Can You Sell a William Penn Indexed Universal Life Policy? (2026)

Who William Penn Is and Who Owns It Now

William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York is the New York-domiciled member of the Banner Life family of companies. New York’s insurance code imposes reserve, illustration, and compensation requirements that differ from the rest of the country, and New York Insurance Law section 4228 in particular constrains how life products are priced and how producers are compensated. Rather than file a national product into that regime, many groups operate a separate New York company. Banner Life Insurance Company writes in 49 states and the District of Columbia; William Penn writes in New York. That structure explains why New York residents rarely see the full catalog a national carrier advertises, and it is one plausible reason there is no William Penn indexed product to sell.

Ownership changed recently. Legal & General Group plc agreed in February 2025 to sell its U.S. protection business, which is to say Banner Life and William Penn, to Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company for approximately $2.3 billion. The transaction closed in early 2026 after regulatory approvals, and the companies announced on February 2, 2026 that they had joined the Meiji Yasuda group. The deal also created a long-term pension risk transfer partnership between the two organizations.

For a policyholder, a change of ultimate parent does not change the contract. Your guaranteed rates, your rider rights, and your policy provisions are contractual obligations of the issuing company, and they survive a change of ownership. What can change over time is servicing: mailing addresses, portal logins, the name printed on premium notices, and the turnaround on document requests. Do not assume a letter from a company you have never heard of is a scam, and equally, do not assume it is legitimate. Verify with the New York State Department of Financial Services, which regulates William Penn as a New York domestic insurer, or look up the NAIC company code from your policy jacket in the NAIC Consumer Information Source.

How Indexed Universal Life Actually Credits Interest

If your contract is indexed universal life, understanding the crediting formula is the difference between an informed decision and a guess. An IUL does not invest your cash value in the stock market. The insurer holds a general account portfolio, mostly bonds, and uses a slice of the yield to buy options on an index, most commonly the S&P 500 price index. The options budget is what pays for whatever upside you receive, and it is small.

Four levers control the credit:

• Cap rate. The maximum interest credited for the segment period. Caps on legacy blocks have generally fallen as bond yields fell after 2008; a policy sold with a 13 percent cap may carry a 7 or 8 percent cap today. Most contracts let the carrier reset the cap annually, subject only to a guaranteed minimum written into the contract, and that guaranteed minimum is often startlingly low.
• Participation rate. The percentage of the index move you receive before the cap applies. A 100 percent participation rate with a cap is common; a high-participation, uncapped account usually carries a spread instead.
• Floor. Typically zero percent. A zero floor means the index account does not lose value to market declines. It does not mean the account value cannot fall, because policy charges are still deducted in a zero-credit year.
• Index measurement. Most accounts use annual point-to-point on the price index, which excludes dividends. Over long periods, dividend exclusion alone accounts for a meaningful gap between index return and credited return, entirely apart from caps.

Put those together and the practical result is that a well-behaved IUL earns a moderate, positive, non-guaranteed credit in most years and zero in bad ones, while charges come out every month regardless. Our plain-language explainer on how indexed universal life is built walks the same mechanics without the jargon.

AG 49, 49-A, and 49-B: Why Your Original Illustration Was Too Optimistic

Regulators have now tightened indexed universal life illustrations three separate times, which tells you how far the marketing had drifted from the arithmetic.

Actuarial Guideline 49 took effect for illustrations in 2015 and imposed a ceiling on the illustrated crediting rate, derived from a benchmark index account calculation tied to the insurer’s own general account earned rate and option budget. Before AG 49, carriers routinely illustrated 8 or 9 percent indefinitely.

AG 49-A followed for policies issued on or after December 14, 2020. It targeted the workaround that had emerged: multipliers, bonuses, and charge structures that manufactured a higher illustrated rate without a corresponding increase in expected performance. AG 49-A required that accounts with those features not illustrate better than the benchmark.

AG 49-B applied to illustrations from May 1, 2023 and closed the remaining gap, constraining the use of proprietary volatility-controlled indices and fixed bonus structures that had allowed some designs to keep showing outsized numbers.

