Equitable Life Insurance Canada Review: Get the Facts (Updated!)
Our Equitable Life of Canada insurance review
To help you determine whether Equitable Life insurance is right for you, we reviewed their different products, insurance prices, features and customer feedback.
Our rating for Equitable Life of Canada's life insurance: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
Equitable Life's products offer a wide range of options and flexibility to your policy so you can customize your policy to your financial needs. But, their permanent life policy fees are pricey, and complicated. We only recommend their Equimax Life product if you're seeking life insurance for children because they offer wealth transfer opportunities from guardians to the kids.
Who is Equitable Life of Canada?
Founded in 1920, Equitable Life of Canada is one of Canada's largest mutual life insurance companies.
A mutual company is owned by participating policyholders — meaning you become a shareholder, have the right to vote and are eligible to receive dividends.
Equitable Life of Canada quick facts:
- The company offers a unique term life insurance product that's specifically designed for small business owners, allowing them to protect their business interests while also providing for their families.
- The company has more than 800,000 policyholders, with assets under management totaling $20 billion.
- In 2017, Equitable Life launched the world’s first blockchain-based life insurance policy.
Equitable life insurance rates for 2023
*Prices based on a 10-year-old male seeking $500,000 coverage
**Prices based on an 18-year-old man seeking $500,000 coverage
Most Canadian couples actually save more when opting for a term life insurance policy.
Plus with PolicyMe, children get $10,000 in free life insurance that way both you and your little one are covered! (Talk about a deal!)
Equimax Estate Builder versus competitors
See how Equitable Life’s term life insurance prices stack up against the prices of products offered by other life insurance providers in Canada.
We compared the best whole life insurance policies offered to Equitable Life's Equimax Estate Builder policy:
*Prices are based on a 10 year-old male seeking $500,000 in coverage, prices are based on publicly-available data from March 2023. Terms and conditions may apply.
Equitable Life insurance: pros and cons
Read up on some of the pros and cons of Equitable Life insurance, based on their different products.
Pros of Equitable Life insurance
- Equimax for Children can be paid off in 20 years.
- Cash value built up from an Equimax plan can be withdrawn or borrowed against to fund a child's education.
- Equimax for Children allows for additional deposits to maximize tax-advantaged growth.
- Participating policy owners are shareholders of the company and have the right to vote.
But here's the caveat, most kids don't need life insurance and Equitable Life's Equimax Wealth Accumulator life insurance policy should be a last resort.
Cons of Equitable Life insurance
- Some InsurEye reviews complain of poor communication and misunderstandings with the company.
- Must work with a broker to get Equitable Life insurance. You can't buy directly or get a quote on their website.
- Participating policies can cost more than non-participating whole life insurance, and there's more risk.
Equitable Life insurance customer reviews
We looked through some of Equitable Life's online reviews to help get a real picture of their customers' experience.
Let's take a look:
Positive Equitable Life insurance reviews
- "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." - InsurEye customer
- "They also have the best (and easiest) ways to send in claims over their website and through my iPhone." - InsurEye customer
- "Have insurance for both my son and me, have found this company to be extremely responsive to my questions and see value & growth in our policies." - InsurEye customer
Negative Equitable Life insurance reviews
- "Their policies are a lot worse than those of other insurance policies, for example: 90 days to submit all claims after you terminate (and who wouldn't). Their systems are archaic and when you call in, nobody knows how to direct you properly ... I lost 1500 because of their policies that they did not disclose until it was too late." - InsurEye customer on Jan 24th, 2017
Equitable Life insurance products
Equitable Life of Canada Insurance Company offers a wide range of insurance products that cater to various needs and goals.
Their product lineup includes term life insurance, universal life insurance and whole life insurance.
1. Equimax (Whole Life)
Equitable Life offers two types of permanent life insurance policies:
Equimax Estate Builder and Equimax Wealth Accumulator, are Equitable Life's flagship whole life insurance products. They are designed to offer lifetime coverage and tax-efficient wealth transfer.
Equimax's premium structure consists of three parts:
- A guaranteed premium, which remains the same throughout the policy.
- A flexible premium, which allows policyholders to pay more than the minimum required premium.
- And a build up cash value.
The Equimax Life products are one of the most affordable options for whole life insurance for children.
They offer competitive rates for those seeking child life insurance, offering rates that can be 1.5 times cheaper than the industry average for a child.
The coverage amount of Equimax Wealth Accumulator can range from $25,000 to $10,000,000, depending on the client's needs and eligibility.
