A term policy has settlement value only if it can still be converted to permanent coverage — and the deadline for that is almost always earlier than the day the level premium period ends. Buyers are purchasing a death benefit that will actually be paid someday. A term policy that expires while the insured is alive pays nothing, so an unconvertible term contract is worth essentially zero in the secondary market no matter how large the face amount is or how sick the insured is.
There is a second thing to settle before any of that matters. Oxford Life Insurance Company’s marketed individual life products are small final expense whole life contracts: Assurance Plus, billed monthly, quarterly or annually, and Assurance One, a single-premium version aimed at applicants roughly age 55 to 80. We could not confirm a currently marketed level term product from Oxford Life as of 2026. If your paperwork says “term,” it may be an older in-force form, a term rider attached to a whole life base, a group certificate, or a policy issued by an affiliated company — Oxford Life sits under AMERCO, which renamed itself U-Haul Holding Company in 2022, alongside Repwest Insurance Company and Christian Fidelity Life Insurance Company of Dallas, acquired in November 2000.
Read the declarations page first, find the conversion language second, and only then ask what the policy might be worth. This page walks that order.
In This Article
Find the conversion deadline before anything else
Every convertible term policy contains a conversion privilege with three limits written into it. Read the policy or the rider and write down all three:
- An age cutoff. Conversion rights commonly stop at the policy anniversary nearest the insured’s 65th or 70th birthday. This is the limit that surprises people most, because it can arrive years before the level premium period ends.
- A duration cutoff. Many contracts allow conversion only during the first portion of the level term — the first ten or fifteen years of a twenty- or thirty-year policy is a common pattern across the industry.
- A product limitation. Most conversion clauses say you may convert to a permanent product the company makes available at the time of conversion. If the carrier no longer markets permanent products, that sentence does real work, and you need the carrier to tell you in writing which contract a conversion would land in.
Whichever cutoff comes first is your actual deadline. If it has passed, the honest answer is that the policy has no meaningful market value, and the useful conversation shifts to whether any accelerated benefit rider on the contract can be triggered instead. Our overview of the term conversion rider covers the language to look for.
Why buyers will not touch unconvertible term
The arithmetic is unforgiving. An institutional buyer of a policy pays cash today, takes over the premiums, and collects the death benefit whenever it arrives. Their entire return depends on the benefit arriving.
On a term policy that expires in eleven years, one of two things happens. Either the insured dies inside that window, in which case the buyer is paid, or the insured survives to the end of the level period, in which case the policy either terminates outright or continues at annually renewable term rates that climb so steeply they become unpayable within a few years. A buyer underwriting an eighty-year-old with a serious diagnosis might accept that gamble on a large face amount, but they will price it as a gamble, and most will decline.
Conversion removes the gamble. Converting produces a permanent contract — typically a universal life or guaranteed universal life policy — that will pay whenever death occurs, with a premium the buyer can model for decades. That is why nearly every term settlement in the market is really a converted term settlement, and why the conversion is normally done as part of the closing rather than before you know whether an offer exists. Compare the two paths in life settlement versus term conversion.
What a conversion actually costs, and who pays for it
Conversion is not free, and understanding the cost structure keeps you from being surprised at closing.
When you convert, the new permanent policy is priced at your attained age using the risk class from the original term underwriting. That is the good news: a preferred classification earned at fifty-five carries forward even if you now have congestive heart failure, because conversion requires no new evidence of insurability. The bad news is the premium, which reflects your current age. A $500,000 term policy costing $2,400 a year at age seventy-four can convert into a permanent policy costing $30,000 or more a year. That number is precisely why the policyowner usually cannot afford to convert alone.
In a settlement, the buyer generally funds the converted policy’s premiums going forward, and the conversion is executed at closing so the owner never carries that cost. The practical sequence is: submit the term policy for review, receive offers contingent on conversion, execute conversion and transfer together at closing. You should never be asked to pay a large conversion premium out of pocket in advance on the promise that a sale will follow — that pattern shows up in our list of life settlement red flags.
| Question about your term policy | If the answer is yes | If the answer is no |
|---|---|---|
| Is the conversion privilege still open? | Continue — this is the gate | No meaningful settlement value; look at riders instead |
| Is the face amount $100,000 or more? | Most providers will review it | Below most providers’ working floor |
| Is the insured 65+ or seriously impaired? | In the market’s target range | Offers are unlikely at any face amount |
| Does the carrier still offer a permanent product to convert into? | Conversion is straightforward | Get the designated product named in writing |
| Are you being asked to pay the conversion premium up front? | Stop and ask why | Normal — conversion happens at closing |
Who has a term policy worth submitting
The screens that matter, in the order buyers apply them:
Convertibility. Alive and exercisable, confirmed in writing by the carrier. Nothing else matters if this fails.
Face amount. Practical floors sit around $100,000, and many providers will not open a file below $250,000. Because a converted term policy carries a permanent premium the buyer must fund for years, small face amounts almost never justify the transaction costs. See minimum policy size for the detail.
Age and health. The market is built for insureds roughly 65 and older, or younger insureds with a significant diagnosis. A healthy sixty-two-year-old with a convertible term policy will generally not receive an offer, and that is a normal result rather than a failure of the broker.