The point for a policyholder is straightforward. If you bought an indexed policy before 2015, the sales illustration you relied on was produced under rules that regulators have since decided were too permissive, and they said so three times. That illustration is not a prediction and never was. It is a hypothetical calculation using assumptions the carrier may change. Comparing it to your current statement is the fastest way to see the gap, and our page on what illustrations promise versus what policies deliver covers the arithmetic in detail.

What the guaranteed illustration shows	Insured’s situation	Most likely best path
Policy sustains to age 100+ under guarantees	Beneficiary still needs the death benefit	Keep it; the contract is doing its job
Lapses in the insured’s late 70s without a large premium increase	Age 65+, significant health impairment	Price it in the secondary market before surrendering
Lapses in the insured’s late 70s without a large premium increase	Healthy, under 65	Reduce face amount to a level the account value can carry
Large account value, small remaining net amount at risk	Coverage no longer needed	Compare surrender proceeds and tax result against any offer
Face amount under $100,000	Any	Secondary market is unlikely; focus on reduction or surrender

The Guaranteed-Rate In-Force Illustration Is the Document That Decides This

Request two in-force illustrations from the servicing carrier in writing, and be specific, because a request that is not specific will produce the current-assumption version by default.

1. Current assumptions, current planned premium. This shows how the policy behaves if nothing changes.
2. Guaranteed maximum charges and guaranteed minimum crediting rate, current planned premium. This shows how the policy behaves if the carrier exercises every contractual right it has. On many indexed contracts sold in the 2000s, this column shows the policy lapsing in the insured’s late seventies or early eighties.

Ask for a third if the carrier will run it: the premium required to carry the policy to age 100 or 121 under guarantees. That number, compared to what you can actually afford, is the whole decision in one line. A reader who has never seen one of these should read what an in-force illustration is and how to request one first, because the request wording matters more than people expect.

Two practical notes. First, the illustration is free and requesting it creates no obligation to anyone. Second, illustrations are typically produced within two to four weeks, so start the request before you start any other process. Everything else, including any secondary market conversation, is downstream of that document.

Cost of Insurance Drag: Why the Policy Gets Heavier After 75

Universal life of every flavor charges a monthly cost of insurance against the net amount at risk, meaning the death benefit minus the account value. The rate per thousand of net amount at risk rises with attained age, and it rises steeply. Between 70 and 85, mortality cost roughly triples on standard tables, and it does not flatten out after that.

This produces a pattern that catches owners off guard. The policy performs acceptably for twenty years, then in a single decade the monthly deductions outrun the credited interest, the account value starts falling, and the carrier sends a notice that additional premium is required to prevent lapse. Nothing broke. The design always did that; the illustration simply projected an interest credit large enough to hide it.

Two structural factors sharpen the effect. Policies issued under the 2001 CSO mortality table carry different guaranteed maximum COI scales than those issued under the 2017 CSO table adopted for newer business, and the guaranteed maximum scale is what the carrier may charge, not what it currently charges. Separately, several U.S. life insurers raised COI rates on legacy universal life blocks during the 2010s and faced class litigation over whether those increases were permitted by the contracts. Those cases involved specific carriers and specific blocks. We are not aware of a comparable action involving William Penn, and we are not asserting one exists; the general risk is real, the specific claim is not one to make without a citation. Background on the mechanism is on our page about cost of insurance increases on in-force universal life.

What the Realistic Options Are, Ranked

Once you have the guaranteed illustration and the current account value, there are five paths and they are not equally good.

Keep and fund it properly. If the death benefit still serves a purpose, someone still needs the money, and you can carry the true required premium rather than the illustrated one, this is usually the right answer. It is also the least discussed, because nobody earns a commission on it.

Reduce the face amount. Lowering the death benefit lowers the net amount at risk and therefore the monthly COI. A $600,000 policy cut to $250,000 can become self-sustaining on existing account value in some cases. This preserves coverage and costs nothing but a form.

Surrender for cash value. Check the surrender charge schedule first; charges typically grade to zero over ten to fifteen years, so an older policy often has none. Surrendering produces ordinary income to the extent the proceeds exceed your cost basis, and if the contract is a modified endowment contract the tax treatment differs. Talk to your own tax advisor before doing it, not after.

