Funeral Advantage: Ultimate Review 2022

Is The Nation’s Most Popular Final Expense Plan All It’s Cracked Up To Be?

It’s never pleasant contemplating one’s own death, but when we’re approaching the grand golden years of our life, it’s important to consider how our eventual passing will impact those we leave behind, not just emotionally, but financially too.

Funerals these days can cost between $7000 and $12,000+, which is a devastating financial blow, even for the well off, and for the less fortunate among us, well… it doesn’t even bear thinking about.

But that’s where final expense life insurance comes into play. These policies pay out a lump sum to your chosen beneficiary in the unfortunate event of your passing, so your family and friends can afford a send-off that honors your final wishes.

If you’ve already started your search for a final expense insurance policy, you’ll no doubt have come across stalwarts of the industry, Lincoln Heritage, and their hugely popular Funeral Advantage plan.

At first glance, it can seem like a very promising prospect, but as is the case with any form of insurance, it’s best to do some research before signing on the dotted line.

So, to help you out with what can be a very stressful process, the team here at Simplified Burial Insurance has done a comprehensive, no-holds-barred review of Funeral Advantage by Lincoln Heritage.

Here, you’ll find everything there is to know about this burial insurance plan, so you can make an informed decision on whether it’s the right move for you and your loved ones.

Who Is Lincoln Heritage?

Founded in 1963 by Thomas Allen Londen, Lincoln Heritage Life Insurance (LHLI) is a company that specializes in final expenses, otherwise known as burial or funeral insurance.

Operating out of Phoenix, Arizona, Lincoln Heritage has steadily become the most prominent name in this field of the industry, providing more people with burial insurance than any other company, which is a pretty impressive achievement.

They have been known to trifle in term life insurance policies from time to time, and they still offer a bit of variety by means of optional riders, but last expense insurance has been their flagship product from the get-go.

Company Finances: Are They A Stable Entity?

In terms of the company standing and finances, you’ve got absolutely nothing to worry about when choosing Lincoln Heritage. They’re not going to go bust and leave you and your family empty-handed.

On the contrary, they’re actually a very successful titan of the industry with an 18% surplus-to-liabilities ratio, which, in layman terms, means they’re incredibly financially secure.

The company also celebrates A- to A+ ratings across insurance grading companies such as A.M. Best that assess a provider’s ability to meet insurance obligations.

Make no mistake, Lincoln Heritage is an extremely successful, not to mention, large company, and while this can instill a certain sense of well-being in customers, bigger isn’t always better. Read on, and you’ll see just what we mean.

What Is Lincoln Heritage Funeral Advantage Insurance?

Funeral Advantage is Lincoln Heritage’s final expense insurance package designed for senior members of the public. It provides a chosen beneficiary with funds to cover burial expenses should an insured family member or friend pass on.

It’s advertised as instant coverage, meaning your loved ones are financially protected as soon as your application gets the Lincoln Heritage stamp of approval.

What’s more, there are no medical examinations involved in the application process, and at 98%, the acceptance rate is reassuringly high.

This can be an enticing prospect for seniors who foresee or perhaps are having trouble finding coverage elsewhere, but if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, especially in the world of insurance, so let’s dig a little deeper, and see if the Funeral Advantage plan is everything Lincoln Heritage makes it out to be.

Cutting To The Chase: Is Lincoln Heritage Funeral Advantage Insurance A Wise Move For Seniors?

This review is going to cover every single aspect of the Funeral Advantage plan, which means it’s going to belong. In light of this, we understand that you may not have time to take in our full investigation, so we’re giving you a condensed report of our findings right off the bat.

Lincoln Heritage certainly talks the sliver tongued talk, but there are several chinks in this company’s “customer-kind” facade that you need to know about before you sign anything or even consider their Funeral Advantage policy as an option.

The first major pull of Funeral Advantage is that Lincoln Heritage claims that they approve 98% of applicants, and that may well be true, but that should be more of a warning sign than anything else.

