Protective Life IUL Review (2026)

Protective Life at a glance: who stands behind the policy

Protective Life Insurance Company was founded in 1907 in Birmingham, Alabama. Its holding company, Protective Life Corporation, is still headquartered in Birmingham, while the insurance company itself now lists its location as Omaha, Nebraska. Protective sells life insurance and annuities through independent agents, brokers, banks and broker-dealers. It also sells vehicle service contracts and employee benefits.

Two companies issue its life policies:

• Protective Life Insurance Company (PLICO) is licensed in every state except New York.
• Protective Life and Annuity Insurance Company (PLAIC) is licensed in New York and serves New York residents.

Ownership. On February 1, 2015, Dai-ichi Life of Japan bought 100% of Protective Life Corporation. Dai-ichi, now called Dai-ichi Life Group, was founded in 1902 and reported $462.3 billion in consolidated assets at the end of 2025. Protective says it serves nearly 32 million people and had $142.1 billion in total assets and $1 trillion of life insurance in force at the end of 2025.

A company built partly on acquisitions. Protective buys blocks of policies from other insurers and runs them. It bought MONY Life Insurance Company in 2013 and took over, by reinsurance, substantially all of the individual life and annuity business of Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston in 2018 and Great-West Life & Annuity in 2019. It acquired ShelterPoint in 2024 and says a planned 2025 deal would be its 61st acquisition. That matters to IUL buyers in one way: if you own a policy from a company that sells its block, Protective is one of the firms that may end up running it.

For its annuities, see our Protective Life annuity review.

How strong is Protective Life?

AM Best affirmed Protective's financial strength rating at A+ (Superior) on September 4, 2025, with a stable outlook. A+ is the second-highest grade on AM Best's scale. AM Best rated the balance sheet very strong and operating performance strong, and it measured risk-adjusted capital as very strong. It also cited favorable liquidity and "demonstrated financial support" from its parent, Dai-ichi, and described Protective as "the North America growth engine for Dai-ichi."

Protective's own ratings page lists these ratings for PLICO as of June 30, 2026:

One change is worth knowing. The same page listed Moody's at A1, one notch lower, as recently as its March 31, 2026 update. As of June 30, 2026 it shows Aa3. PLAIC, the New York company, carries A+ from AM Best and AA- from S&P and Fitch.

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

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

Protective's IUL lineup

Here is the plain answer: Protective does not sell an IUL to new buyers today, as far as its own product materials show.

Protective has sold one IUL in recent years, Protective Indexed Choice UL. The evidence that it has left the lineup comes from Protective's own consumer documents:

• Protective's riders and endorsements guide, a consumer brochure that lists which policies each rider is available on, included Indexed Choice UL in its October 2024 edition.
• The December 2025 edition names the policies it covers: Classic Choice term, ProClassic II UL, ProClassic Legacy UL, Dynamic Plus UL, Lifetime Assurance UL and two variable universal life policies. Indexed Choice UL is gone.
• Protective's consumer page on indexed universal life explains how IUL works but names no policy.

Protective has not published a discontinuation notice we could find, so we cannot give a date. If anyone offers you a Protective IUL as a new policy, ask Protective in writing whether it is open to new applications in your state.

What Indexed Choice UL was built for. It was never an accumulation policy. It credited interest from one index, the S&P 500, with a cap Protective's consumer materials put at 8.0% (November 2019) and 8.5% (an example dated February 2025). Its main promise was a death benefit that would not lapse before age 90 if premiums were paid on time and no loans or withdrawals were taken. Protective's own example solved for the premium needed to keep a $2,000,000 policy in force to age 90. In short, it was a guaranteed-death-benefit design with some cash value upside. Our full review covers its charges and features for anyone who owns one.

What Protective sells instead. Its current permanent lineup includes fixed universal life (ProClassic II, Dynamic Plus and Lifetime Assurance), variable universal life and whole life. If you want lifetime coverage from Protective, those are the options. If you want indexed crediting built for cash value, you need a different carrier. Our guide to IUL vs VUL vs GUL explains the differences.

Index options and how interest was credited

Indexed Choice UL kept crediting simple. Per Protective's product guide:

• One index account, tied to the S&P 500 without dividends, measured over one year.
• 100% participation, guaranteed for the life of the policy. The whole index gain counts, up to the cap.
• A cap that Protective sets and can change, guaranteed never to fall below 3%.
• A 0% floor on index credits.
• A fixed account with a company-declared rate, guaranteed never below 1%.

Each premium moved to the index account on the 15th of the month and started its own 12-month segment. A policy could hold up to 12 segments at once.

This is much narrower than a typical accumulation IUL, which often offers several indexes, higher caps and uncapped options on volatility-controlled indexes. The tradeoff is that there was little to misunderstand. See IUL cap rates and the IUL floor for how these pieces fit together.

