’s as flexible as it is affordable? Equitable Life of Canada is the answer. 

Equitable Life of Canada provides affordable life insurance policies that offer flexibility by allowing you to convert your term life insurance into permanent ones through a laddering system. They also offer options for child benefits and critical illness riders, making them one of Canada’s largest insurance providers.

In this Equitable Life Insurance Review, we will delve into what Equitable Life Insurance has to offer, highlighting its advantages and disadvantages, various products and features, as well as the rates they offer. 

This review aims to assist you in determining whether purchasing one of their policies aligns with your needs and preferences. Continue reading to learn more.

Who is Equitable Life of Canada?

Equitable Life of Canada stands as one of Canada’s largest federally regulated mutual life insurance companies.

Since 1920, Canadians have entrusted Equitable Life Insurance of Canada to safeguard their most cherished assets. Equitable Life’s collaboration with independent advisors nationwide empowers them to offer a wide array of tailored solutions, encompassing Individual Life and Health, Savings and Retirement, and Group Benefits.

With over a century of operation, Equitable Life has cemented its reputation by providing affordable insurance products and group benefits plans for both employers and individuals. They offer enticing multi-policy and bundling discounts while also accommodating child and critical illness riders.

Equitable Life Insurance offers low-cost insurance plans for the term and whole life insurance markets. Their plans are designed to meet the needs of families and entrepreneurs. They provide basic protection for families’ financial security and business protection for entrepreneurs.

Equitable Life Insurance offers term life products for 10, 20, and 30-year terms and age 65 coverages. The 10- and 20-year term plans offer automatic renewal and can be converted to permanent life insurance to meet long-term needs. The 30-year term and age 65 term do not offer renewability but can be converted to permanent life products.

Equitable Life Insurance allows you to combine multiple terms into a single life plan to enable the laddering of coverage, where you only pay for the coverage you need. The term life insurance plans can be bundled with EquiLiving Critical Illness insurance to protect life and health needs in one policy.

Quick Facts and Information About Equitable Life Insurance

• Founded in 1920
• Headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario
• Assets: $4.2 Billion
• Annual Premiums: $1 billion

Benefits of Equitable Life Insurance

Equitable Life Insurance Company of Canada has its pros and cons. Before buying, you should carefully consider the pros and cons of Equitable Life Insurance products. This will guide you in deciding whether or not it is the perfect fit for your needs.

• You can easily convert term life plans to any permanent plans offered by Equitable Life Insurance without submitting any proof of insurability.
• It lets you bundle your coverage with critical illness and other term life riders.
• It allows you to create a family plan with a child term rider.
• You can easily access your account online.
• Clients can automatically qualify for EquiLiving Critical Illness insurance.
• The company has a solid reputation, and you can be confident that your insurance is in good hands.

Downsides of Equitable Life Insurance

• It has a limited product range and is not as robust as other Canadian insurers
• You might get better rates than Equitable Life Insurance if you shop around
• It only offers paper policy and doesn’t offer electronic policy

Insurance Products from Equitable Life of Canada

Equitable Life Insurance offers a wide selection of life insurance products, which includes term life, permanent and critical illness insurance plans.

Equitable Life Term Life Insurance

Equitable Life Insurance offers three term life plans that provide coverage for a specified period of time. The term length includes 10 years, 20 years, and the term to age 65 (covers you till you reach age 65).

Equitable term life plans are often called ‘pure life insurance’ because they only aim to pay out the death benefit. These term life products are easy to understand. They offer an affordable and effective way to protect the future of your loved ones financially.

Equitable Life Insurance allows you to buy a single or joint policy and also lets you bundle your term life product with critical illness insurance plans to enjoy more comprehensive protection under a single, convenient policy.

10-Year Term Life Insurance

• The policy offers guaranteed and level premiums and death benefits; they do not change throughout the policy
• It offers coverage up to a maximum of $10 million.
• It allows you to add optional riders like accidental death insurance to your policy.
• You can renew your policy after every ten years till age 85
• You can convert the policy to a 20-year plan without proof of insurability up to age 70
• You can also convert to a permanent product without medical exams or health questions up to age 70
• It offers preferred underwriting for amounts of $500,000 or greater.

20-Year Term Life Insurance

• The policy offers guaranteed level premiums and death benefits; they do not change throughout the policy
• It offers coverage up to a maximum of $10 million.
• It allows you to add optional riders like disability waiver of premium and others.
• You can renew your policy after every 20 years till age 85
• You can also convert to a permanent product without medical exams or health questions up to age 70
• It offers preferred underwriting for amounts of $500,000 or greater.

Term 30/65 Term Life Insurance

• The policy offers level premiums for a 30-year term or until age 65
• It provides coverage up to a maximum of $10 million
• You can convert the policy to a permanent plan without medical exams up to age 65
• It allows optional riders like child protection riders and others
• It is not renewable
• It offers preferred underwritings for amounts of $500,000 and greater

Equitable Life Whole Life Insurance

Equitable Life Insurance offers whole life insurance plans that provide lifelong coverage. That means the policies offer coverage that lasts till your death, as long as you keep paying your premiums.