Explore the secondary market. A life settlement is the sale of the policy to a licensed institutional buyer for more than the cash surrender value but less than the death benefit. It generally requires an insured aged roughly 65 or older with meaningful health impairment, and a face amount most buyers will look at, commonly $100,000 and up. Pricing is driven by life expectancy and by the projected cost of carrying the policy, which is exactly why the guaranteed-rate illustration matters: an expensive policy on a healthy insured produces no offer. The honest comparison of surrendering versus selling lays out when each wins.

Let it lapse. Almost always the worst outcome, because it converts decades of premium into nothing. If you are heading toward lapse, get the policy reviewed before the grace period ends, not after.

Pine Lake Life Solutions provides a free policy review. Send the policy cover page and, if you have it, the most recent annual statement, and you will get a plain reading of what the contract actually guarantees and which of the five paths fits, including when the answer is that no secondary market path exists.

Regulation: New York Domicile, Your State’s Settlement Statute

Two regulators are in play and they govern different things. The New York State Department of Financial Services regulates William Penn as a New York domestic insurer: solvency, reserves, policy form approval, and market conduct. Complaints about how the company administers your contract can be filed there, and DFS maintains a consumer complaint process for exactly that.

The settlement transaction itself is governed by the state where the policy owner resides. New York regulates life settlements under Article 78 of the New York Insurance Law, which licenses life settlement providers, brokers, and intermediaries, prescribes disclosure requirements, and imposes advertising and anti-fraud rules. Most other states have adopted statutes derived from either the NAIC Viatical Settlements Model Act or the NCOIL Life Settlements Model Act. Common features across those statutes include a mandatory disclosure of alternatives to a sale, a licensing requirement for anyone soliciting the transaction, and a rescission window after the proceeds are received, frequently fifteen days but set state by state. Confirm the figure for your own state rather than assuming.

Two verification steps are worth the ten minutes. Ask any provider or broker for their license number in your state and check it against your insurance department’s public lookup. And do not release medical records or sign a HIPAA authorization until you have done so. A legitimate licensee will produce the number without hesitation.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does William Penn sell an indexed universal life policy?

Not that we can confirm as of 2026. William Penn’s New York individual products center on OPTerm for term coverage and Life Step UL, a guaranteed universal life design, for permanent coverage. If your statement shows index accounts, caps, and participation rates, check the issuing company name on the cover page carefully. It may be a different carrier or a predecessor entity that shares part of the name.

Did the Meiji Yasuda acquisition change my policy terms?

No. A change in ultimate parent company does not alter the contractual terms of an in-force policy. Guaranteed rates, rider rights, and policy provisions remain obligations of the issuing insurer. What can change is administration, meaning addresses, portals, and the name on your premium notice. Verify any correspondence through the New York State Department of Financial Services if something looks unfamiliar.

Why does the guaranteed-rate illustration matter more than the current one?

Because the current-assumption illustration shows what happens if the carrier keeps charging what it charges today and keeps crediting what it credits today, neither of which it has promised. The guaranteed column shows the contract’s floor: maximum charges, minimum crediting. If the policy still stands at age 95 in that column, it is genuinely durable. If it lapses at 78, you have real exposure.

Can a policy with an outstanding loan be sold?

Often yes, but the loan reduces what reaches you. A buyer acquires the policy subject to the debt, so the loan balance comes off the offer, and any accrued loan interest counts too. Get the exact loan payoff figure in writing from the carrier before evaluating any number. Loans also complicate the tax picture on surrender, so involve your tax advisor early.

How much does a life settlement typically pay?

There is no reliable rule of thumb, which is why percentage promises are a warning sign. Price is driven mostly by life expectancy and by the projected premium needed to keep the policy in force until the death benefit is paid. Two policies with identical face amounts can price very differently based on health and on the cost structure of the contract itself.

What documents should I gather before any conversation?

Three things cover most of it. The policy cover page or specifications page, which names the issuing company, policy number, face amount, and rider list. The most recent annual statement showing account value and charges. And an in-force illustration at guaranteed maximum charges. Requesting all three from the carrier is free and commits you to nothing at all.

Related Reading

• Sell My William Penn Term Life Policy
• Can I Sell An Indexed Universal Life Policy
• What Is Indexed Universal Life
• What Is An In Force Illustration
• Policy Illustration Vs Reality
• Universal Life Cost Of Insurance Increase
• What Is Cost Of Insurance
• Surrender Vs Sell Policy

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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.