Mutual of Omaha IUL Review (2026)

Mutual of Omaha at a glance: who stands behind the policy

Mutual of Omaha was founded in 1909 in Omaha, Nebraska. Its life insurance, including every indexed universal life (IUL) policy, is issued by a subsidiary: United of Omaha Life Insurance Company, founded in 1926. When you buy a Mutual of Omaha IUL, United of Omaha is the company on the contract and the one that owes you the benefits.

The ownership chain changed in 2026, so here is the current picture from the company's own filings and news releases:

• Mutual of Omaha Holding Company is a mutual holding company. Policyholders of Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company are its members, and there are no outside shareholders. The company's notices do not say whether owning a United of Omaha policy, such as an IUL, makes you a member, so ask if that matters to you.
• Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company became a stock company owned indirectly by the holding company on April 1, 2026, after policyholders approved the plan on March 6 and the Nebraska Department of Insurance signed off.
• United of Omaha remains a stock company wholly owned by Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company.

Mutual of Omaha describes the group as policyholder-owned. The company says the new structure makes it easier to raise debt capital while keeping policyholder membership rights.

United of Omaha is licensed in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is not licensed in New York. A sister company, Companion Life Insurance Company, serves New York residents, and we have not confirmed which IULs, if any, it offers.

Mutual of Omaha reports 6.7 million policies in force and more than $8.6 billion in benefits paid in 2025. It sells through its own agents and through independent agents. For its annuities, see our Mutual of Omaha annuity review.

How strong is Mutual of Omaha?

Mutual of Omaha reports these ratings for United of Omaha, the issuer of its IULs:

In an August 20, 2026 report, S&P affirmed the A+ financial strength rating of Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company, United of Omaha's parent, with a stable outlook. In the same review, S&P upgraded its assessment of the group's capital and earnings from very strong to excellent. According to Mutual of Omaha's summary of the report, S&P cited extremely strong capital, diversified earnings and improved financial flexibility, and noted market leadership in Medicare supplement and whole life insurance.

The most recent AM Best announcement we found on Mutual of Omaha's site affirmed the A+ (Superior) rating for Mutual of Omaha and its subsidiaries on March 25, 2025, with a stable outlook. AM Best assessed the balance sheet as very strong, with strong operating performance, a favorable business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management. The company's ratings brochure lists all three ratings as of April 2026.

Some numbers behind the ratings, from year-end 2025:

• The group reported $59.7 billion in combined statutory assets.
• United of Omaha alone reported $42.5 billion in admitted assets and $2.9 billion in surplus in its audited statements. Surplus is the cushion above what the company expects to owe.

One detail is worth knowing. The group owns a captive reinsurer, Omaha Reinsurance Company, formed to reinsure certain term and universal life products. Captives help insurers manage reserve requirements. That is not a red flag on its own, but it is part of how the balance sheet is built.

A rating measures the company, not the policy. It tells you how likely United of Omaha is to pay claims decades from now. It says nothing about whether an IUL's caps and charges suit you.

For how we weigh ratings against other factors, see how we rate life insurance companies.

Mutual of Omaha's IUL lineup

Mutual of Omaha publishes current crediting records for three IULs. All use the same crediting engine: new one-year segments start on the 10th of each month, and you choose among four index strategies and a fixed account. What differs is the job each policy is built to do.

Income Advantage IUL is the accumulation policy. Mutual of Omaha says it "emphasizes cash growth potential more than Life Protection Advantage." Its first segments began in March 2016. It has the highest caps of the three: a 10.00% cap on its main S&P 500 account for renewals in April 2026. It offers an optional long-term care rider and a Guaranteed Refund Option rider.

Life Protection Advantage IUL is built mainly for the death benefit. If you pay at least the long-term no-lapse premium, the company guarantees coverage to the insured's age 90. Older issue ages follow different no-lapse rules, and the company's brochure and website describe them differently, so ask for the guarantee in writing. Its caps are lower: 8.50% on the main S&P 500 account for April 2026 renewals. Its first segments began in May 2017.

