Voluntary Benefits

Universal Life Puts You in Command

Your Universal Life policy from Trustmark offers flexible life insurance and places you in the driver’s seat.

You have many options with your policy: for example, to increase or decrease your benefit, pay different premium amounts, change your ownership or beneficiary, or just enjoy your protection as it is. It’s your policy, so it’s your call!

However, the decisions that you make may also have a significant effect on your policy. It is important to know all of your available options with your Trustmark Universal Life policy and to understand what impact those choices may have. This site may help you learn more about the ways you can adjust your policy to suit your personal needs.

How Universal Life Works

Most people are familiar with the basic concept of insurance. Your car, your health, your home — by regularly paying a small amount (your premium), you have protection against a far bigger cost if something goes wrong. Life insurance works the same way to protect survivors against the financial impact of losing a loved one.

The cost of traditional life insurance can become expensive as you grow older. Trustmark Universal Life policies can help solve this problem by building value over time. Invested policy value earns interest, which helps to pay for coverage, keeping insurance more affordable throughout your life. In addition, Trustmark Universal Life is flexible, which means you have options to make changes to your policy or access your value as a financial asset.¹

Most Trustmark Universal Life policies also include a long-term care benefit, which pays a percentage of your death benefit for up to 25 months when you receive certain long-term care services. Check your policy for details.²

Here’s how it works:

Your policy accumulates value
When you pay premiums on your life insurance policy, the value of your policy increases. This value is invested and earns interest, continuing to grow the value of your policy. If this value is maintained by your continuing to pay premiums, the interest it generates can help to pay the cost of insurance at a more advanced age. This way, you will not have to pay more than your target premium³ to maintain your coverage.

Policy value impacts the life of your policy
Your policy’s value is important for keeping it in-force. Several factors can affect your policy’s value, including loans, partial surrenders, missed premiums and changes in interest rates. If your policy value decreases, it will generate less interest. If this happens, your policy may not have enough value to pay for insurance when you are older. In this case, your policy may lapse, or you may need to increase your premium payments to keep it in-force. Maintaining policy value is critical to ensuring that your policy lasts as long as you need it to.

Read and understand your annual report
Your annual report, which is mailed to you each year, contains vital information about your policy, including your current policy values. By regularly reviewing this report, you can monitor the status of your policy and make educated decisions about funding and maintaining it. Your annual report also contains an explanation of the various terms and figures you see to help you better understand it.

Trustmark Universal Life is flexible
Because your needs and challenges can change as your life goes on, your Trustmark Universal Life policy can change as well. For example, you might elect to pay a different premium, increase or decrease your benefits, or use your policy’s value as a financial tool. These and other decisions are always in your hands. However, decisions that you make will have an impact on your policy.¹

Know all of your options
It’s important to understand all of your options as a Trustmark Universal Life policy owner, and how exercising these options may affect your policy. Learn more about your various options and how they can affect you below. If you have any questions or want to make any changes to your policy, please contact our Customer Care team.

My UL Policy Options

What and why: You can increase the benefit amount of your policy — the amount payable upon the insured’s death and used for the long-term care benefit.² You might choose to do this if you want more financial protection: for instance, if you have recently gotten married or started a family.

What will happen: You may need to apply and answer health questions for underwriting. Your target premium will increase and the benefit amounts on any of your policy riders may also increase. If your employer is offering annual enrollments, you may have to wait for an enrollment period to apply for an increased benefit.

How: Contact Customer Care

What and why: You can decrease the benefit amount of your policy — the amount payable upon the insured’s death. You might do this if you need less protection or if your policy is projected to lapse earlier than you’d like, but you do not wish to increase your target premium.³ If you can no longer afford your target premium, this may be strongly preferable to cancelling your policy and giving up the protection of your life insurance and long-term care benefits² you have built over time.

