Universal life is the policy type that most often ends up being sold, and the reason is mechanical. A universal life contract is an account. Premium goes in, the company deducts a monthly cost of insurance and expense charges, and interest is credited on the balance. The cost of insurance is set by the insured’s attained age, so it rises every year, and in the late decades of a policy it can consume the account faster than premium and interest replace it. The owner finds out when a notice arrives requesting a payment several times the size of the one they have been making.
For a Genworth universal life owner there is an extra layer, because the block has been in runoff since 2016 and because Genworth’s reinsurance arrangements are extensive enough that owners sometimes receive correspondence mentioning companies they have never heard of. This page separates what actually changed from what only looks like it changed. It is education only. Pine Lake Life Solutions does not purchase policies, is not affiliated with or endorsed by Genworth, and offers only a free, no-obligation policy review.
In This Article
- Who Services a Genworth Universal Life Policy in 2026
- Reinsurance Moved the Risk, Not Your Contract
- How a Genworth Universal Life Policy Runs Out of Room
- Requesting an In-Force Illustration from Genworth
- What the March 2016 Sales Suspension Changed, and What It Did Not
- Ratings by Entity, and Why It Matters More Here
- The Exits, Including a Sale
- Frequently Asked Questions
Who Services a Genworth Universal Life Policy in 2026
Genworth Financial is the public parent. Its U.S. life insurance obligations sit in separate legal entities, principally Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company of Richmond, Virginia, Genworth Life Insurance Company, and Genworth Life Insurance Company of New York. The Virginia State Corporation Commission Bureau of Insurance examination report of Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company as of December 31, 2023, certified June 3, 2025, records the ownership chain at that date: Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company is owned by Genworth Life Insurance Company, which is owned by Genworth North America Corporation, which is owned by Genworth Financial, Inc.
The same report notes that at December 31, 2023 Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company was licensed to transact insurance in the District of Columbia and all states except New York, which is why New York business sits in a separate entity. Genworth’s own customer support pages list a dedicated Life Insurance service line at 888.325.5433, fax 888.325.3299, and email LifeCustomerService@genworth.com, alongside a general number of 888.436.9678, published on the site as 888 GENWORTH. Hours listed are Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern, and Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern.
Check the first page of the policy for the issuing company name. That name determines which entity, which rating, and often which service queue applies.
Reinsurance Moved the Risk, Not Your Contract
This is the point that causes the most unnecessary alarm, so it is worth stating plainly. Reinsurance is an arrangement between insurance companies. It transfers economic risk from the issuing insurer to a reinsurer. It does not transfer the policy, does not change the owner’s counterparty, and does not alter a single term of the contract. The company named on the policy remains the company obligated to pay the claim.
Genworth’s arrangements are unusually extensive, which is documented in the Virginia examination report. As of December 31, 2023, approximately 37 percent of Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company’s total ceded reinsurance reserves, about $5.18 billion, sat with UFLIC, a company that had been an affiliate when both were owned by GE and whose reinsurance agreement was entered into in 2004 in connection with the divestiture from GE. Reserves ceded to affiliates totaled roughly $3.49 billion, about 25 percent of ceded reserves. The report also lists non-affiliate reinsurers holding at least $50 million of reserve credit, including Hannover Life Reassurance (Bermuda) at about $1.69 billion, SCOR Global Life USA at about $1.18 billion, Protective Life Insurance Company at about $897 million, RGA Reinsurance at about $648 million, Munich American Reassurance at about $370 million, and Swiss Re Life & Health America at about $331 million.
The report also records that effective October 1, 2021 the company recaptured universal life business ceded under a financial reinsurance arrangement with Hannover, together with term life business ceded to Canada Life Assurance Company, and ceded that same business to Swiss Re. Again: those are treaties between companies. A universal life owner still deals with Genworth.
How a Genworth Universal Life Policy Runs Out of Room
The failure pattern is the same across the industry and it is entirely predictable from the right document. Four forces work together.
- Cost of insurance rises with attained age. The monthly charge for the same death benefit at 84 is a large multiple of the charge at 64.
- Credited interest fell and stayed low. Policies issued in the 1980s and 1990s were illustrated at crediting rates far above what has actually been credited for most of the last twenty years, while the contractual guaranteed minimum sits well below the illustrated rate.
- Planned premium was never the required premium. The figure on the bill is usually a planned amount, not an amount contractually sufficient to carry the policy to maturity.
- Loans and withdrawals accelerate the drain. A loan reduces the balance earning interest while loan interest accrues on top of it.
Nothing about a block being in runoff makes this worse or better. The arithmetic is contractual. What runoff does affect is how quickly documents arrive, which is a reason to start early rather than a reason to panic.
| Party | What it does | What it does not do |
|---|---|---|
| Issuing company on your policy | Owes the death benefit; services the contract | Cannot change contract terms unilaterally |
| Reinsurer (for example UFLIC, SCOR, Swiss Re) | Assumes economic risk from the insurer | Does not own your policy or bill you |
| Genworth Financial, Inc. | Public parent holding company | Is not itself the insurer on your contract |
| Third-party buyer in a settlement | Becomes owner and beneficiary if a sale closes | Cannot take ownership without recorded carrier consent |
Requesting an In-Force Illustration from Genworth
An in-force illustration is a projection the carrier runs on the policy as it exists today, using current charges and current crediting, showing year by year how long the coverage lasts at a given premium. It is the only document that answers the question a universal life owner is actually asking. It is not the original sales illustration and it is not the annual statement.
Call the Genworth Life Insurance service line at 888.325.5433 and ask for several scenarios rather than one:
- Current premium continued at current charges and the current credited rate.
- Current premium continued at guaranteed maximum charges and the guaranteed minimum credited rate. This is the contractual worst case.