Indexed Universal Life Express is a simplified-issue policy. You answer health questions, and no medical exam is needed. Its no-lapse guarantee lasts 20 years or to age 80, whichever comes first, if you pay at least the no-lapse premium. Its main S&P 500 cap was 9.25% for April 2026 renewals. Its first segments began in November 2019. Mutual of Omaha's universal life page lists IUL Express policy forms but names only the other two in its product list, so ask whether it is available to you.

Mutual of Omaha also sells AccumUL Answers, a universal life policy that credits a declared rate with a 2% guaranteed minimum instead of index-linked interest.

Index options and how interest is credited

An index account does not buy stocks. It credits interest based on how much an index rose over one year, limited by a cap or scaled by a participation rate. All three Mutual of Omaha IULs use the same four one-year, point-to-point strategies:

• S&P 500 one-year 100% participation: you get the index gain up to a cap.
• S&P 500 one-year high participation: 140% of the gain, but with a lower cap.
• S&P 500 one-year uncapped: no cap, but only part of the gain (60% on Income Advantage for April 2026 renewals).
• BofA U.S. Agility Index one-year uncapped: a volatility-controlled index credited at a participation rate above 100%, added in August 2023.

Every strategy has a 0% floor, so a down year credits nothing rather than a loss. That protects the credit, not your cash value. Mutual of Omaha's own crediting sheets say the accumulation value "is, however, reduced by the amount of the policy charges deducted." In a 0% year, charges still come out.

Once a segment starts, its rates are locked for that year. New rates are declared monthly. The S&P 500 values in the crediting sheets are the price index, which leaves out dividends.

A calmer index generally costs less to hedge, which helps explain why the BofA strategy carries a participation rate near 200%. That does not make it better. On Income Advantage, 10 of the 21 BofA segments that ended between August 2024 and April 2026 credited 0%. See volatility-controlled indexes.

How Mutual of Omaha treats existing policyholders

This is the section that matters most, because you will own an IUL for decades after the sale. We looked at caps on existing policies, cost of insurance charges, and lawsuits and regulatory actions.

Cap history: Mutual of Omaha publishes it

Mutual of Omaha publishes a crediting history for each IUL. It shows, for every monthly segment since launch, the cap or participation rate, what the segment actually credited, and the renewal rate for money rolling into a new segment. The company says these are rates "credited to actual" policies. The sheets show one set of rates per product; they do not show different rates for older and newer policies.

Here is what they show for the main S&P 500 100% participation strategy:

The pattern is clear. Caps came down in several steps during 2019 and 2020. Since November 2020, none of the three caps has moved through the April 2026 renewals: more than five years without a cut.

Some rates went up. In February 2024, Mutual of Omaha raised the participation rate on the uncapped S&P 500 strategy on all three policies. On Income Advantage it went from 50% back to 60%; it had started at 65% in 2016. For renewals from March 2026, it raised the BofA participation rate on all three by 10 points (on Income Advantage, from 185% to 195%). The high-participation strategy on Income Advantage fell from a 140% / 8.50% setting at launch to 140% / 7.00% by November 2020, and has held there.

The lesson applies to every carrier: the cap in your illustration is a current rate, not a promise. See IUL cap rates.

Cost of insurance charges

The cost of insurance is the monthly charge for the death benefit. A carrier raising it on existing policies is one of the biggest risks in universal life. We found no public record of United of Omaha raising cost of insurance rates on its IULs. We could not verify that from company filings, and in-force rate changes are not always made public. Treat it as unconfirmed rather than a clean record.

Lawsuits and regulatory actions

• Data breach (2024). Three class action complaints were filed against United of Omaha in federal court in Nebraska in August 2024: Dobson (No. 8:24-cv-00306), Viverette (No. 8:24-cv-00317) and Thompson (No. 8:24-cv-00324). The complaints quote United of Omaha's notice to affected people: on April 23, 2024, it detected unusual activity in one employee's email account, and an unauthorized party had access to certain files between April 21 and April 23, 2024. The complaints say the files included names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, policy numbers and limited health information. The plaintiffs in Thompson and Dobson dismissed their cases voluntarily in September and December 2024, and the Viverette docket shows that case closed in February 2025. We found no ruling or settlement terms.
• Lapse notices in California. In Nieves v. United of Omaha (S.D. Cal., No. 3:21-cv-01415), filed in 2021, a policyowner alleged United of Omaha ended life policies for missed premiums without the notices California law requires (Insurance Code sections 10113.71 and 10113.72) and sought to represent a class. The court docket shows the case closed in September 2023; we did not find the terms.
• Company disclosure. United of Omaha's audited 2025 statements say various lawsuits arise in the ordinary course of business and that contingent liabilities from litigation are not considered material to its financial position.

