Life insurance is an important purchase, and you should choose your life insurance provider based on stability, claims-paying ability and overall financial strength. It's vital you feel confident about the company that provides it, as death benefit payment is subject to the claims-paying ability of the issuing company. There are several criteria you can use to judge a company's strength, reliability and ethics.
Financial strength
One of the most important factors to consider when choosing an insurance company is its financial soundness. You want to feel confident that your insurer will be around and able to pay a claim whenever it's made, even if it's many years down the road. This consideration can be as important as the cost of the policy.For its stability, sound investments, claims-paying ability and overall financial strength, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA) and its affiliate TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Company1 is one of a select few life insurance companies to hold the highest ratings from all four leading independent insurance industry-rating agencies.2
About Our Ratings
These ratings are for TIAA and TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Company as insurance companies and do not apply to the performance and safety of the variable investment accounts.Each of these ratings is the highest possible:
AAA Standard & Poor's (PDF)
AAA Fitch Ratings (PDF)
Aaa Moody's Investors Service (PDF)
A++ A.M. Best Company (PDF)
Integrity and commitment
With our strong nonprofit heritage, we at TIAA-CREF have long subscribed to a different set of guiding principles, which are directly influenced by the people we serve.- Honest, objective advice. Our insurance Planning Consultants do not receive commissions. They are compensated through a salary plus an incentive program that rewards client service excellence over product promotion. You can always count on receiving advice and guidance focused on your needs alone.
- Leadership you can trust — since 1918. Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA) has been a trusted provider of life insurance products to serve the needs of its customers since 1918. Today, TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Company – a wholly owned subsidiary of TIAA — offers insurance to the general public in all 50 states.
