Our Verdict: The Short Answer
MetLife is one of the financially strongest insurers in the world, but it stopped selling individual life insurance in 2017, when it spun that business off into Brighthouse Financial. What MetLife sells today is group life insurance through employers, the coverage that shows up in your workplace benefits package. If your company offers it, you get a top-rated insurer (A+ Superior from AM Best), simple enrollment, and often no medical exam. What you cannot do is buy an individual MetLife policy on your own, because that option no longer exists.
Already have a MetLife policy and need to log in or file a claim? The contacts section below sorts out which portal and number you need.
Key Takeaways
- Group Coverage Only: MetLife sells life insurance through employers, not to individuals. It exited the individual market in 2017 when it spun off that business into Brighthouse Financial.
- Elite Financial Strength: AM Best affirmed MetLife at A+ (Superior) in April 2026, with a stable outlook, backed by S&P AA-, Moody’s Aa3, and Fitch AA-.
- Easy, No-Exam Enrollment: Group plans usually offer guaranteed-issue coverage with no medical exam up to a set amount, which helps if your health would raise rates on the open market.
- Service Is Inconsistent: Routine tasks work well online and in the app, but complex issues and some claims draw complaints about delays and bureaucracy.
- You Cannot Buy It Solo: If your employer does not offer MetLife, it is not an option for new individual coverage. Existing individual policies may be serviced by either MetLife or Brighthouse.
- Compare life insurance rates and quotes
What MetLife Life Insurance Actually Is Now
MetLife has sold insurance since 1868, which makes it one of the oldest names in the business, but the company you reach today is not the one that wrote individual policies for generations of families. In 2017, MetLife spun off its U.S. retail life insurance and annuity business into a separate public company, Brighthouse Financial. What stayed with MetLife is the group business: the life, disability, dental, and related coverage that employers offer through benefits packages.
That split matters depending on why you are here. If you are looking at coverage offered through your job, you are dealing with MetLife. If you are trying to buy an individual policy, or you hold an older individual MetLife policy bought before the spinoff, the answer is more layered. New individual coverage historically tied to the MetLife name is now written by Brighthouse, while many legacy individual policies, including older participating whole life, are still serviced by MetLife itself.
The carrier servicing your policy is printed on your annual statement and your policy documents. That is the only reliable way to know whether MetLife or Brighthouse handles your coverage. It is a five-minute check that saves an hour on the phone getting transferred to the wrong department.
Who MetLife Life Insurance Is Best For
MetLife fits employees whose companies offer it as a benefit. If you want straightforward group term coverage from an insurer that is not going anywhere, MetLife delivers, and the employer subsidy usually makes the premium competitive. The simplified underwriting is the real draw, since standard coverage often skips the medical exam entirely. The flip side is simple: if you are shopping for an individual policy outside an employer plan, MetLife does not sell one, so this review is mostly context for you rather than a buying option.
MetLife Affordability
Pricing depends heavily on the deal your employer struck with MetLife, since group rates are negotiated at the company level. As a rule, group life through an employer runs competitively against the open market, partly because the employer often covers part of the premium.
As a rough illustration, a healthy 35-year-old might see group term in the range of $27 a month for $250,000 of coverage, with larger amounts and longer terms costing proportionally more. Those figures move with your employer’s plan, your age, and your coverage tier, so treat them as a starting point rather than a quote.
Group pricing leans on pooled risk, which spreads cost across the whole workforce instead of pricing your health alone. That is a genuine advantage if a health condition or a risky hobby would push your rate up on an individual policy, since the group rate softens that penalty.
If you hold an older MetLife participating whole life policy, one detail is worth knowing. MetLife demutualized in 2000, and its pre-2000 participating policies sit in a segregated closed block that still pays dividends. Those dividend scales have trailed the big mutual carriers in recent years, so a policy from a strong mutual insurer may credit more. Your guarantees do not change, but the dividend performance is worth comparing if you are deciding whether to keep or replace an old policy.
MetLife Coverage Options
MetLife builds its life lineup around what employers want to offer, which means term and permanent options inside a benefits menu rather than a retail shelf.
Basic Term Life is usually employer-funded and set as a multiple of your salary or a flat amount, often somewhere between $10,000 and a low-six-figure cap depending on the plan. It is the default layer most employees get automatically once they name a beneficiary.