One of the most significant cons of both Equimax products are their costs. Whole life insurance is typically more expensive than term life insurance due to its lifetime coverage and investment features.
Equimax's premiums can range from as low as $100 per month to as high as $10,000 per month, depending on the client's age, health and coverage amount.
2. Equitable Generations (Universal Life)
Equitable Generations has a savings component, which accumulates cash value over time. This cash value can be borrowed against, surrendered for cash, or used to increase the policy's death benefit.
Equitable Generations also lets you adjust the death benefit or the premium payment amounts to meet your current financial needs.
But, like any other universal life insurance product, it's monthly premiums are pricy and plans can get overly complicated.
The cash value inside the policy is invested with Equitable Life at an interest rate.
If the company's investment returns decline, it may limit the policy's cash value growth performance.
3. Equitable Life's Term Life Insurance product
They have three policy lengths:
- 10- year term: Available to renew every 10 years until age 85.
- 20-year term: A term life insurance policy that covers for a longer initial premium payment period with premiums renewing every 20 years to age 85.
- 30-year term: Offers affordable cost for 30 years of coverage. The monthly premiums are payable to the later end of 30 years or age 65, with no premium increases.
Additional product features
Equitable Life Insurance offers the option to add living benefit provisions to many of their policies.
Here are some of the best benefits you can get:
EquiLiving Critical Illness Insurance:
Equitable Life also offers critical illness coverage as part of a benefit plan for those with increased risk of pre-existing health conditions.
For those seeking additional coverage on their individual insurance, EquiLiving provides a lump sum if the policyholder is diagnosed with one of the critical illnesses specified in the policy, such as cancer, stroke or heart attack.
The benefit amount is paid regardless of whether the policyholder survives the illness or not. It can help cover medical expenses, supplement income or allow for unexpected expenses.
Disability Waiver of Premium:
The disability waiver provision can waive the policyholder's premiums if they become totally disabled and unable to work for a specified period of time.
This can help the policyholder avoid falling behind on payments, which could lead to the policy lapsing.
Accelerated Death Benefit:
This provision allows policyholders who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and given a life expectancy of 12 months or less to receive a portion of their death benefit while they're still alive.
This can help provide financial support for medical treatment, living expenses, or other needs during a difficult time.
How do you get Equitable Life insurance quotes?
Equitable Life does not have in-house financial advisors to answer questions about coverage details.
Their customer service systems operate in a way that you must already have a life insurance plan with them. Otherwise they cannot provide a personalized service or to inform you of how much coverage you need.
Their on-call customer service is mainly equipped to help advisors with certain issues policyholders might have like payment details, policy fees.
If you would like to learn more about Equitable Life's quotes before purchasing a life insurance plan, you have to go through out-of-house financial advisors.
Bottom line: Equitable Life is best for whole life insurance for children
Equitable Life's Equimax Wealth Accumulator is the best product they offer, based on its customizability, maximum coverage options and monthly premiums and is best for children. But if you're looking for the most affordable and customzable whole life insurance for children, look into Desjardins first.
Child insurance only makes sense as a financial protection decision if your child has pre-existing and additional childhood conditions that typical policies cannot cover.
Policy premiums typically go up as you get older, so if you know your child will have difficulty getting a policy when they become an adult, the Equimax permanent policy offers some of the most affordable protection out there for child riders.
Get the best seniors insurance and Canadian life insurance quotes on PolicyMe. Use PolicyMe to figure out your life insurance needs calculator.
FAQ: Equitable Life insurance
The prices listed in this article have researched and fact-checked with both internal and external sources. Prices are based on publicly available rates as of April 2023.
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Our mission is to empower Canadians to make informed financial decisions. To achieve this, we have an expert editorial team that includes licensed insurance advisors and financial planners. We prioritize the best interests of Canadian families and won't endorse any product, company or financial strategy that we believe isn't suitable. Our educational guides are crafted by in-house experts, like licensed life insurance advisors. Before publication, we subject our research and advice to scrutiny and comprehensive revisions for accuracy and completeness.
Our mission is to empower Canadians to make informed financial decisions. To achieve this, we have an expert editorial team that includes licensed insurance advisors and financial planners. We prioritize the best interests of Canadian families and won't endorse any product, company or financial strategy that we believe isn't suitable. Our educational guides are crafted by in-house experts, like licensed life insurance advisors. Before publication, we subject our research and advice to scrutiny and comprehensive revisions for accuracy and completeness.