What will happen: Either your target premium will decrease or your policy will remain in-force longer, depending on factors such as your policy’s current value. A decrease in your death benefit may also decrease the benefit amounts on other riders, including long-term care.²

How: Contact Customer Care

What and why: With Trustmark Universal Life policies, you have the ability to vary your premium payments, including paying less than your target premium.³ Missed or partial premium payments will have an effect on your policy’s value, but will not necessarily result in an immediate lapse of the policy.¹

What will happen: When you miss or underpay a premium, the full charge to maintain your policy is paid out of your policy’s value. Your policy will remain in-force as long as there is enough value to pay this charge. If you miss premium payments, the lowered value of your policy will gather less interest over time, meaning your policy may lapse sooner, unless you pay more premium in the future.

How: No action required to skip a payment. To repay missed or partially paid premiums, contact Customer Care.

What and why: If you have riders you no longer wish to keep on your policy, you may have the option to remove certain riders at any time. You might consider this option if you no longer need those riders, or if you want to pay less premium but maintain the same death benefit.

What will happen: The rider(s) you removed will be terminated when the request has been processed by Trustmark. Your target premium will decrease accordingly. Please note: once you remove a rider, you are not able to add the rider back.

How: Contact Customer Care, or fill out the Remove Riders form and send it to: Trustmark VBS, P.O. Box 7937, Lake Forest, IL 60045.

What and why: If you have a Children’s Term Insurance Rider, you may convert it into a new Universal Life policy for your child when he/she becomes independent, upon the death of the insured or when the child ages out of coverage under the rider (in most states, this is on the first policy-issue anniversary issue that comes after that child’s 23rd birthday). You must convert the rider within 31 days.

What will happen: A new Trustmark Universal Life policy will be issued for your child (without additional underwriting) when you submit both the application and the first premium payment within 31 days. The policy benefit amount can be up to five times the death benefit on the Children's Term Insurance Rider.

How: Contact Customer Care

What and why: If you were a smoker when you purchased your policy and you have stopped smoking (not smoked for the past 12 months), you can contact Customer Care to have your rates changed to a non-smoker rate.

What will happen: Your premiums will be changed to non-smoker rates, which will be lower.

How: Contact Customer Care, or send a written and signed request to: Trustmark VBS, P.O. Box 7937, Lake Forest, IL 60045.

What and why: If you have any changes to your personal information (for instance, new contact information or a new legal name), please call our Customer Care team or visit the Policyholder Portal to update your information.

What will happen: Your information will be updated.

How: Visit the Policyholder Portal to update your information. You can also contact Customer Care, or fill out one of these forms — Change Name or Change Age — and send it to: Trustmark VBS, P.O. Box 7937, Lake Forest, IL 60045.

What and why: You can change the beneficiary and/or ownership of a policy at any time. You might change your beneficiary if your life situation has changed and you want a different person to receive the death benefit. You might change ownership of a spouse’s or child’s policy if you want them to take control of their own policy. (Note: a child may only take ownership of their policy when they become a legal adult.) Some states require a signature from your spouse to change the beneficiary and/or ownership on the policy.

What will happen: If you change ownership, the policy ownership will be transferred to the new owner. The owner is the only person who can make changes to the policy or receive information about the policy. If you change a beneficiary, your new designated beneficiary will receive the death benefit upon the insured’s death.

How: Contact Customer Care, or fill out one of these forms — Change Beneficiary or Change Ownership — and send it to: Trustmark VBS, P.O. Box 7937, Lake Forest, IL 60045.

What and why: If you’re no longer able to have premiums deducted from your payroll (for instance, if you have left your employer or if your employer has stopped taking deductions on your behalf), you should contact Trustmark to set up an automatic payment through your bank or to make payments by mail.

What will happen: You will no longer have automatic payroll deduction and you will be responsible for paying your premiums yourself, either through automatic bank draft, by credit-card or by mail. If you miss payments, the value of your policy will decrease and the projected duration of your policy may shorten unless you make additional payments later.

How: Contact Customer Care, or fill out the Automatic Bank Draft/Electronic Funds Transfer form and send it to: Trustmark VBS, P.O. Box 7937, Lake Forest, IL 60045.

