Atlantic Coast Life At a Glance: Rates, Products and Reviews

Consumer Notice: Regulators order Atlantic Coast Life to halt new business amid financial concerns [as of Dec. 4, 2024].

Today’s Best Atlantic Coast Life Annuity Rates

Term	Product	AM Best Rating	Rate
7 Years	Safe Harbor Bonus Guarantee	B+	5.40 %
10 Years	Safe Harbor Bonus Guarantee	B+	5.65 %
10 Years	Safe Harbor Bonus Guarantee	B+	5.50 %

Compare Atlantic Coast Life Annuity Rates

Additional Products Offered by Atlantic Coast Life

Atlantic Coast Life is one of the very few major annuity providers that does not break down its products sold by annuity type. Some of its offerings do not even have an explicit explanation as to what type of annuity they are.

That being said, Atlantic Coast Life offers several types of fixed index annuities along with a few other choices. All in all, the company advertises seven annuity products.

Fixed Index Annuities

Atlantic Coast Life sells three fixed index annuities, known as Accumulation Protector Plus, Retirement Plus Multiplier and Income Navigator. These products have a guaranteed interest rate of 0% to help ensure you never lose your money.

The Accumulation Protector Plus℠ is a flexible product with several crediting strategies available. Customers have access to different indexes as well, allowing them to mold the product to fit their needs and preferences.

Next up is the Retirement Plus Multiplier®. Most of this product’s best features are available through additional riders that can be added to your contract. 

This includes the Accumulation Buy Up rider, which increases your participation and cap rates, and the Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal rider which allows for a lifetime income.

Atlantic Coast Life’s final fixed index annuity is the Income Navigator Annuity℠. The main perk of this product is the 7% premium bonus available with it, which can be immediately credited to your account after purchase.

Other Annuity Offerings

Atlantic Coast Life sells four other annuity products in addition to its fixed index offerings.

The first is the Guaranteed Income Annuity, which – as the name implies – is designed to provide you with guaranteed income for life. It is a 10-year contract that includes a premium bonus as high as 10%.

It gives access to the optional Accumulation Benefit rider and a legacy rider that can allow your death benefit to equal up to 250% of your actual payments.

Next up are the Safe Harbor and Safe Haven annuities, which are available over a set number of terms.

Terms Available for Safe Harbor and Safe Haven

• Three years
• Five years
• Six years
• Seven years
• 10 years
• 20 years

The only major notable difference between Safe Harbor and Safe Haven is the rates currently offered. Safe Harbor offers solid rates that exceed 7%, while Safe Haven is a bit lower.

Atlantic Coast Life’s final product is the Safe Anchor annuity, which offers a five-year fixed rate with an indexing option. Its interest rate is guaranteed at a minimum of 1% and it includes optional riders like accumulated interest withdrawal or a death benefit.

About Atlantic Coast Life

Atlantic Coast Life is far from a new player in the annuity space, having been founded in 1925. 

The company was purchased by Advantage Capital in 2015 and, despite its age, still is a bit more regionally limited than many of its competitors. Atlantic Coast Life is currently only available in 35 states and its products are not offered in major areas such as California, New York and Michigan.

Atlantic Coast Life sold a little over $700 million in direct annuity premiums in 2022.

Credit Ratings

Credit ratings for annuity providers can help determine a company’s financial strength and stability — an indication that it will be around to guarantee payments to you in the future. Different rating companies use different scales.

Atlantic Coast Life Credit Ratings

Rating Company	Credit Rating
AM Best	B++
Fitch	Not Rated
S&P	Not Rated

What Customers Are Saying About Atlantic Coast Life

There is not a lot of readily available information on customers’ experiences with Atlantic Coast Life. Agents and experts that Annuity.org spoke to when researching providers did not specifically bring up the company, and it is also absent from common customer satisfaction comparisons like the J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction Index Rating.

One agent did tell Annuity.org that they would not work with a B-rated company, and Atlantic Coast Life holds a B++ rating from AM Best.

Atlantic Coast Life does have a surprisingly high NAIC Complaint Index Score given its share of the market. Its score implies that there are more than triple the number of complaints expected, given the company’s size and its comparison to competitors.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) tracks consumer complaints each state’s insurance commission receives each year. These are used to compile a company’s NAIC Complaint IndexNAIC Complaint IndexDetermined by dividing the company’s share of complaints in the U.S. market by the company’s share of premiums in the U.S. market. The National Complaint Index is always 1.00, so a score of 2.00, for example, is twice as high as expected in the market..

NAIC Complaint Index for Atlantic Coast Life

All Policy Types	0.22
Individual Annuities Only	3.38

Atlantic Coast Life Pros & Cons

One pro of Atlantic Coast Life is that it has plenty of options available, and the products can be readily customized to fit your needs. The company also offers generally favorable rates on some of its products.

However, there are several notable cons to be aware of. One is Atlantic Coast Life’s reliance on riders. These optional add-ons to contracts are a common practice in the annuity space, but many of Atlantic Coast Life’s best features are only available through a rider at an additional cost.

The company also lags behind its competitors with some of its rider choices. For example, it is virtually industry standard to allow up to 10% of a contract to be withdrawn penalty-free after one year. Atlantic Coast Life allows only 5% to be withdrawn, with 10% being available only to those who purchase an additional rider.

Atlantic Coast Life’s B++ rating from AM Best is also notably lower than many of its competitors.

Provider Rating Methodology

Annuity.org created a fact-based methodology to analyze the strength, security and reach of different annuity providers. We assessed companies based on their availability, the number of direct premiums sold, their AM Best Financial Strength Rating and their NAIC Complaint Index score.

Providers received a rating on a five-star scale for each of these categories, with the complaint index and financial strength ratings weighed as the heaviest variables. Then, using a weighted average, each company was assigned an overall star rating.

Top-Ranked Annuity Providers

Provider	Annuity.org Star Rating
Mass Mutual
New York Life
Pacific Life
Midland National
North American
Western & Southern

Our Rating Panel

The Annuity.org editorial team spoke with several different annuity experts to learn more about what is important to customers when searching for a provider and what factors make a company reliable. While Annuity.org designed the methodology, these experts provided feedback during the process and consulted on what factors we should leverage to best help prospective buyers compare providers.