Insurance companies are rated by a number of independent agencies. The major rating companies base their ratings on many important factors based on the estimated ability to meet their financial responsibilities. The ratings are not a guarantee of financial strength or security, they are the opinion of the company that is providing the rating. There are three major insurance rating companies:
A.M. Best Company
Founded in 1899, A.M. Best Company is now known as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO)
by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. They are the largest company that issues reports and ratings to
insurance companies. A.M. Best has 16 separate financial strength ratings for insurance companies:
| Secure | Vulnerable |
| A++, A+ (Superior) | B, B- (Fair) |
| A, A- (Excellent) | C++, C+ (Marginal) |
| B++, B+ (Very Good) | C, C- (Weak) |
| D (Poor) | |
| E (Under Regulatory Supervision) | |
| F (In Liquidation) | |
| S (Rating Suspended) |
The quotes from this site are licensed to provide ratings from A.M. Best Company.
Standard and Poor's
Standard and Poor's is another well known rating company. Like A.M. Best Company, they provide their opinion of
insurance companies based on many financial factors. Standard and Poor's rating system is as follows:
| Secure | Vulnerable |
| AAA (Extremely Strong) | BB (Marginal) |
| AA (Very Strong) | B (Weak) |
| A (Strong) | CCC (Very Weak) |
| BBB (Good) | CC (Extremely Weak) |
| R (Regulatory Action) | |
| NR (Not Rated) |
Weiss Ratings Inc.
Weiss Ratings rates the financial strength of almost 1,700 U.S. life, health, and annuity insurance companies.
Unlike the other rating companies, Weiss Ratings does not accept payment for their ratings. Weiss boasts their
reputation as "America's Consumer Advocate for Financial Safety." Weiss has 5 different main ratings and it also
makes use of the '+' and '-' to further evaluate a companies standing within a rating:
| A (Excellent) |
| B (Good) |
| C (Fair) |
| D (Weak) |
| E (Very Weak) |