What and why: If your policy has built enough value, you may be able to borrow from it in the form of a loan. The loan is taken against the value of your policy. Loans are one way you can access the value of your policy while the insured is still living.¹

What will happen: Your policy’s value will be decreased by the amount of the loan and interest will be charged on your loan. If you do not continue paying your premiums while you have a loan, your policy’s value will be further depleted. If your loan balance exceeds your policy’s value, your policy will lapse. (Lapsed policies can be reinstated per your policy's Reinstatement terms.) If the loan is not paid back by the time of the insured’s death, the outstanding loan balance will be deducted from the death benefit. You can pay back a loan at any point.

How: Contact Customer Care, or fill out the Request Loan form and send it to: Trustmark VBS, P.O. Box 7937, Lake Forest, IL 60045.

What and why: If you have an outstanding loan, you’re being charged iinterest on it daily. The interest that you pay reduces your policy value, meaning that your policy may lapse earlier than you’d like. Your death benefit is also reduced by the balance of the loan. You can pay the loan balance back at any point to restore your policy’s value and your death and long-term care benefits.

What will happen: You can pay back a loan in increments or in full. Once the loan is paid in full, your death benefit will be restored to its full amount. You will no longer have to pay any more interest on a fully repaid loan. Your policy’s value will also be restored.

How: Contact Customer Care

What and why: A partial surrender is another way to access your policy’s value. With a partial surrender, you can permanently withdraw money from your policy’s value. Unlike a loan, a partial surrender is not intended to be repaid.

What will happen: Your policy’s value will be reduced by the amount withdrawn plus a partial surrender fee. Your benefits will also be reduced by the amount withdrawn. Your policy also may lapse earlier in life, due to the less interest earned by your policy's value, unless you pay more premium to increase that value.

How: Contact Customer Care, or fill out the Partial Surrender Form and send it to: Trustmark VBS, P.O. Box 7937, Lake Forest, IL 60045.

What and why: You may cancel your policy at any time if you no longer want coverage. If you are cancelling for reasons of affordability, you might instead consider reducing your benefit or removing an optional rider. Another option is to stop making premium payments. This allows you to maintain your coverage until your policy value runs out. If you change your mind, you can restart your premium payments before your policy value runs out and keep your coverage.

What will happen: Your policy will terminate and you will no longer be charged premiums. If your policy has enough value, your cancellation may be considered a “full surrender,” and you will be paid the policy’s value minus a possible surrender charge. You may withdraw your cancellation within 30 days. After 30 days, you will not be able to withdraw your cancellation and you will not be able to reinstate your cancelled policy.

How: Contact Customer Care, or fill out the Request Life Surrender form and send it to: Trustmark VBS, P.O. Box 7937, Lake Forest, IL 60045.

What and why: If you have a policy that lapsed due to a lack of funding, you may apply for reinstatement within five years of your policy lapsing. You do not need to wait for an enrollment period. You cannot reinstate a policy you elected to cancel.

What will happen: You will be required to complete a new application and undergo any underwriting (which may result in your policy not being issued) and a payment of two months of premium (plus any outstanding loans) will be required. The policy will be in-force on the day that Trustmark approves your application for reinstatement.

How: Contact Customer Care

Policy owner examples & scenarios

Let’s meet some Trustmark Universal Life policy owners.

To help you understand more about your policy options, let’s take a look at several people who made changes to their Trustmark Universal Life policies to better suit their personal financial needs. The men and women in these stories are fictional, but the types of decisions they make about their policies are common among real policy owners like yourself.

Meet Alex

At age 33, Alex and his wife have just welcomed their first child, a beautiful little girl. Alex already has a Trustmark Universal Life policy, but his benefit amount is only enough to protect his wife in case something happens to him. With a baby on board — someone else relying on him — Alex now realizes he needs more protection to safeguard his daughter as well as his wife.

During his employer’s next open enrollment for voluntary benefits, Alex applies for an increased benefit amount on his policy. After answering underwriting questions, he is approved for an increased benefit and is given a new target premium.³ His daughter and wife now have additional protection in case Alex should pass away.

Meet Bonnie

Bonnie, a 40-year-old woman, left her employer two months ago, though she kept her Trustmark Universal Life policy. However, she has just now realized that, without the automatic payroll deduction she was used to, she has forgotten to pay premium on her policy for the past two months. This means her policy’s value has been depleting, and her policy is now projected to lapse sooner than she’d like, even if she pays all her premiums going forward.

