Whole Life Insurance Loan Program
Receive up to 95% of your whole life policy’s cash surrender value
Should I Get a Loan From My Whole Life Insurance Policy?
If you own a whole life insurance policy, the premiums may feel heavier every year. You may start to question whether it still makes sense to keep paying for coverage you no longer need or can comfortably afford.
When a policy becomes too expensive, most people see only a few choices:
Keep paying premiums. You keep coverage, but the payments may strain your budget.
Let the policy lapse. Premiums stop, but you walk away with nothing.
Surrender the policy. You receive the cash surrender value, lose the death benefit, and may owe taxes on part of the payout.
A whole life insurance loan offers another path. By borrowing against your policy’s cash surrender value, you may be able to access cash today while keeping a death benefit in place for your loved ones. In many cases, you may qualify to receive up to 95% of your policy’s cash surrender value as a loan.
See how much cash your whole life policy may qualify for
How the Loan for Life™ Program Works
Harbor Life Settlements is an authorized distributor of the Loan for Life™ Program, which uses your whole life policy as collateral for a one-time loan. The loan is repaid from the policy’s death benefit in the future, instead of from your current income.
Key features of the program include:
No more premium payments. After the loan closes, you can choose to stop paying premiums. The lender pays future premiums and adds them to your loan balance.
Access to cash now. At closing, you receive a lump-sum payment. In many cases, the loan amount is around 90%–95% of your policy’s cash surrender value, before fees.
No required interest payments. You are not required to make monthly interest payments. Interest can be added to the balance instead.
Death benefit stays in force. Your whole life policy remains active. When the insured passes away, the death benefit repays the loan, and any remaining amount goes to your beneficiaries, generally income tax-free under current law.
No personal recourse. The policy is the only collateral. The lender does not look to your other assets for repayment.
Fixed interest rate. The loan’s interest rate is fixed for the entire term and cannot increase.
How Much Cash Could You Receive?
Your potential loan amount depends mainly on your policy’s cash surrender value and any existing policy loans. Here are simplified examples to show how the program works:
Example 1
Policy death benefit: $250,000
Cash surrender value: $82,000
Estimated Loan for Life™ amount: about $78,000 (roughly 95% of cash surrender value, before lender fees).
Estimated death benefit for beneficiaries: If the insured passes away within a few years after closing, the remaining benefit after loan repayment could still be well over $150,000. Over time, as interest and premiums are added to the balance, the remaining benefit gradually decreases.
Example 2
Policy death benefit: $500,000
Cash surrender value: $165,000
Existing policy loan: $80,000
Estimated Loan for Life™ amount: about $165,000 (up to 100% of cash surrender value, before fees). Part of the loan pays off the existing policy loan, and the rest is paid to you in cash.
Estimated death benefit for beneficiaries: If the insured dies within several years after closing, beneficiaries could receive around $300,000 after loan repayment. This amount also declines over time as interest and premiums are added.
These examples are for illustration only. Your actual results will depend on your policy, cash value, and how long the loan remains outstanding.
Who Is Eligible for a Whole Life Insurance Loan?
The Loan for Life™ Program is built for policyowners who want to turn their whole life policy’s cash surrender value into usable funds while keeping coverage in place.
In many cases, the program can:
Accept single-life and joint-life whole-life policies as collateral.
Offer loans without a medical exam or detailed medical records.
Focus more on your policy’s cash value and structure than on your age or health.
To find out if your policy may qualify, you can request an estimate and share your policy details with Harbor Life, which will submit them to the program lender for review.
How Long Does the Loan Process Take?
The process is designed to be straightforward:
After Harbor Life receives in-force illustrations from your insurer, the lender typically reviews your case within about 7–10 days.
If you accept the loan offer and complete the paperwork, cash is often paid out within about 30 days of closing.
Actual timing depends on how quickly your insurer provides policy information and how fast documents are completed and returned.
How to Apply for a Whole Life Insurance Loan
The application process has four main steps:
Apply. You start by submitting a request to Harbor Life for a whole life insurance loan estimate.
Evaluate. Harbor Life requests in-force illustrations from your insurer. These show how your policy’s cash value and death benefit are expected to change over time. Harbor Life sends this information to the program lender to calculate your loan amount.
Contract. After you review and approve the offer, Harbor Life obtains the final loan documents from the lender for you to sign.
Payment. Once the documents are signed and the insurer records the lender’s collateral assignment, you receive your loan proceeds in cash.
Will You Need to Pay Interest Out of Pocket?
Interest is charged on the outstanding loan balance, but you are not required to make monthly interest payments.
You can choose to:
Let interest and premiums paid by the lender be added to the loan balance until the insured passes away; or
Make voluntary payments toward interest or principal to reduce the final balance and preserve more of the death benefit for your beneficiaries.
The loan has recourse only against the policy, not against you personally. The lender looks to the death benefit for repayment, not to your other assets.
The program also guarantees a minimum death benefit for your beneficiaries as long as the policy and loan remain in good standing. In many cases, the final benefit can be higher than this minimum, depending on how long the loan is in place and whether any payments are made along the way.
Whole Life Insurance Loan vs. Other Options
When a whole life insurance policy becomes expensive, most policyowners consider one of three paths: surrendering the policy, selling it, or borrowing against it. If you’re weighing whether you can cash out a life insurance policy and what that really means, it helps to understand how each option works before deciding.
A whole life insurance loan allows you to access a large portion of your policy’s cash surrender value while keeping the policy active. You can stop paying premiums out of pocket, receive a lump-sum payment, and preserve a death benefit for your beneficiaries.
By comparison:
Surrendering a policy ends coverage completely. You receive the cash surrender value, lose the death benefit, and may owe taxes on part of the payout.
Selling a policy through a life settlement transfers ownership to a third party. You typically receive more than the surrender value, but you give up the policy and its death benefit and may be subject to medical underwriting and tax considerations.
Why Some Policyowners Choose a Loan
A whole life insurance loan may be appealing if you want to:
Access cash without canceling your policy
Stop paying premiums out of pocket
Avoid medical underwriting
Leave a portion of the death benefit to your beneficiaries
For policyowners who want cash today without giving up their whole life insurance coverage, a policy-backed loan can be a more flexible option.
Get Your Whole Life Insurance Loan Estimate
If you are tired of paying high premiums on a whole life policy you no longer need, a life insurance loan may help you:
Unlock a large portion of your cash surrender value today.
Stop paying premiums out of pocket.
Preserve a death benefit for the people you care about.
Get a whole life insurance loan estimate or get your free estimate to see how much cash you may be able to receive from your life insurance policy.
By submitting your information, you agree that you have read and accepted Harbor Life’s disclaimers and terms. This page provides general information and is not tax, legal, or financial advice. Consider speaking with your own advisor about your specific situation.
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