The reason they can afford to take on so many customers is that they have a lot of money, and they make a lot of money by overcharging their clientele and implementing waiting periods to reduce payout (more on that in just a bit).

Their 24-hour payout protocol is also intentionally misleading. In almost no circumstances will your loved ones receive money from Lincoln Heritage within 24 hours of your passing — we’ll explain why later in the review.

Then there are the outrageous Lincoln Heritage rates to consider. Choosing Funeral Advantage over a policy with one of our carriers could mean you’re paying 20–300% over the odds.

So, ultimately, despite their imposing presence in the burial insurance industry, Lincoln Heritage’s Funeral Advantage protection is not a wise move for seniors.

Lincoln Heritage Funeral Advantage Insurance: Pros And Cons

Pros

• The Standard policy comes into effect immediately.
• No medical examinations are required.
• No BMI thresholds are in place.
• They’re a financially stable entity.
• Lincoln Heritage is known for its exemplary customer service.

Cons

• Lincoln Heritage Funeral Advantage rates are 20–300% pricier than competitors.
• They have overly strict tobacco policies.
• They don’t pay out in 24 hours as claimed.
• A number of medical conditions and medications will force you into their expensive Modified policy.
• The Modified policy has extensive waiting periods.
• They engage in much more thorough health checks during application than most competitors.
• The included membership to the FCGS doesn’t bring any value to the plan.
• Lincoln Heritage agents sometimes employ aggressive sales tactics.
• Lincoln Heritage is a captive insurance agency.

Putting Funeral Advantage Under The Microscope: An In-Depth Breakdown Of Lincoln Heritage Final Expense Underwriting

Funeral Advantage isn’t actually a singular insurance policy, but two. There’s a standard plan and what Lincoln Heritage refers to as the “Modified” plan.

The specifics of each plan diverge dramatically, but they both arrive with 3 permanent benefits:

Coverage Lock

The coverage lock means that nothing can touch the agreed figure of financial protection. It cannot be decreased, and as long as you keep up with monthly payments, the policy will never expire.

Locked Prices

Funeral Advantage monthly fees are unaffected by inflation or interest. They will be consistent throughout the entire payment term, thereby helping seniors with very rigid, fixed incomes to keep on top of their expenses.

Cash Value Pool

With every payment you make to Lincoln Heritage, they take a fraction, and place it in a cash value pool that can eventually be borrowed from in times of crisis.

The Standard Immediate Coverage Funeral Advantage Plan

The standard Funeral Advantage plan is aimed at seniors, but anyone upward of 40 years old may apply. It offers instantaneous coverage, and, should you wish, you can add various riders to the agreement to tailor it to your circumstances.

Fast Facts

• Eligible Age Range: 40–85
• Protection Amount: Up to $20,000
• Waiting Period: There isn’t one
• Medical Examination: Not required
• Build Chart: No
• Health Questions: Yep… a lot of them.
• Coverage Type: Permanent
• Cash Value Pool: Yes
• Tobacco Rates: Yes

What You Need to Know

Instantaneous Activation

As soon as your Funeral Advantage application is finalized, you’re officially covered by the policy. Even if you tragically pass later on that day, your loved ones will still receive the full payout to help them cover funeral and burial costs.

Extensive Health Questionnaires

If you watch any Lincoln adverts or read any of their written marketing, you’ll be bombarded with phrases such as “No Health Checks”, “No Medical Exams”, and “Most People Qualify”, and, credit where credit’s due, these statements are, for the most part, quite true.

You won’t be poked and prodded by doctors at any point of the application process, and you don’t have to conform to certain BMI standards to qualify for a policy, but as attractive as those buzz phrases mentioned above are, they’re also criminally vague.

The detail Lincoln conveniently leaves out of all their ads is that they review an applicant’s health far more stringently than almost all competing insurance companies.

Should you have one of their red-list medical conditions or be on certain medications, you are no longer eligible for the standard Funeral Advantage protection.

