Maggie is a former lead insurance editor at Reviews.com. She's written more than 70 insurance articles covering homeowners, auto, life, motorcycle, travel, and more.
More from Maggie Overholt
Term Life Insurance Riders
What are Term Life Insurance Riders? Term riders are optional clauses that can be built into your term life insurance policy for an extra cost. These add-ons make your insurance more flexible, with options to buy additional coverage or switch to permanent coverage at select times throughout the policy. Why would you need that? Because ...
Life Insurance Riders that Affect Death Benefit Payments
Do Life Insurance Riders Affect the Death Benefit Payment? Life insurance pays a predetermined amount (known as a “death benefit”) when the insured person passes away. Generally, the death benefit on a life insurance policy is set when it’s purchased and never changes. However there are a few optional clauses, or “riders,” that alter the ...
Living or 'Accelerated' Benefit Life Insurance Riders
What are Living Benefit Life Insurance Riders? Some life insurance riders let you access a portion of the policy’s value during life under special circumstances. These “living benefits” or “accelerated benefits” typically kick in if the insured person develops serious health complications that put would them and their family under financial strain. Because of the ...
What to Know About Life Insurance Riders
What is a Life Insurance Rider? Your life insurance can be customized through add-ons called “policy riders.” These optional clauses expand what the life insurance policy will cover — so instead of simply paying a death benefit if the insured person passes away, the policy might also offer financial aid if they take on new ...
What Is Whole Life Insurance?
What Is Permanent Life Insurance? The first thing to know about whole life insurance: It’s actually a type of permanent life insurance. As a broad category, permanent life insurance is the alternative to term life insurance. It has no expiration date, meaning that a death benefit payout is guaranteed (whereas term life policies only pay ...
What You Should Know About Insurance Claims
What’s an insurance claim? “Filing a claim” is the process you go through to get a payout from your insurance company when something bad happens. Claims involve paperwork, photos, damage appraisal, and sometimes (depending on the nature of the claim) legal action. While all that might sound like a bit of a headache, the good ...
List of Life Insurance Companies and Ratings
Life Insurance Companies and Ratings for 2019 We’ve been researching and reviewing life insurance for years, and our main takeaway is: It’s complicated. That’s why it’s good to start with the basics. Below, we rate core features like financial strength, coverage, and service for 20 of the most popular life insurance companies in the U.S. ...
No-Fault Car Insurance Explained
What is PIP insurance? A handful of states have “no-fault” auto insurance laws, which means your own insurer must pay for your and your passengers’ injuries after an accident — no matter who caused it. No-fault states require drivers to purchase personal injury protection (PIP) as part of their car insurance policy. The PIP limit ...
Car Insurance Quotes: Everything You Need to Know
The first rule of car insurance is to compare, compare, compare. You’ll see this over and over again; whether it’s a review site like ours or a resource like the Insurance Information Institute, you’ll be advised to get multiple quotes before choosing a provider. The reason? Every insurer weighs your personal details differently, meaning they’ll ...
What is Full Coverage Car Insurance?
When it comes to insuring your car or yourself as a driver, you have many options to choose from. Two of the more popular questions are, “What is full coverage auto insurance?” and, “Should I get full coverage auto insurance?” Full coverage insurance refers to the process of combining several individual types of auto insurance ...
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