Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Reviews

I am extremely disappointed with the customer service at Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance. I contacted customer service three separate times about the same billing issue, and every time I was assured it would be corrected. Unfortunately, nothing was ever fixed, forcing me to keep calling back for the exact same problem. A billing issue should not require multiple calls to resolve. I expected a company of this size to be able to follow through on its promises, but instead I received inconsistent, unreliable service and no real resolution. The lack of communication and follow-through has been incredibly frustrating. Based on my experience, the customer service has been incompetent and unreliable. I expect much better from a company that customers trust with their financial security.

Northwestern Mutual is a corporate scam. They recruit you under the guise of 'wealth management,' but you are nothing more than an exploited, underpaid insurance salesperson. Once you start, they expect you to harvest your personal relationships for leads, and once your inner circle dries up, figure it out! They use brainwashing tactics such as bringing in motivational speakers to convince you to stay hooked on the promise of future wealth. Meanwhile, you are working yourself into the ground to make the people at the top richer while you struggle to survive. They don’t care about helping clients, and they certainly don't care about their advisors. Don’t waste your time or your relationships on this place, what a joke and PONZI scheme.

Just wait until you want to change investments! Drag their feet. Never call you to tell you what's going on. You will need to contact them daily. Took 30 days and 14 phone calls to get things changed. Go somewhere else.

My 95-year-old mother purchased a $10,000 annuity (**) from Northwestern Mutual back on 9/29/09. Its ROI from inception to 2024 was less than 1% per year. On 7/24/24, the annuity was valued at $11,428.45. At purchase, my mother was the annuant, paid the $10,086, while her funeral director was listed as owner. Out of 40 investment choices, the NM salesperson sold my then 79-year-old mom one choice, i.e., ‘ zero variability’ - the lowest, likely rate of return GIF available was encouraged. Then for 15 years, my mother had zero contact from NM and the funeral director contact consisted of only periodic statements. Is this the “personalized planning” you reference??

The so called advisor is only interested in big accounts. There has been no service. I wanted something done recently. One of his inept kiss-ups yaps at me that I'm the problem. No, 'fraid not. I wanted money transferred from my retirement account so I'll have to figure out something else. Another problem is people don't answer the phone.

Almost impossible to cancel a policy. Run around for months the first time. First cancellation was via email to them, but a month later they say it must be verbal. After escalating the manager says email could be fraudulent and it must be voice - ridiculous, felt like I was back in the 80’s. Going on 6 weeks for cancelling another policy. Back and forth with local agent offering little service - all I need is a simple form emailed to me and the agent tells me to call back next week. I call back and the agent says it’s probably faster to contact the home office - wow. Home office gives me the run around as well. I’ve been a client for 25 years. Life and LTD policies. Stay away from Northwestern Mutual.

Started doing business with this company fifty plus years ago. They we fine for the first twenty years, and after that they went right in the toilet. Awful agents, horrible customer service. When you try to get YOUR money back all they do is jack you around. I would NEVER do business with the company again. Should be zero stars.

Buyer beware- if you purchase cash surrender life insurance products from this unethical company, they will take 6 months to process the surrender and then another 6 months before disbursing the funds. That is straight up criminal. No other insurance company takes this long. I submitted the surrender request in August of 2024. They FINALLY processed it February 13, 2025 and now inform me that they will defer the disbursement of the proceeds for 6 more months!

Ridiculous company! They are abusive when it comes to giving you your money back. They treat you like an idiot. The lack of punishment allows them to use and abuse those who once trusted them to buy their product. Do not buy life insurance from them. When it comes to selling, it is a beautiful story, when it comes to returning it is a horror story.

Customer service was great until it wasn’t - or should I say, until I wanted to access my funds. It took weeks and weeks of emailing back and forth, yelling at my advisor and his assistant and finally needed me to speak with the Compliance Officer to attempt to rectify the situation. This occurred April 16th 2024 and as of June 6th is still not resolved.