Supplemental Term Life lets you buy more on top of the basic amount, commonly up to $500,000, paid out of your own pocket at group rates. Dependent Term Life extends smaller amounts to a spouse and children.
For permanent coverage, MetLife offers Group Universal Life and Group Variable Universal Life. The universal option lets you adjust the death benefit and premium over time while building cash value, and the variable version adds investment subaccounts for people who want market exposure inside the policy.
Conversion is a common feature when you leave a job. You can often convert group term to an individual policy without proving insurability again, though the issuing carrier and the exact terms depend on your plan, so confirm them with your benefits administrator before you count on it.
On borrowing, the rule follows the policy type. Permanent policies that build cash value, like universal or whole life, generally let you take a policy loan against that cash value. Group term life builds no cash value, so there is nothing to borrow against. If you hold an older permanent MetLife policy and want a loan, the request goes through whoever services it, which is one more reason to confirm your servicer first.
Living benefits round things out. An accelerated death benefit, usually included at no extra cost, lets you draw on the coverage early after a terminal diagnosis to help with expenses during treatment.
MetLife Financial Strength and Reliability
Financial strength is MetLife’s strongest card by a wide margin. AM Best affirmed the group’s Financial Strength Rating at A+ (Superior) in April 2026 with a stable outlook, and the other agencies line up behind it: AA- from S&P, Aa3 from Moody’s, and AA- from Fitch. These are among the highest ratings any life insurer carries.
The numbers behind those ratings are large. MetLife manages more than $500 billion in assets and serves roughly 90 million customers across more than 40 markets. A buyer worried about whether the company will be around to pay a claim in forty years is asking the wrong question here, because solvency is not the concern with MetLife.
On complaints, MetLife’s NAIC complaint index for life insurance came in at 0.77 in the most recent published data, against a norm of 1.00, meaning fewer complaints than its size would predict. The company demutualized in 2000, shifting from policyholder ownership to public shareholders, and it has paid claims through world wars, the Depression, and the 2008 crisis across more than 150 years of operation.
MetLife Customer Service
Customer service is where MetLife’s size cuts both ways. Routine tasks tend to go smoothly, while anything complex can run into the bureaucracy that comes with an organization this large.
Phone Support
MetLife’s general customer service line is 1-800-638-5000. Group life claims are handled Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Wait times swing with call volume and how complicated your issue is.
MetLife Login and Contacts
- Workplace and group benefits: log in through your employer’s MetLife MyBenefits portal at metlife.com
- General MetLife customer service: 1-800-638-5000
- Older individual MetLife policy bought before 2017: check your annual statement to see whether MetLife or Brighthouse services it, then use that company’s portal
- Policies now under Brighthouse: log in at brighthousefinancial.com
- Claims: download a claim kit from metlife.com, or call the number above to confirm where to send it
Digital Support
The MetLife mobile app handles the everyday well, with users rating it around 4.2 out of 5 on iOS and 3.5 on Android. It covers coverage details, digital ID cards, claim status, and basic account changes, with the occasional login or sync complaint. The website does the same on a larger screen, and chat support is available for some questions.
Third-Party Ratings
Outside reviews are mixed and need context. The Better Business Bureau lists MetLife without accreditation, and Trustpilot sits low, near 1.3 out of 5, but a large share of those complaints involve MetLife’s dental and pet lines rather than life insurance. J.D. Power’s individual life study now effectively covers the Brighthouse-issued products rather than MetLife’s, so the cleaner read on MetLife is its group and benefits satisfaction, where it has historically landed around the industry average. Treat any single score as one data point rather than a verdict.
MetLife Claims Process
Filing a claim with MetLife is straightforward on paper, though the experience depends on how complex the claim is.
Beneficiaries start by downloading a claim kit from MetLife’s website, which lists the required documents. The company accepts claims by mail, fax, email, or online depending on the policy. Smaller policies generally accept a copy of the death certificate, while larger ones require a certified original.
MetLife says it reviews claims within five business days of receiving complete paperwork and follows up within ten business days if it needs more. Approved payouts go out as a check or into a Total Control Account, an interest-bearing settlement account with check-writing access and no maintenance fees, which gives a grieving beneficiary room to decide what to do without a clock running.
