Boston Mutual Life Insurance Review & Complaints: Life Insurance (2023)

Founded as a mutual life insurance company 125 years ago, Boston Mutual Life Insurance has not changed its product lineup much over time. Today they continue to write individual life insurance and have added supplemental and group products as well.

About Boston Mutual

Boston Mutual Life Association was founded on August 18, 1891, in the same building where Benjamin Franklin was born. The company remained a Boston-based institution until 1974, when they moved their offices to the suburb of Canton, MA.

Originally founded as a mutual life insurance company for solutions for individuals, Boston Mutual began offering group products in 1956. They have expanded nationwide and offer products in every state, including New York through the Life Insurance Company of Boston & New York. Some products are offered through a subsidiary, BML Insurance Agency, which partners with other insurers to provide an expanded product list.

Boston Mutual is a national provider with products that are sold through agents and brokers and include a range of supplemental employer-sponsored benefits such as disability and accident insurance.

Boston Mutual Products

Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company focuses mainly on permanent life insurance, although they offer some other life insurance solutions through a partnership with other companies. Their group benefits include a wide range of options such as critical illness, disability, and accident coverage options, but these are not offered as individual products, except in some cases as riders.

Life Insurance

Boston Mutual Life Insurance Company has three permanent life insurance products.

Infinite Life is offered with an issue age of 15 days to 80 years old. The benefit can range from a minimum of $2,500 up to $250,000, and individuals under the age of 50 can get up to $100,000 in coverage without a medical exam. This policy has a cash accumulation account and the option of a Premium Deposit Fund that can be used towards future premiums if needed. This policy also pays annual dividends that can be used towards premiums, cash accumulation, or increased coverage.

Legacy Life Select is a plan offered to Federal, State, and Municipal employees, their spouses and dependents. It also has a $250,000 maximum benefit and a cash accumulation account. Issue age is 0 to 80 years old and it is a simplified issue policy, meaning there is no need for a medical exam.

Legacy Life Express is similar to the Select plan but is offered to all applicants. Like the Select, issue age is 0 to 80 years old, and the plan is a simplified issue policy with coverage up to $250,000.

Boston Mutual also offers several riders that can be added to their life insurance policies. This includes Waiver of Premium, Accidental Death Benefit, Accelerated Benefit, and a Children’s Insurance Agreement that provides up to $40,000 in convertible coverage for a child up to age 25.

Term life insurance, Universal life insurance, and Final Expense policies are not offered directly through Boston Mutual but can be purchased through their subsidiary agency. These policies are underwritten and administered by different partner insurance companies.

Group Benefits

For employers, Boston Mutual offers group and voluntary life insurance policies. There are both term and permanent life policies available. The permanent coverage is the Interest Sensitive Life Insurance, which is a whole life policy with a cash accumulation account.

Boston Mutual also offers a Group Term Life and Accidental Death & Dismemberment policy. This plan can be provided as employer-paid or as a voluntary program in which the employee chooses the benefit amount.

Both long-term and short-term disability products are available and can be provided either as employer-paid or as voluntary policies paid by the employee.

Accident insurance and critical illness insurance are available as voluntary workplace benefits. These products are selected and paid for by the employee.

Boston Mutual Rates

Boston Mutual does not have an online quoting option for a life insurance policy at the time of this review. While this is not a surprise given the nature of this company – a venerable mutual life insurance company – it is something most people have come to expect as an option when shopping for life insurance.

Boston Mutual sells products through agents, which can tend to result in a higher cost of insurance. Their simplified issues products may also come at a higher premium since no medical exam typically means a higher risk for the insurance company. Overall, we would generally not expect this company to be competitive with larger multi-line insurance companies.

Claims

As a life insurance company, Boston Mutual does not have a dedicated 24/7 claims center, which is common to most such companies. They do offer a selection of claims forms online for download. While downloading a form online is a modern convenience we expect, we don’t always see this from insurance companies.

There is also a toll-free number to reach the claims department and get ahold of a representative for questions and assistance with claims forms and filing. This representative line is available during business hours, Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET. The claims section of the website also lists a mailing address for claims forms.

Overall, the claims section offers all of the required information with easy access to forms.

Ratings and Consumer Reviews

Boston Mutual has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and only four complaints on file in the past three years. Two of those were closed in the past 12 months. For a company as large as Boston Mutual, that is a very low complaint volume.

Of the nine reviews left on Google, a few are positive and the rest negative. Complaints cite failure to pay claims, while positive reviews cite good customer service.

We were unable to find much else in the way of reviews for this company, which is somewhat surprising given the fact that their 2016 annual report states that they have $20 billion of life insurance in force. This may in part be due to the fact that many of the policies they write are group coverage, and complaints may go through HR departments rather than public forums.

The Bottom Line

If you are seeking a company with a very long history and prefer to work with an agent to obtain insurance, Boston Mutual may be the right choice for you. They have a solid reputation for commitment and 125 years in business. Without any rate information, we cannot compare their value to other companies, but they may be worth taking the time to obtain a quote for comparison.