Transamerica IUL Review (2026)

Transamerica at a glance: who stands behind the policy

Transamerica traces its roots to 1904, when Amadeo P. Giannini founded a bank in San Francisco, and it now says it has served customers for more than 120 years. The company that issues its IULs today is Transamerica Life Insurance Company, domiciled in Iowa, with its home office in Cedar Rapids. Transamerica says that company has sold insurance since 1961.

Aegon, an international financial services group based in the Netherlands, bought Transamerica in 1999. Transamerica describes itself as Aegon's U.S. operation and its largest market. Foreign ownership does not change how your policy is regulated: Transamerica Life Insurance Company is supervised by U.S. state insurance departments like any other U.S. insurer. As of June 30, 2026, it reported $188.6 billion in total assets and $6.1 billion in capital and surplus on a statutory basis.

Transamerica sells its life insurance through licensed agents. Its shelf includes term (Trendsetter Super and Trendsetter LB), whole life (Transamerica Lifetime and Juvenile Whole Life Express), final expense coverage and three indexed universal life (IUL) policies. For its annuity side, see our Transamerica annuity review.

How strong is Transamerica?

Transamerica's own financial strength disclosure, dated September 2026, lists three ratings for Transamerica Life Insurance Company:

AM Best's A is one notch below A+, the grade many IUL carriers hold. It is still a strong rating, but if your personal rule is "A+ or better," Transamerica does not meet it on AM Best's scale. Transamerica's disclosure does not list a Fitch rating, and we did not verify one.

A rating measures the company, not the policy. It tells you how likely Transamerica is to pay claims decades from now. It says nothing about whether a given IUL's caps and charges suit you, or how the company will set charges on policies already sold.

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

Transamerica's IUL lineup

Transamerica's consumer product page lists two IULs, and a November 2025 press release added an Express version of one of them. All are issued by Transamerica Life Insurance Company.

Transamerica Financial Choice IUL II is the accumulation policy. Transamerica built it for people who want to pay more than the target premium, build cash value and later take tax-advantaged income through loans. It has the widest menu: six index accounts, including two uncapped accounts and two higher-cap "Plus" accounts that carry a 1% annual charge. Its minimum face amount is $250,000. It replaced the original Financial Choice IUL, which Transamerica launched in January 2023.

Transamerica Financial Foundation IUL II is the all-purpose policy. It is designed for a premium that fits a monthly budget, with a long list of optional riders and a no-lapse guarantee of up to 20 years. Issue ages run from 15 days old to 85 (to 75 in Florida), and the minimum face amount is $25,000 for some risk classes and $100,000 for the rest. It offers four index accounts.

Transamerica Financial Foundation IUL II Express is a version of that policy with a fully digital application and an instant underwriting decision, offered through a collaboration with the insurance technology firm Bestow. Transamerica launched it on November 4, 2025, for ages 18 to 70 and coverage from $50,000 to $500,000. Transamerica says its illustrations can assume rates up to 7.25%, which is a ceiling for the illustration, not a forecast, and it has a 0.75% guaranteed minimum interest rate. It is not listed on Transamerica's consumer IUL page.

The earlier Transamerica Financial Foundation IUL and Financial Choice IUL no longer appear on Transamerica's consumer product page. Transamerica Life Insurance Company is not licensed in New York; a sister company, Transamerica Financial Life Insurance Company, is. We could not confirm from a current consumer document which IUL, if any, it offers there.

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 a set period, limited by a cap or shaped by a participation rate, and never below a floor. None of Transamerica's accounts count dividends. Money goes into segments, and a credit is paid only at the end of a segment's period.