Our search of federal court records found no lawsuit against United of Omaha over the sales practices or charges of its IUL policies, but that search was not exhaustive. We have not completed a state-by-state review of regulatory actions, so we make no claim either way beyond this. Our guide to IUL lawsuits covers the wider industry picture.

Riders and living benefits

Mutual of Omaha's consumer brochures describe these riders:

• Terminal illness accelerated death benefit: included at no extra cost on Income Advantage and Life Protection Advantage, and offered on IUL Express. It pays part of the death benefit early if life expectancy is 12 months or less.
• Chronic illness accelerated death benefit: on Income Advantage and Life Protection Advantage, it is automatically included on policies without the long-term care rider. There is no charge unless you use it. IUL Express also includes one, which pays if you cannot perform two of six daily activities for 90 days or need substantial supervision for severe cognitive impairment.
• Critical illness accelerated death benefit: on IUL Express, for conditions including heart attack, stroke, life-threatening cancer and kidney failure. On IUL Express, each accelerated benefit is limited to 80% of the face amount at issue.
• Long-term care rider (optional, extra cost): on Income Advantage and Life Protection Advantage. It reimburses covered long-term care costs up to a total you choose, as much as the initial death benefit. The monthly limit is 1%, 2% or 4% of that total. The maximum is $2 million at 1% or 2% and $1.25 million at 4%. Anything unused is paid as death benefit.
• Guaranteed Refund Option: on Income Advantage and Life Protection Advantage, at no extra cost if you qualify. It gives you seven 60-day windows to surrender and get back up to 50% of premiums paid at the end of year 15, and up to 100% at the end of years 20 through 25. The refund is capped at 80% of the lowest face amount and reduced by withdrawals and loans, and you must keep paying the required premiums.

Accelerated benefits reduce the death benefit left for your beneficiaries. Chronic and terminal illness riders are not long-term care insurance, and each rider has its own conditions and charges, so ask for the rider terms in writing. See IUL living benefits and IUL long-term care riders.

Underwriting and service

For Income Advantage and Life Protection Advantage, you apply through an agent. Mutual of Omaha says that on average it completes the process in less than a month, and that it will contact you within a week if a medical exam or more questions are needed. IUL Express uses a health questionnaire with no exam. See IUL underwriting.

Mutual of Omaha says it ranked first in J.D. Power's 2025 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study of customer satisfaction, scoring 707 against an industry average of 650.

Who Mutual of Omaha fits, and who should look elsewhere

Mutual of Omaha is a strong candidate if you:

• Put company strength and ownership ahead of the highest possible cap.
• Want to see a carrier's actual crediting record, segment by segment, before you buy.
• Want an optional long-term care rider on the same policy.
• Like the idea of a Guaranteed Refund Option as an exit ramp in years 15 to 25.

Look elsewhere if you:

• Want the highest caps or the widest index menu. Mutual of Omaha offers four strategies, and its caps sit below many accumulation IULs.
• Live in New York. United of Omaha does not sell there.
• Want every charge in writing before you meet an agent. The consumer brochures do not publish premium loads, fees, surrender periods or loan rates, so you will need an illustration.
• Mainly want the cheapest permanent death benefit. Term or guaranteed universal life may cost less. See who should not buy IUL.

A word on taxes, since IUL is often sold on them. Income from an IUL usually comes from withdrawals up to your premiums paid and from policy loans. Both are tax-free only while the policy stays in force and is not a modified endowment contract. If the policy lapses with a loan outstanding, Mutual of Omaha's brochure notes the loan is treated as a distribution and may be taxed. Our IUL taxes guide walks through the rules.

To compare Mutual of Omaha with other carriers, start with our list of the best IUL companies.