When Bonnie contacts Trustmark Customer Care, she’s offered options. She chooses to make a one-time payment to account for the premiums and the interest she’s missed. Now Bonnie’s policy is back to where it would have been had she paid her premium, and as long as her premium is paid going forward, her policy is projected to last as long it was before she missed two months of premiums.

Meet Carla

Upon reviewing her annual report, Carla, 52, notices that her policy value is decreasing. This is happening because her current premiums and interest are no longer sufficient to cover the charges to maintain her policy. Carla is currently the sole provider for her family of four, and can’t afford any increases in her premium, but she really wants to keep some protection for her husband and kids — without her, they could be in trouble.

Carla calls Trustmark Customer Care to reduce the benefit amount on her policy, so she can continue paying the same affordable premiums and keep her policy in-force. While her benefit is now lower, she has preserved her policy, and it’s now projected to last as long as she would like it to.

Meet Diego

At age 47, Diego took a partial surrender on his policy to help pay off some credit-card debt. He has continued to pay his target premium³ ever since. Ten years later, now 57, Diego worries that due to the reduction in his policy’s value from the partial surrender, his policy may not last as long as he needs it to protect his family.

When Diego reaches out to Trustmark Care, they analyze his account and tells him that, if he keeps paying his target premium, his policy is projected to last until age 75. While Diego has options to increase his premium payments or decrease his benefit, he chooses to continue paying the same premium, knowing that his policy is projected to lapse at age 75. This keeps his policy in-force for as long as he wants it to.

Meet Ernest

Five years ago, Ernest, age 66, took a loan on his policy to help pay for an emergency medical expense for his grandson. In the five years since, although he’s been paying his target premiums³, he has not yet made any repayments on his loan. Meanwhile, the interest charged to his loan has been accumulating. His loan balance is now greater than his policy’s value, putting his policy — which his family needs — in immediate jeopardy, and he has received a grace-period notice warning him of this.

When Ernest contacts Trustmark Customer Care, they help him decide on a loan repayment plan he can afford, which pays off his loan balance (including accrued interest) over the next year. Once the loan balance is paid, Ernest is no longer being charged interest on the loan, and if he keeps paying the premium recommended by Customer Care, his policy will be projected to last until maturity.

Meet Florence

Florence is a 57-year-old mom with a son in high school and a daughter in college. She has had a Trustmark Universal Life policy for more than 20 years, and has always paid her target premiums.³ However, interest rates have dropped since Florence first purchased her policy, and she also took a partial surrender a few years ago. Because of this, when Florence requests a policy illustration, she can see that her policy is now projected to lapse in five years, even if she keeps paying her target premiums — and she needs her policy to stay in-force to protect her kids’ educations.

Florence contacts Trustmark to figure out how to keep her policy active longer. Trustmark’s Customer Care team offers Florence a choice among several new premiums that are projected to fund her policy up to different ages. Based on these options, Florence chooses to increase her premium to an amount that will project her policy to last to age 70. Her family’s financial protection is back to where she needs it.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or want to exercise any of your policy options, our friendly Customer Care & Claims Services team are ready to help!

Customer Care team
800-918-8877
Monday through Friday: 7 am to 6 pm CT
Send a message to the Customer Care team

NY Universal Life Policies Customer Care team
866-949-6036
Monday through Friday: 7 am to 4 pm CT (8 am to 5 pm ET)
Send a message to the NY Customer Care team

Benefits provided under forms GUL.205/IUL.205 and applicable riders. Benefits, definitions, exclusions and limitations may vary by state. Please consult your policy for complete information.

¹ Accessing your policy value or making changes to your policy may affect your policy's value, which may affect your policy's projected duration.
² Benefits for long-term care services are included with most, but not all Universal Life and Universal LifeEvents plans.
³ Target premium is the recommended premium amount to maintain your policy value and keep it in force. Target premium is set when you purchase your policy based on assumptions for policy performance. Policy performance can change from these initial assumptions and it is possible that additional premium may be required to keep your policy in force.