Lincoln Heritage will automatically shift you over to their “Modified” plan, which is a concise and sterilized way of informing you that you’re going to be paying up to 300% more than you would be with one of their competitors.

Membership To The Funeral Consumer Guardianship Society

The Funeral Consumer Guardianship Society is a business that helps you and your loved ones with certain organizational aspects of your funeral and burial. A membership to the SCGS comes as standard when your application for Funeral Advantage insurance is approved.

Standard Plan Monthly Rates

Let’s get down to brass tacks and check out some cold hard figures, shall we? To provide a bit of perspective, we’ve assembled the rates of one of our most popular carriers, Mutual of Omaha, alongside those of Lincoln Heritage.

Rates For Female Seniors

Age	Lincoln Heritage: $10,000 Coverage	Mutual Of Omaha: $10,000 Coverage	Lincoln Heritage: $15,000 Coverage	Mutual Of Omaha: $15,000 Coverage
50	$33.90	$24.67	$49.35	$35.40
51	$34.80	$25.45	$50.70	$36.58
52	$35.70	$25.85	$52.05	$37.22
53	$36.70	$26.62	$53.55	$38.33
54	$37.60	$27.47	$54.90	$39.60
55	$38.50	$28.40	$56.25	$41.00
56	$39.80	$29.27	$58.20	$42.31
57	$41.00	$30.06	$60.00	$43.48
58	$42.30	$30.83	$61.95	$44.64
59	$43.50	$31.70	$63.75	$45.95
60	$44.80	$32.87	$65.70	$47.70
61	$47.30	$34.51	$69.45	$50.17
62	$49.80	$36.06	$73.20	$52.49
63	$52.40	$37.72	$77.10	$54.98
64	$54.90	$39.36	$80.85	$57.45
65	$57.40	$41.01	$84.60	$59.91
66	$61.00	$43.44	$90.00	$63.56
67	$64.60	$45.86	$95.40	$67.19
68	$68.10	$48.29	$100.65	$70.84
69	$71.70	$50.81	$106.05	$74.61
70	$75.30	$53.24	$111.45	$78.26
71	$80.50	$56.63	$119.25	$83.34
72	$85.60	$60.12	$126.90	$88.58
73	$90.80	$63.93	$134.70	$94.29
74	$95.90	$67.78	$142.35	$100.07
75	$101.10	$72.41	$150.15	$107.01
76	$109.90	$78.25	$163.35	$115.77
77	$118.70	$83.51	$176.55	$123.66
78	$127.40	$88.44	$189.60	$131.06
79	$136.20	$93.41	$202.80	$138.52
80	$145.00	$98.43	$216.00	$146.05
81	$150.30	$106.21	$223.95	$157.72
82	$155.60	$113.96	$231.90	$169.33
83	$160.90	$121.31	$239.85	$180.36
84	$166.20	$128.55	$247.80	$191.23
85	$171.50	$135.90	$255.75	$202.25

 