The floor protects the credit, not the cash value. Monthly charges still come out in a year the index falls, so the cash value can shrink.

How Protective treats existing policyholders

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

Caps on policies it no longer sells

Protective does not publish a cap history for Indexed Choice UL, so owners cannot see how their cap has moved. The only public figures we found are the two in its consumer materials: 8.0% as of November 2019 and 8.5% in a February 2025 illustration example. Those are the caps Protective showed new buyers. We could not confirm what caps in-force owners have received since.

What the policy allows is clearer. Protective's product guide says the cap is guaranteed never to drop below 3%, so Protective can lower it that far. With the product no longer sold to new buyers, Protective no longer needs a competitive cap to attract buyers, which is a risk with any closed product. If you own one, ask for your current cap in writing and compare it with the rate in your original illustration.

Cost of insurance charges

The cost of insurance is the monthly charge for the death benefit. We found no public record of Protective raising cost of insurance rates on Indexed Choice UL. We could not verify that from company filings, and in-force rate actions are not always made public, so treat it as unconfirmed rather than a clean record.

The one court record we found runs the other way. In Advance Trust & Life Escrow Services v. Protective Life Insurance Co., a class action filed in federal court in Alabama in 2018, the named plaintiff owned a universal life policy Protective issued in 1988. He argued Protective should have lowered its cost of insurance rates as mortality improved and never did. The trial court ruled for Protective, and the plaintiff appealed. On March 1, 2024, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that ruling in part and reversed it in part. It revived one claim: the allegation that Protective chose to revise its internal cost of insurance rate scale during the class period and, when it did, ignored its expectations of future mortality, which the policy required it to consider. That is an allegation the court allowed to proceed, not a finding against Protective. We did not find a public record of how the case ended after that.

Lawsuits, regulatory actions and service

• Acquired blocks. Protective's model of buying and converting other insurers' policies means many owners deal with a new administrator mid-policy. Protective says MONY policies are moving to a new administrative system. Conversions like this are where service problems tend to appear, so keep your own records of premiums, loans and annual statements.
• Regulators. We have not completed a state-by-state review of regulatory actions against Protective, so we make no claim either way.

Our guide to IUL lawsuits covers the wider industry picture.

Riders and living benefits

Protective's October 2024 riders guide lists these options for Indexed Choice UL. Most are still offered on its current universal life policies.

• ExtendCare rider (chronic illness). Advances part of the death benefit if you are expected to be unable to perform two activities of daily living for at least 90 days. Up to 100% of the death benefit over time, with a monthly maximum you choose at issue, a 90-day waiting period and a monthly charge. It must be added at issue. It falls under the accelerated death benefit rules of IRC 101(g), is not long-term care insurance, and can affect Medicaid eligibility. Protective's February 2025 example showed that adding it for the same premium shortened lapse protection from age 90 to age 86.
• Terminal illness endorsement. Up to 60% of the death benefit or $1 million, whichever is less, if life expectancy is six months or less. No premium, but a fee of up to $300 and interest reduce what you receive.
• Overloan protection. Can keep a heavily borrowed policy from lapsing once it has been in force 20 years and you are at least 65, with several other conditions. Not available in New York.
• Waiver of specified premium if you become disabled (applicants 18 to 55, coverage ends at 65), an accidental death benefit, a children's term rider and the no-cost Income Provider option, which lets you set how the death benefit is paid out.

In every acceleration you receive less than the death benefit you give up. See IUL chronic illness riders and IUL living benefits.

Underwriting and service

Protective's Indexed Choice UL product guide says that in most cases a medical professional schedules an exam, usually at home, and Protective then reviews the results and may ask for medical records. See IUL underwriting.

Who Protective fits, and who should look elsewhere

Protective is a strong candidate if you:

• Want permanent life insurance from a highly rated carrier, and a guaranteed death benefit matters more than cash value growth.
• Want term coverage now with the option to convert later.
• Want a chronic illness rider on a universal life policy.
• Already own an Indexed Choice UL and want to keep the lapse protection you paid for. Review it before you change anything.

Look elsewhere if you:

• Want an accumulation IUL. Protective does not sell one to new buyers. See our list of the best IUL companies.
• Want several index options, uncapped strategies or a published cap history.
• Want to fund a policy heavily for retirement income. That calls for a design built for it; see max-funded IUL.

A word on taxes, since IUL is often sold on them. Income from an IUL usually comes from policy loans and from withdrawals up to your premiums paid. Both are tax-free only while the policy stays in force and is not a modified endowment contract. If the policy lapses or is surrendered with a loan outstanding, the gain can become taxable in a single year. Our IUL taxes guide walks through the rules.

If you own a Protective policy and want a second opinion on how it is doing, our policy review is the place to start.