Transamerica builds its accounts from four indexes:

• S&P 500: the 500 large U.S. companies.
• Global Index Account: a blend. Transamerica takes 50% of the better of the S&P 500 and the EURO STOXX 50, 30% of the worse of those two, and 20% of Japan's Nikkei 225.
• Balanced Uncapped Index Account: roughly equal parts of the S&P 500, the Nikkei 225 and the Fidelity Small-Mid Multifactor Index 5% ER, with a participation rate and no cap.
• Fidelity Small-Mid Multifactor Index 5% ER: its own account is offered only on Financial Choice IUL II, and it is one third of the Balanced Uncapped blend. Transamerica's brochures describe it as a volatility-controlled index that blends small and mid-size U.S. stocks with U.S. Treasuries. "ER" stands for excess return: the index's returns are netted against a benchmark short-term interest rate, and the brochures warn that this design and the volatility control may limit returns when stocks do well. See volatility-controlled indexes for why that matters.

Transamerica's floors are above zero but low: 0.25% on Financial Choice IUL II and 0.75% on the Financial Foundation IUL II policies. A floor protects the index credit, not the cash value. Monthly charges still come out in a year the index falls.

Here is how the two main policies compared in their current consumer brochures:

The pattern is the lesson. Higher caps usually come with an account charge. On Financial Foundation IUL II, the 0.72% charge applies through age 120 to money in the charged accounts. These are current rates, not guarantees, and Transamerica can change them for new segments. Our guide to IUL cap rates explains how to weigh a higher cap against a charge.

How Transamerica treats existing policyholders

This is the section that matters most in any universal life policy, because you will own it for decades after the sale. We looked at three things: caps on policies it no longer sells, cost of insurance increases, and lawsuits or regulatory actions.

Caps on policies it no longer sells

We could not find a consumer-facing Transamerica document that shows today's caps on its closed IULs, so we cannot tell you how the original Financial Foundation IUL or Financial Choice IUL is credited now. We found one dated data point. In September 2022, Transamerica's consumer brochure for the original Financial Foundation IUL showed a 13.00% cap on the Global Index Account and 12.00% on the S&P 500 account, with a 0.75% floor. In April 2026, the brochure for its successor showed 13.25% and 12.25%. That compares new policies, not old ones.

Two contract terms matter more than any single year's cap. The Financial Foundation IUL brochures say a cap can rise or fall for each new segment but will not go below the current rate on the Basic Interest Account; the Financial Choice IUL II brochure says caps and participation rates will not fall below the minimums stated in the policy. And Financial Foundation IUL II's brochure says owners learn the current caps in writing only on their annual statements. If you own a Transamerica IUL, compare the caps on each statement with the rates in your original illustration.

Cost of insurance increases

In a universal life policy, the carrier takes a monthly deduction for the cost of insurance and other charges. Transamerica's policies call these monthly deduction rates. Its Financial Foundation IUL II brochure says the company can change current charges and cost of insurance rates, but not above the guaranteed maximums in the policy. Transamerica has used that kind of right on older universal life policies three times since 2015:

• 2015 and 2016. Transamerica raised monthly deduction rates in four waves, starting in August 2015, on more than 69,000 universal life policies issued from 1983 to 2008, including TransUltra, TransMax, TransLife, Assured Life and TransSurvivor Life policies. Owners sued in Feller v. Transamerica (Central District of California, 2:16-cv-01378). The court approved a settlement on February 6, 2019. It created a $195 million fund based on full participation; after owners who opted out were removed and fees were paid, the net fund was about $91.9 million. Transamerica agreed not to raise rates on those policies again for five years unless a regulator ordered it, but the higher rates stayed in place.
• 2017 and 2018. Transamerica raised rates on TransUltra 115 and TransSurvivor 115 policies issued from about 1997 to 2001. In Thompson v. Transamerica (Central District of California, 2:18-cv-05422), the court approved a settlement on September 16, 2020, covering more than 7,800 policies. It set an $88 million fund for policies still in force and just over $2 million for ended policies, which the court said came to nearly 100% of the increases Transamerica had collected through 2019. Transamerica agreed to a seven-year pause on further increases for those policies.
• 2022 and 2023. Transamerica raised rates on two more blocks of universal life policies, which court filings call the LA UL block and the CR UL block after the offices that designed them. Owners sued on October 27, 2022; the case is now Estate of Handorf v. Transamerica in the Northern District of Iowa (1:23-cv-00032). The court certified a class in June 2025. On March 25, 2026, it preliminarily approved a $57 million cash settlement with a five-year pause on further increases, and set a final fairness hearing for July 13, 2026. As of September 2026, we could not confirm from the public docket whether final approval has been entered.