Rates For Male Seniors

Age	Lincoln Heritage: $10,000 Coverage	Mutual Of Omaha: $10,000 Coverage	Lincoln Heritage: $20,000 Coverage	Mutual Of Omaha: $20,000 Coverage
50	$41.10	$29.16	$60.15	$42.13
51	$42.50	$30.30	$62.25	$43.85
52	$44.00	$31.12	$64.50	$45.08
53	$45.40	$32.30	$66.60	$46.70
54	$46.90	$33.61	$68.85	$48.81
55	$48.30	$35.09	$70.95	$51.04
56	$50.50	$36.45	$74.25	$53.08
57	$52.70	$37.91	$77.55	$55.26
58	$54.80	$39.26	$80.70	$57.30
59	$57.00	$40.82	$84.00	$59.62
60	$59.20	$42.76	$87.30	$62.53
61	$61.00	$45.38	$90.00	$66.47
62	$62.70	$47.90	$92.55	$70.25
63	$64.50	$50.52	$95.25	$74.17
64	$66.20	$53.14	$97.80	$78.11
65	$68.00	$55.76	$100.50	$82.04
66	$71.70	$59.35	$106.05	$87.42
67	$75.40	$62.93	$111.60	$92.80
68	$79.00	$66.53	$117.00	$98.19
69	$82.70	$70.11	$122.55	$103.57
70	$86.40	$73.70	$128.10	$108.95
71	$93.80	$78.36	$139.20	$115.93
72	$101.20	$82.92	$150.30	$122.78
73	$108.70	$88.01	$161.55	$130.42
74	$116.10	$93.16	$172.65	$138.13
75	$123.50	$99.53	$183.75	$147.69
76	$135.40	$106.87	$201.60	$158.70
77	$147.40	$113.64	$219.60	$168.86
78	$159.30	$119.86	$237.45	$178.18
79	$171.30	$126.23	$255.45	$187.74
80	$183.20	$132.65	$273.30	$197.38
81	$186.70	$143.00	$278.55	$212.89
82	$190.30	$153.54	$283.95	$228.71
83	$193.80	$163.41	$289.20	$243.52
84	$197.40	$173.28	$294.60	$285.32
85	$200.90	$183.15	$299.85	$273.13

The Modified Plan

“Modified” is a carefully chosen word. It doesn’t sound too drastic, it doesn’t imply anything particularly terrible, it doesn’t even sound like a discrete entity, rather a slight reworking of the standard plan.

Some might even take it to mean they’re being offered an improved policy, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.

With extortionate monthly fees and unacceptable waiting periods, the only thing the Modified plan is tailored to is Lincoln Heritage’s greed. It’s designed from the ground up to squeeze as much money from customers as possible.

Fast Facts

• Eligible Age Range: 40–85
• Protection Amount: Up to $15,000
• Waiting Period: Yes (big ones!)
• Medical Examination: Not required
• Build Chart: No
• Health Questions: Yes, but you’ll have already answered them in the application for the Standard plan.
• Coverage Type: Permanent
• Cash Value Pool: Yes
• Tobacco Rates: Yes

What You Need to Know

Waiting Period

Not only will you be paying a massive premium for the Modified plan (we’ll talk rates in just a moment), to add insult to this unreasonable and grave financial injury, Lincoln throws a hefty waiting period into the equation as well.

How long is this waiting period? Well, it doesn’t exactly fly by.

Depending on your age, you could be looking at a 2-to-3-year waiting period before you’re eligible for full coverage, despite the fact you’ll have been paying an extortionate premium the entire time — doesn’t sound all that fair, does it?

We know that waiting periods are an accepted staple of modified full life cover, but Lincoln Heritage pushes things a little far by writing into the contract that customers under the age of 50 have to wait a full 3 years to qualify for a 100% payout.

So, if you do sign on the dotted line of the Modified plan contract, be sure to take good care of yourself, because if – god forbid – you pop your clogs before the waiting period terminates, your family will only receive a fraction of the agreed-upon payment.

Waiting Period Payout Agenda

Age: Between 40 and 49 upon plan approval

• Passing within a year of plan approval: Premiums +10% are paid out to your loved ones.
• Passing within 2 years of plan approval: Premiums +20% are paid out to your loved ones.
• Passing within 3 years of plan approval: Premiums +30% are paid out to your loved ones.
• Passing beyond 3 years after plan approval: Full coverage sum will be paid out to your loved ones.

Things get a little more reasonable if you’re beyond the age of 50, but in our opinion, the following waiting periods are still completely unacceptable.

Age: Between 50 and 85 upon plan approval

• Passing within a year of plan approval: Premiums +10% will be paid out to your loved ones.
• Passing within 2 years of plan approval: Premiums +20% will be paid out to your loved ones.
• Passing beyond 2 years after plan approval: The full coverage sum will be paid out to your loved ones.

High Acceptance Rate

As there are only two medical questions you need to answer to qualify for the Modified plan, acceptance rates are incredibly high.