- Premium stopped entirely, showing the date the account value is exhausted.
- The minimum premium required to carry the policy to age 95, 100, or maturity.
- A reduced face amount scenario, if the household needs less coverage than it did when the policy was issued.
Put the request in writing and keep a dated copy. In a closed block, written requests with dates are worth considerably more than a remembered phone conversation.
What the March 2016 Sales Suspension Changed, and What It Did Not
The Virginia examination report states that on March 7, 2016 the company suspended sales of its Traditional Life insurance and Fixed Annuity products but continues to service its existing blocks of business. The suspended list includes Universal Life Insurance and Term Universal Life Insurance along with term life, whole life, and several annuity lines. Variable Annuities, Guaranteed Investment Contracts, Funding Agreements, Variable Life Insurance, and Medicare Supplemental Insurance had already not been sold since 2011.
Two consequences follow for a universal life owner. First, nothing in the contract changed. Guaranteed maximum charges, guaranteed minimum crediting rates, grace provisions, and the death benefit obligation are all contractual and unaffected by a decision to stop writing new business. Second, the scale of the block is shrinking on its own. The same examination report shows ordinary life insurance in force at Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company falling from about $678.1 billion of face amount in 2014 to about $387.3 billion in 2023, with admitted assets of about $17.13 billion at year end 2023.
A shrinking closed block is normal and expected. It is not, by itself, a reason to make a decision about an individual policy.
Ratings by Entity, and Why It Matters More Here
Genworth’s U.S. life entities carry different financial strength ratings, and universal life policies were issued out of more than one of them. In a release dated September 17, 2025, AM Best affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of C++ (Marginal) and Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “b+” of Genworth Life Insurance Company and Genworth Life Insurance Company of New York, revising the outlooks to positive from stable; affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B- (Fair) and Long-Term ICR of “bb-” of Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company with a stable outlook; and affirmed Genworth Financial, Inc. at “bb-” with a stable outlook.
Ratings are opinions about claims-paying ability, they change, and they should be verified at ambest.com rather than taken from any third-party page including this one. Every state also maintains a life and health insurance guaranty association providing statutory coverage limits if an insurer becomes insolvent; those limits vary by state and are worth understanding from your own state insurance department rather than from a company or a broker.
The Exits, Including a Sale
A life settlement is the sale of an in-force policy to a licensed third-party institutional buyer for more than the surrender value and less than the death benefit. For universal life it belongs at the end of the list, after the cheaper and reversible options have been priced: paying the higher premium, reducing the face amount, taking a nonforfeiture option if the contract offers one, or surrendering for the net cash value.
If a sale proceeds, the carrier must record a new owner and beneficiary. Genworth’s customer support materials list an Ownership and Beneficiary Designation Request form among the life insurance forms available to policyholders. The existing owner must sign, an outstanding loan travels with the contract and must be quantified, and a change of ownership can carry federal income, gift, and estate tax consequences plus state and local ones. Those are questions for a licensed tax professional. Eligibility and value are never guaranteed, and many policies attract no offer at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
I got a letter mentioning a reinsurer. Did my policy get sold?
Reinsurance is a contract between insurance companies that transfers economic risk. It does not transfer your policy, change your counterparty, or alter any contract term. The company named on the first page of your policy remains obligated to pay the claim and remains the company you deal with. Genworth’s Virginia examination report documents large ceded arrangements with UFLIC, Hannover, SCOR, Protective Life, RGA, Munich Re, and Swiss Re, none of which changes an owner’s contract.
How do I get an in-force illustration for a Genworth universal life policy?
Call the Genworth Life Insurance service line at 888.325.5433 and request one in writing, asking for several scenarios: current premium at current charges, current premium at guaranteed charges and the guaranteed minimum rate, premium stopped, and the minimum premium to carry the policy to age 95 or 100. Keep a dated copy of the request. Carriers generally provide these at no cost to the owner.
Does Genworth being in runoff mean my universal life policy is at risk?
A closed block means the company stopped writing new business of that type, not that it stopped honoring contracts. The Virginia examination report records that sales of traditional life products were suspended on March 7, 2016 while the company continues to service existing blocks. What is worth monitoring is financial strength: AM Best’s September 17, 2025 release rated Genworth Life Insurance Company C++ (Marginal) with a positive outlook and Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company B- (Fair) with a stable outlook.
Why is my universal life premium suddenly so much higher?
The contract premium generally did not change; the amount needed to keep the policy in force did. Universal life deducts a cost of insurance that climbs with the insured’s attained age, and credited interest has run far below the rates illustrated on older policies. When deductions outrun premium plus interest, the account value falls and the carrier requests a larger payment. An in-force illustration will show exactly how that happened and when the policy lapses if nothing changes.
Which Genworth entity issued my policy?
The first page of the policy names the issuing company. It may say Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance Company, Genworth Life Insurance Company, or Genworth Life Insurance Company of New York, and older contracts may carry a predecessor name entirely. That entity determines which financial strength rating applies and which service queue can see your contract, so it is worth confirming before any other step.
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Related Reading
- Sell My Genworth Whole Life Policy
- Sell My Genworth Guaranteed Universal Policy
- Sell My Genworth Term Policy
- Sell My Protective Universal Life Policy
- How To Read In Force Illustration
- How Long Policy Survive Without Premiums
- Carrier Change Of Ownership Requirements
- How Life Settlement Value Is Calculated
Pine Lake Life Solutions does not purchase life insurance policies and does not provide legal, tax, or investment advice. Information provided is for educational purposes only. Eligibility for any option, including life settlements, is not guaranteed and depends on individual circumstances, policy terms, underwriting, and market conditions. Consult independent legal, tax, or financial professionals before making decisions regarding a life insurance policy.