Equitable whole-life plans protect your family’s future and build cash value you can access during your lifetime. These policies suit those with lifelong dependents, estate planning goals, and those who want to leave a legacy.

Equitable Life Insurance has two participating products for whole life insurance.

Equimax Estate Builder

The Equimax Estate Builder focuses on long-term, guaranteed cash values that you can pass on to your beneficiaries. It is perfect for those looking for higher long-term values. The policy lets you earn dividends that can be paid directly to you, used to buy additional coverage, or used to reduce your annual premiums.

Also, you have the option of paying for your policy in the first 20 years.

Equitable Wealth Accumulator

This whole life plan focuses on building cash value at an accelerated rate during the early years of coverage. The policy is also a participating whole life policy and lets you earn dividends.

Universal Life Insurance from Equitable Life

Equitable Life Insurance offers two universal life insurance products to Canadians who wish to invest their cash value. These policies allow you to invest your policy’s cash value as you deem fit.

The policies are tax-advantaged strategies and offer incentive bonuses, though not guaranteed.

The Equation Generation IV with Bonus offers guaranteed investment bonuses, regardless of how your self-directed investment performs.

The Equation Generation IV Low Fees offers much greater returns on investment, and you pay low fees for your policy management.

Equitable Life Critical Illness Insurance

Equitable Life Insurance offers a critical illness insurance policy to cover your medical bills while focusing on your recovery.

Suppose you develop a severe illness or health event or undergo treatment. In that case, the critical illness insurance plans pay you a tax-free lump-sum amount to cover your medical expenses while under its coverage.

These policies have a term length, a period when the coverage is available, and it is determined when buying the policy.

EquiLiving Critical Illness Insurance

• It offers coverage for 25 life-threatening health conditions, including cancer, stroke, and heart disease.
• It covers five additional childhood health conditions until age 25
• The policy coverage lengths include Term 10 and Term to age 75
• You can renew the policy at the end of the term without any medical exams.
• You can add EquiLiving Critical Illness Insurance to your term, whole, or universal life insurance policies to conveniently protect your life and health needs in one policy.
• The policy includes a 30-day survival period. You must wait 30 days after receiving a diagnosis before you can collect your benefit.

Equitable Life Insurance Rates for 2024

Riders Offered By Equitable Life Insurance

Equitable Life Insurance offers a few optional life insurance riders to add to your policy to get additional benefits. These insurance riders help you design a robust plan for yourself and your loved ones.

• Accidental death benefit rider: This rider pays an additional cash benefit to policyholders who die due to an accident.
• Child protection rider: This rider offers you additional coverage for your children. It also allows your children to apply for permanent life products without medical exams when they reach adulthood.
• Disability waiver of premium rider: This rider waives future premiums if you suddenly become disabled.

Equitable Life Insurance Reviews

To gain genuine insights into the experiences of Equitable Life’s customers, we’ve selected some of the Equitable Life Insurance Canada reviews from different online platforms. Let’s dive in and see what customers have to say.

Positive Equitable Life Insurance Reviews

• “I have been insured with Equitable Life for over 5 years. Having a small company I look to take care of my employees providing them with the best benefits and insurer. Over the years (past 20 years) we’ve been with all of the big Canadian companies (Sun Life, Manulife, Great West Life) and they were all ok but from a customer service standpoint, Equitable Life call centre representatives are the most knowledgeable and actually seem to care when one of my employees phone’s in. They also have the best (and easiest) ways to send in claims over their website and through my iPhone. Would highly recommend this company.” – InsureEye Review

Negative Equitable Life Insurance Reviews

• “Equitable is extremely reluctant to cover expenses, and requires a perverse amount of information to do so. My wife has no coverage for counselling through her benefits. In order to get Equitable to pay I have to submit the $0 EOB from her coverage, before they will cover. Additionally, if the practitioner is the same as last week, and you covered that expense, then you already have their registration number, don’t you?! I hope very much that a computer is reviewing my claims, because if it’s a person, they are dangerously incompetent!” – InsureEye Review

Final Thoughts on Equitable Life Insurance Review

If you are looking for a life insurance policy that will provide you and your loved ones with peace of mind, we encourage you to consider these policies offered by Equitable Life Insurance.

With Equitable Life, you can rest assured that you and your family are taken care of in the event of an unexpected tragedy. They have a wide variety of policies to choose from, and their customer service is top-notch.

We hope that this Equitable Life Insurance Review has been helpful. We believe everyone should have access to quality life insurance, and we are committed to helping you find the best policy for your needs.

FAQs on Equitable Life Insurance Review

Is Equitable Life legit?

Yes. Equitable Life Insurance is one of the oldest life insurers in the world. The company has a long track record of offering life insurance and reliably paying death benefits. It also has an excellent financial profile and fewer-than-expected customer complaints for a company its size. In addition, the company offers no-medical-exam policies.

Is Equitable Life Canada a good company?

Yes. If you are looking to buy life insurance, Equitable Life of Canada is a great option that you should consider. With over 100 years of experience, the company offers a variety of plans that cater to your needs.

Is Equitable a reputable company?

Yes. Equitable Life Insurance has an extremely long history in the insurance industry. The company has high ratings through A.M. Best and the BBB.