As mentioned earlier, Lincoln Heritage claims to accept 98% of all applicants, which, on the face of it, sounds fantastic, but when you consider the finer points of this plan, it’s clear that the only party that stands to benefit is Lincoln Heritage themselves.

Membership to the Funeral Consumer Guardianship Society

Even if you’re lumped in under the “Modified” umbrella, you still get a free FCGS membership to help ease the organizational burden of your funeral and burial.

Now let’s take a look at some Modified plan quotes. Brace yourself… it’s about to get ugly!

Modified Plan Rates

Age	Female Seniors: $10,000 Coverage	Male Seniors: $10,000 Coverage	Female Seniors: $15,000 Coverage	Male Seniors: $15,000 Coverage
50	$83.40	$97.20	$123.60	$144.30
51	$83.90	$99.00	$124.35	$147.00
52	$84.40	$100.80	$125.10	$149.70
53	$85.00	$102.60	$126.00	$153.40
54	$85.50	$104.40	$126.75	$155.10
55	$86.00	$106.20	$127.50	$157.80
56	$87.80	$107.30	$130.20	$159.45
57	$89.60	$108.50	$132.90	$161.25
58	$91.30	$109.60	$135.45	$162.90
59	$93.10	$110.80	$138.15	$164.70
60	$94.90	$111.90	$140.85	$166.35
61	$97.00	$115.30	$144.00	$171.45
62	$99.20	$118.70	$147.30	$176.55
63	$101.20	$122.00	$150.45	$181.50
64	$103.50	$125.40	$153.75	$186.60
65	$105.60	$128.80	$156.90	$191.70
66	$110.10	$134.20	$163.65	$199.80
67	$114.60	$139.60	$170.40	$207.90
68	$119.10	$145.10	$177.15	$216.15
69	$123.60	$150.50	$183.90	$224.25
70	$128.10	$155.90	$190.65	$232.25
71	$131.20	$162.40	$195.30	$242.10
72	$134.30	$168.90	$199.95	$251.85
73	$137.40	$175.40	$204.60	$261.60
74	$140.50	$181.90	$209.25	$271.35
75	$143.60	$188.40	$213.90	$281.10
76	$151.30	$193.30	$225.45	$288.45
77	$59.00	$198.10	$237.00	$295.75
78	$166.80	$203.00	$248.70	$303.00
79	$174.50	$203.60	$260.25	$310.20
80	$182.20	$207.80	$271.80	$317.55
81	$185.30	$212.70	$276.45	$317.85
82	$188.40	$212.90	$281.10	$318.15
83	$191.50	$213.10	$285.75	$318.60
84	$194.60	$213.40	$290.40	$303.90
85	$197.70	$213.80	$295.05	$319.20

As you can see, these prices are extortionate and keep in mind that these are all non-tobacco rates. If you suffer from one of the conditions that bar’s you from the traditional plan and you’re a smoker, you’ll be paying a ludicrous amount for very little coverage.

Optional Riders

An optional rider is an additional insurance service that you can fix to your primary plan for an extra fee, allowing you to mold the overall policy to suit your wants and needs.
Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) Optional Rider

This rider grants a maximum of $100,000 of extra coverage, and it’s sold in individual units that raise your monthly premiums. You can purchase up to 8 AD&D units from the following list…

• Accidental Death: $5000 coverage
• Single Dismemberment: $2500 coverage
• Fatal Automobile Accident: $10,000 coverage
• Fatal Common Carrier (Public Transport) Accident: $20,000 coverage
• Fatality Caused by Terrorism or Act of War (Only Available in Certain States): $20,000 coverage
• Transport for Mortal Remains for Fatalities That Occur Beyond 200 Miles of the Deceased’s Home: $1000 (max) coverage

Child Rider Optional Rider

Anyone who qualifies for the Funeral Advantage scheme can also tack on some additional child insurance for their children, grandchildren, or stepchildren.

Much like the AD&D rid