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As you may know, I’m very active in Home Service and debit. I was contacted via PM in June of last year by someone doing research for a carrier that was thinking about getting into that market. Here’s what I pulled together for him:
There are two main categories of Home Service companies, 1) Captive, sometimes referred to as “Career”, and 2) non-captive.
In the captive companies, agents are W-2 employees, only represent that company’s products, and besides compensation usually also receive a range of group benefits such as health insurance, disability, vacations, etc.
In the non-captive companies, agents are 1099 self employed individuals who are contracted with that carrier, and often also have contracts with other carriers. The unique thing about non-captive Home Service companies is that the agent usually retains some level of ownership in the business he produces. If he decides to leave the business, he can sell his ownership interest to another agent.
Captive:
The captive companies listed here have been utilizing Home Service distribution since their inception, although today they also offer other products that have more appeal to middle income prospects. The first two listed are the largest companies still employing the system.
Kemper Life (website: kemperhsc.com )
Kemper has acquired several companies, who are still operating under their original names, but are all gradually transitioning to the Kemper brand. Those companies are:
United Insurance of America
Reliable Life Insurance
Union National Life Insurance
Mutual Savings Life Insurance
American National Insurance Company
(Websites: americannational.com & cssd.americannational.com)
This company has several subsidiary companies that work in other market segments, but Home Service distribution is only offered under the parent company name.
Kilpatrick Life (website: klic.com)
a regional carrier operating primarily in Louisiana and East Texas
(Since I first pulled this list together, this company has been acquired by Security National Life).
Life Insurance Company of Alabama (website: licoa.com)
I’m not as sure about this one. I ran across them in the past and seem to remember them as a Home Service Company, but I could be mistaken.
North Carolina Mutual Life (ncmutuallife.com)
When I started out in Virginia, I used to run into these guys all the time. They were unique in that they were started as an African American owned company with the desire to serve the insurance needs of the African American community, at a time when other insurance companies were largely ignoring them. Unfortunately, this company was just recently found to be insolvent and taken into receivership by their home state, so all sales activities have been suspended pending rehabilitation.
Non-Captive:
Columbian Life (cfglife.com)
The parent company, Columbian Mutual Life, is the oldest of the non-captive Home Service companies. They’ve been operating in that system since 1882.
Security National Life (snlhomeservice.com)
This company’s preneed and final expense divisions are better known, but since they acquired a regional home service carrier several years ago, they’ve built their Home Service Division into a thriving enterprise.
Liberty Bankers Life/The Capitol Life (libertybankerslife.com)
Another company that’s best known for their Final Expense and Annuity divisions. The Home Service Division has been consistently profitable, showing steady growth since they first got involved in the business a dozen or so years ago.
They operate as Liberty Bankers Life in some states and The Capitol Life in others.
They also recently acquired Continental Insurance, a small home service company in Philadelphia. They’ve since changed the name to Liberty Bankers Life, but customers still refer to them as Continental.
Uniquely, Continental was a captive company, and Liberty Bankers chose to keep it as a captive operation. So, the former Continental agents are the only captive agents in the entire company.
Independent Mutual Fire Insurance Company (imfco.net)
Property insurance carrier that offers a renter’s contents policy through non-captive Home Service agents. They work through agents from all three of the non-captives listed above.
Some other company names that might be interesting for you to look into:
American General Life and Accident (acquired by AIG, later ceased career agency operations)
Liberty National Life (the original company in the Torchmark group) They’re no longer home service, but many of their veteran agents started when they still were.
Monumental Life - now Transamerica Agency Network
This company left the home service model only a few years ago, and still seems to retain some of that service character even though the agents don’t physically collect premiums anymore.
Ok, that’s about it! I’ve tried to be as thorough as possible, but I suspect that I may have missed a couple of smaller companies. At one time there were little insurance companies throughout the southeast operating out of single offices or funeral homes. Most of them were acquired by larger concerns through the years, but it’s possible that a handful still remain.
Haha! I know you only asked for a list, so I hope this isn’t info overload! I hope the extra insight is helpful as well as the list.
NOTES AS OF THIS MORNING (4/25/2020)
This info was current last June, but even the Home Service side of the business continues to evolve.
Historically speaking, besides those in the list, there were a myriad of small regional, state, or sometimes even local carriers operating with the debit system. For example, I still write for Western American Life, a small stipulated premium company in Dallas. I’m the last agent in the company still doing in-home premium collections. However, they’re still being written by several funeral homes who have clients that bring cash payments to them.
WALIC was founded in the late 1800’s out of a funeral home in Mexia, TX. Over the last 3 decades, their parent company (Central Security Life) has acquired blocks of business from nearly 300 smaller companies across a 6 state region, many of whom were running debit agencies at one time.
Even with all those acquisitions, the company is still relatively small compared to other carriers, which may give you an idea of the number of small carriers we’re talking about that used to be in the debit system.
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