Transamerica denied wrongdoing in the first two settlements, and the court's 2026 order says the third is not an admission of liability. None of these cases involved its current IULs, which use 2024 policy forms, and we found no public record of a cost of insurance increase on its IUL policies. We could not verify that from company filings, so treat it as unconfirmed rather than a clean record. What the record does show is that Transamerica has been willing to raise charges on in-force universal life, and IULs carry the same kind of clause. See our guide to IUL cost of insurance.

Other lawsuits and regulatory actions

We found no certified class action over Transamerica's current IUL products in our search of federal court records as of September 2026. We have not completed a state-by-state review of regulatory actions and market conduct exams, so we make no claim either way on that point. Our guide to IUL lawsuits covers the wider industry picture.

Riders and living benefits

Transamerica's IULs offer accelerated death benefit riders that let the owner take part of the death benefit early after a qualifying diagnosis:

• Terminal illness. Built into Financial Foundation IUL II. It applies when a doctor certifies a life expectancy of 12 months or less.
• Chronic illness. Optional and chosen at application. On Financial Foundation IUL II it cannot be combined with the Long Term Care Rider.
• Critical illness. Optional and chosen at application.
• Long Term Care Rider. Offered on Financial Foundation IUL II.

Three details matter. Transamerica says the payout is discounted to reflect early payment, so you receive less than the death benefit you give up. An administrative fee applies to each request. And any benefit paid reduces the policy's death benefit and cash value. See IUL living benefits.

Transamerica's consumer product page lists an overloan protection rider for both IUL II policies. It can keep a heavily borrowed policy from lapsing. The Financial Foundation IUL II brochure says electing it is irrevocable, ends all other riders, and triggers a one-time charge based on the insured's age. and notes that neither the IRS nor the courts have ruled on the tax treatment of exercising it. Other optional riders on that policy include disability waivers, a children's benefit rider, a guaranteed insurability rider and an income option for beneficiaries. Rider availability varies by policy and state.

Underwriting and service

Transamerica uses full underwriting with digital medical and prescription records. Depending on the amount of coverage, a paramedical examiner may visit to collect vitals. The Express version skips that: every applicant gets an instant decision, and the application is fully digital. For what the process looks like, see IUL underwriting.

For life policy service, Transamerica lists this contact information:

Who Transamerica fits, and who should look elsewhere

Transamerica is a reasonable candidate if you:

• Want to overfund an IUL for cash value and like having uncapped and higher-cap accounts to choose from.
• Want to see current caps and many of the charges in writing before you talk to anyone.
• Plan to take loan income after year 10, when preferred loans are currently charged the same 2% they are credited.
• Want budget-friendly permanent coverage with a no-lapse guarantee and optional living benefits.
• Want a fast, fully digital application for coverage up to $500,000.

Look elsewhere if you:

• Want an A+ or better AM Best rating.
• Live in New York, where its IUL II policies are not offered. In California, confirm availability first, because Transamerica's own pages disagree.
• Put a lot of weight on how a carrier has treated older policies. Transamerica has raised rates on in-force universal life three times since 2015.
• Might need to surrender in the early years. Surrender charges apply, and Transamerica's own brochure warns that you will lose substantial money in the early years if you stop paying.
• Mainly want the cheapest permanent death benefit. A guaranteed universal life policy or term insurance 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 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.

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