Life Insurance Company Ratings Categories

When you choose a life insurance company the first consideration should be the life insurance company rating – the financial strength of that company, even before competitiveness and pricing. Obviously, if the company is unable to pay the benefits promised in the life insurance policy, then every other consideration was unimportant. So, choose your company by price, benefits and design but always do a life insurance comparison of the company’s financial strength before you buy.

You can do this by checking the financial strength rating online. Life insurance companies are ranked by independent services according to the financial strength of the company. This is done by a rating system. These life insurance company ratings are determined by independent analysts that are paid to review a company’s financial strength. In this section we’ve provided a chart of the different financial ratings from the leading life insurance company rating services.

Your Intramark Insurance representative will be glad to review the financial ratings of any life insurance company with you.

The chart below shows the different rating categories from the leading rating services. These include A.M. Best and Company, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investor Service and Fitch. There is another rating service not shown on the chart, Street.com which rates companies similar to school grades from A+ to A to A- to B+, B, B- etc.

When you get a term life quote or a return of premium life quote on LifeInsure.com’s quote engines, the A.M. Best rating shows up next to the insurance company quoted.

Life Insurance Company Rating Categories

Rank Number	A.M. Best	Standard & Poor’s	Moody’s	Fitch
	Financial Strength	Financial Strength	Financial Strength	Financial Strength
1	A++ Secure / Superior	AAA Extremely Strong	Aaa Exceptional	AAA Secure / Highest
2	A+ Secure / Superior	AA+ Very Strong	Aa1, Aa2, Aa3 Excellent	AA+ Secure / Very High
3	A Secure / Excellent	AA Very Strong	A1, A2, A3 Good	AA Secure / Very High
4	A- Secure / Excellent	AA- Very Strong	Baa1, Baa2, Baa3 Adequate	AA- Secure / Very High
5	B++ Secure / Very Good	A+ Strong	Ba1, Ba2, Ba3 Questionable	A+ Secure / High
6	B+ Secure / Good	A Strong	B1, B2, B3 Poor	A Secure / High
7	B Vulnerable / Fair	A- Strong	Caa Very Poor	A- Secure / High
8	B- Vulnerable / Fair	BBB+ Good	Ca Extremely Poor	BBB+ Secure / Adequate
9	C++ Vulnerable / Marginal	BBB Good	C Lowest	BBB Secure / Adequate
10	C+ Vulnerable / Marginal	BBB- Good		BBB- Secure / Adequate
11	C Vulnerable / Weak	BB+ Marginal		BB+ Uncertain
12	C- Vulnerable / Weak	BB Marginal		BB Uncertain
13	D Vulnerable / Poor	BB- Marginal		BB- Uncertain
14	E Vulnerable / Under State Supervision	B+ Weak		B+ Possessing Risk
15	F Vulnerable / In Liquidation	B Weak		B Possessing Risk
16	S Rating Suspended	B- Weak		B- Possessing Risk
17		CCC+ Very Weak		CCC Substantial Risk
18		CCC Very Weak		DD Liquidating
19		CCC- Very Weak		SR Suspended Rating
20		CC Extremely Weak
21		R Regulatory Action
	Based on public information only.

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