Ownership. The owner named on the policy is the only party who can sell. If the policy is owned by a business, a trust, or an ex-spouse under a divorce decree, that party signs and consents.
Oxford Life’s own products complicate this screen in one specific way: final expense whole life contracts are typically written at $2,000 to $25,000 of face amount, well beneath any settlement provider’s floor. If the policy in your hand is an Assurance Plus or Assurance One contract rather than term, a settlement is almost certainly not available at that size, and the realistic comparison is between keeping it and surrendering it.
Where Oxford Life fits and who to contact
Oxford Life Insurance Company was organized in Arizona in 1965 and operates from Phoenix. Its financial regulator is the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions, the agency formed in 2020 by merging Arizona’s insurance department with its department of financial institutions. Life settlement providers and brokers doing business in Arizona are licensed under Title 20 of the Arizona Revised Statutes and supervised by that department; if you ever want to confirm that a company approaching you is licensed, that is where to check.
Ownership has been stable: Oxford Life is a subsidiary of AMERCO, the holding company for U-Haul International, which changed its own name to U-Haul Holding Company in 2022. Oxford acquired Christian Fidelity Life Insurance Company of Dallas on November 13, 2000; Christian Fidelity writes supplemental health products and is licensed in roughly thirty states. A.M. Best revised the outlook on Oxford Life’s ratings to negative in September 2024 and affirmed the ratings again in September 2025.
None of that changes your servicing path. Write to the carrier as the policy owner of record and request, in one letter: a verification of coverage, confirmation of whether the policy is convertible and until what date, the specific permanent product a conversion would produce, and the illustrated conversion premium at your current age. Those four answers determine everything else.
If the conversion window has closed
This is where most term inquiries actually land, so it deserves a straight answer rather than a soft one.
If the policy cannot be converted, do not spend money or medical records chasing a settlement. Look instead at what the contract already gives you. Many term policies carry an accelerated death benefit rider that pays a portion of the face amount on a terminal or chronic illness certification — that is a claim against your own policy, not a sale, and it does not require a buyer. Some carry a waiver of premium rider that has gone unclaimed during a disability. If the insured has a terminal prognosis, a viatical settlement is regulated differently from a life settlement and the tax treatment is different; that path is worth a separate look.
And if the coverage is still needed but unaffordable, the answer may be a smaller replacement policy rather than a sale of this one. Our guide to what to do when premiums stop being affordable ranks those options.
Pine Lake Life Solutions provides education and a free policy review. Pine Lake does not purchase policies and we are not licensed in every state. Send the policy cover page and the conversion language and we will tell you plainly whether the contract is in the market’s range — including when it is not.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Oxford Life offer a level term life product?
We could not confirm a currently marketed level term product from Oxford Life as of 2026. Its advertised individual life lineup is final expense whole life — Assurance Plus and the single-premium Assurance One for roughly ages 55 to 80. A document labeled term may be an older in-force form, a rider on a whole life base, or a policy from an affiliated carrier. Check the issuing company on the cover page.
Why does convertibility matter so much to a buyer?
Because a buyer is purchasing a death benefit that must eventually be paid. Term coverage that expires while the insured is living pays nothing, so the buyer’s entire investment evaporates. Converting the policy into permanent coverage guarantees the benefit exists whenever death occurs, which is the only structure institutional buyers can model and price with confidence.
When exactly does my conversion right expire?
Whichever limit comes first: an age cutoff, often the anniversary nearest age 65 or 70; a duration cutoff, frequently the first ten or fifteen years of the level term; or the point where the carrier stops offering a permanent product to convert into. Do not rely on the level premium end date. Ask the carrier in writing for the exact conversion expiration date.
Will I have to pay the higher permanent premium myself?
In a normal settlement, no. The conversion is executed at closing and the buyer takes over premium payments from that point, so the owner never carries the permanent cost. Be cautious if anyone asks you to pay a large conversion premium up front on the promise of a later sale — that is a pattern worth questioning before you send money.
My Oxford Life policy has a $15,000 face amount. Can I sell it?
Almost certainly not. Final expense contracts are typically issued between $2,000 and $25,000, and institutional buyers generally will not review anything under $100,000, with many setting the floor at $250,000. At that size the realistic comparison is between keeping the coverage and surrendering it for whatever cash value has built up, not between keeping it and selling it.
The conversion window closed. Is there anything left to do?
Often yes, just not a sale. Check for an accelerated death benefit rider that pays part of the face amount on a terminal or chronic illness certification, and for a waiver of premium rider that may apply during a disability. If the prognosis is terminal, a viatical settlement follows different rules than a life settlement. Those are claims or separate transactions, not secondary market sales.
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Related Reading
- Can I Sell A Term Life Insurance Policy
- What Is A Term Conversion Rider
- Life Settlement Vs Term Conversion
- Minimum Policy Size For A Life Settlement
- Life Settlement Red Flags To Watch For
- Cant Afford Life Insurance Premiums
- Sell My Oxford Life Survivorship Policy
- What Is An Accelerated Death Benefit Rider
- Sell Term Life Policy
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.