Fabric Life Insurance Review [Must-Read If Under 40!]

Who Is Fabric Life Insurance?

Founded in 2015 by Adam Erlebacher and Steven Surgnier and based in Brooklyn, New York, Fabric is an innovative new digital life insurance agency.

Similar to competitors Bestow and Ethos, Fabric allows users to buy term life insurance 100% online.

Fabric’s policies are issued by Vantis Life Insurance Company, a life insurance carrier doing business since 1847.  Vantis is a subsidiary of Penn Mutual, the second-oldest mutual life insurance company in the U.S.

Vantis has an A+ (Superior) rating from A.M. Best, a ratings agency that measures the claims-paying ability of insurance carriers.

Finally, Fabric has strong third-party reviews.

It holds an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. And from customers, it currently has 1,698 reviews on TrustPilot, with an aggregate rating of 4.8 stars.

Fabric’s phone number is (917) 765-3572, and its email address is [email protected]

Fabric Life Insurance Product Offerings

Fabric offers two life insurance products:

1. Term life insurance
2. Accidental death insurance

Fabric’s primary product is term life insurance.  It does not offer whole life insurance (including guaranteed issue life insurance).

Finally, Fabric allows users to create wills for free on the web or via mobile (both iOS and Android), which makes sense given the new parent demographic they are targeting.

Fabric Term Life Insurance

Fabric’s primary product (Fabric Premium) is a term life insurance policy, available to residents of all states, except Montana, New York, and California.

Fabric offers term life coverage from $50,000 to $5 million.  This upper limit is far higher than Fabric’s peers, like Bestow (maximum coverage of $1.5 million).

Does Fabric Require A Medical Exam?

Fabric does not require a medical exam across the board. But it waives the exam for only a select group.

Those who bypass Fabric’s medical exam are young (under 40) and in pristine health: no medical conditions (or family history).

Fabric calls this path “accelerated underwriting,” This no-exam coverage is available on policies with up to $1 million in coverage.

If you qualify for accelerated underwriting, it’s possible to complete the application in 10 minutes and receive instant coverage (a product Fabric calls Fabric Instant).

Other Notable Features

With Fabric, you have the ability to lower your coverage at any time, without going through underwriting.

This is an excellent feature, as policyholders often need less coverage as they age (e.g., they no longer have education expenses for their children, their mortgage has been paid down, etc.).

(Note that there is no option to increase your policy’s coverage.  If you want more coverage, you would have to apply for a new policy and go through underwriting again.)

Finally, as with nearly all term life insurance policies, you have the option to convert to a whole life insurance policy.  You must exercise this option before the end of the policy term to avoid re-taking the medical exam.

Who Should Buy Life Insurance From Fabric?

The one feature we’ve held off on discussing is term length, and there’s quite a bit to say.

Fabric’s term life insurance product comes in only three term-lengths: 10, 15, and 20 years.  This will be highly unattractive to younger buyers.

Unlike most life insurers, Fabric does not sell policies with 25-year or 30-year terms.  If you’re below 30, avoid Fabric.

Why might younger buyers find this unappealing?

Let’s say that you buy a term life policy from Fabric when you are 25 years old.  If you choose the longest term available (20 years), your coverage will expire when you are 45 years old, when you will likely still have significant financial obligations in front of you.

At this age, the breadwinner’s income is critical for most households.  It’s not a time that you want to be left without coverage.

You could, of course, buy another term life insurance policy.  But there are two issues with that:

1. You may not be in good health at 45 and unable to qualify for a policy (for reasons out of your control).
2. You will pay higher or much higher rates for your next 10-20 years than you would have if your original policy had carried a 30-year or 40-year term.

Fabric Life Insurance Monthly Premium Rates

A term life insurance “rate” (or “quote”) is an estimate of the cost of your policy.

To arrive at this estimate, Fabric asks for some basic information about you (5 quick data points):

• Age
• Gender
• State
• Whether you use tobacco or not
• A rating of your overall health (excellent, good, or ok)

Fabric’s quote tool then uses these factors to estimate your monthly rate.

Sample Monthly Premiums

Rates For Men

In the table below, you’ll find monthly premiums quotes for a male living in California with no history of smoking and in “Good” Health (the middle tier of the three user-reported health grades).

Rates are shown for 30-, 40-, and 50-year-old men looking for 10-year and 20-year policies, each at coverage amounts of $500K and $1 million.

Rates For Women

The corresponding monthly premium rates for women are shown below.

Fabric Life Insurance

Conclusion

This Fabric Life Insurance Review put a rising star through the wringer.

However, there’s a lot to like about Fabric.  The Company demonstrates more innovation than any other life insurance provider in the U.S., except its competitor Bestow.

And that’s not hyperbole.

Fabric Life has a strong web distribution and customer education platform. Moreover, its mobile app experience is seamless and polished when 95% of the industry lacks mobile distribution full stop.

So while we recommend that you pass on Fabric for the time being (and opt for companies like Health IQ and Bestow), we’re excited to see Fabric’s potential materialize, and we fully expect our recommendation to change within a couple of years.

We hope you found this review helpful, and if you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or send us an email. We’ll be sure to get back to you within 24 hours.

Warm Regards,
The GetSure Team