Group claims run on their own line with the hours noted above, and beneficiaries can opt into text or email status updates. Experiences vary. Many report clean, timely payments, while others describe repeated document requests and trouble reaching the right person, usually on complex claims involving estates, multiple beneficiaries, or a death abroad.
MetLife Application Process
Applying looks nothing like buying an individual policy, because enrollment runs through your employer.
Most employees sign up during open enrollment or within about 30 days of hire, through an HR portal or paper forms. Basic coverage often enrolls automatically once you name a beneficiary.
Guaranteed issue is the headline advantage. Employers commonly negotiate an amount you can take without health questions or an exam, covering the basic employer-paid layer and a set slice of supplemental coverage. Going above that limit means completing an Evidence of Insurability health questionnaire.
Guaranteed-issue coverage is effectively immediate at enrollment. Anything that needs medical underwriting takes longer, usually two to four weeks, since MetLife runs a more traditional underwriting process rather than the accelerated, data-driven model some individual carriers now use.
Pros & Cons of MetLife
The trade-off is clean. Elite financial strength and easy, often-subsidized group coverage, set against inconsistent service and the fact that you cannot buy it on your own.
Pros
MetLife’s financial ratings sit among the strongest in the industry, which removes any real doubt about claims-paying ability. Group enrollment is simple, with guaranteed-issue options that cover you regardless of health. Accelerated death benefits are typically included at no extra cost. The MetLife Advantages package adds extras like grief counseling, will-preparation services, and the Total Control Account for beneficiaries. And portability or conversion features give you a path to keep coverage when you change jobs.
Cons
MetLife no longer sells individual life insurance, so it is off the table unless your employer offers it. Service quality is inconsistent once you move past routine tasks. The sheer scale can feel impersonal. Your coverage choices are limited to what your employer negotiated. And the low marks on review sites, even allowing for the dental and pet complaints mixed in, point to real friction for some customers.
Our Verdict & Rating for MetLife
MetLife sits in a specific lane. It brings financial strength almost no competitor can match and more than 150 years of paying claims, and for an employee who can get it at work, the mix of competitive group rates, simple enrollment, and no-exam coverage makes a solid foundation.
The weak spot is service. The gap between MetLife’s size and the attention an individual policyholder gets shows up the moment something complicated lands, and the company plainly optimizes for scale over hand-holding.
The practical catch is the biggest one. You cannot buy MetLife life insurance on your own anymore. The 2017 spinoff sent the individual business to Brighthouse, so if your employer does not offer MetLife, it is not a choice you can make. MetLife did not rate high enough to make our list of the best life insurance companies, largely on service and that lack of an individual option.
Who Should Consider MetLife
MetLife makes sense for employees offered it at work, especially anyone who wants coverage without a medical exam or whose health would complicate an individual application. The financial stability is reassuring for long-term coverage, and an employer subsidy only sweetens it.
Who Should Consider Another Provider
If you are shopping on the open market, MetLife is not available, so start elsewhere. Buyers chasing the individual policies once sold under the MetLife name should look at Brighthouse Financial, which now writes that business. If you want participating whole life with a strong dividend, mutual carriers like MassMutual or New York Life are better fits. And if service quality sits at the top of your list, a smaller, more personal carrier may serve you better than a company built for scale.
Methodology
This assessment evaluates MetLife across five weighted categories, including life insurance rates, reflecting what matters most to life insurance buyers.
- Financial Stability (20%): Assessing carrier ratings from AM Best, S&P, and Moody’s, plus NAIC complaint data
- Coverage Options (10%): Evaluating policy types, coverage amounts, term lengths, and flexibility
- Affordability & Value (30%): Comparing premiums against competitors and considering overall value proposition
- Claims Process (20%): Reviewing settlement timelines, denial rates, and customer claims experiences
- Customer Service (20%): Analyzing support availability, response quality, and third-party satisfaction ratings
How MetLife Insurance Scored
- Financial Stability: 9.0/10
- Coverage Options: 7.0/10
- Affordability & Value: 7.0/10
- Claims Process: 7.0/10
- Customer Service: 6.0/10
- Overall Score: 7.2/10
We reviewed over two dozen life insurance companies to assemble our ratings. You can see all the companies we reviewed here: Life Insurance Company Reviews.
