Strong consumer interest in whole life insurance helped lead to a 2.9% increase in life insurance application activity between November 2020 and November 2021, according to new data from MIB Group.
MIB reported a 1.5% drop in activity for October, but it has been reporting increases in year-over-year activity comparisons most months this year as consumers, life insurers and agents recover from the application freeze that the COVID-19 pandemic caused in early 2020.
"Whole life saw growth across all age bands," MIB says.
Activity for term life and universal life was up for some age groups but down for others.
The numbers may mean that some life insurers that had imposed tough underwriting restrictions on older consumers as a result of the pandemic have now lifted those restrictions.
MIB is a Braintree, Massachusetts–based organization that helps U.S. and Canadian life insurers share underwriting information. It uses its application-checking activity data to compile the application activity reports.
