American Fidelity life insurance

Overview

American Fidelity Assurance Company is a family-owned insurer in Oklahoma City that sells life insurance, supplemental health coverage and retirement annuities to employees at their workplace. The American Fidelity Corporation group ranked #75 among U.S. life insurance groups by 2024 individual life direct premiums written, according to NAIC market share data, with $264.5 million in premiums and a 0.17% market share.

American Fidelity focuses on a handful of employer markets: public schools and higher education, state and local government, auto dealerships, manufacturing and health care. Most customers do not shop for it directly. A school district or employer invites American Fidelity in, and its account managers meet with employees during enrollment to sell individual policies paid by payroll deduction (voluntary life insurance, supplemental (voluntary) life insurance at work). The company also works as a benefits administrator for employers. It says it serves more than 1 million policyholders in 49 states.

The company is private. American Fidelity Assurance has been wholly owned since 1974 by American Fidelity Corporation, which is controlled by the founding Cameron family through a family partnership. William M. (Bill) Cameron, grandson of co-founder C.W. Cameron, is chairman and CEO, and Weston Waller is president. The group's other life insurer is American Public Life Insurance Company, a worksite supplemental insurer with offices in Jackson, Mississippi, and Oklahoma City.

History

C.W. Cameron, who left school at 14 to support his family after his father became disabled, and his son C.B. Cameron founded American Fidelity Assurance Company in Oklahoma City on January 1, 1960. It was organized as an Oklahoma stock life insurance company around the idea that a person's most important asset is the ability to work and earn a living, so its early emphasis was disability and other income-protection coverage for working people, especially educators.

American Fidelity Corporation became the company's sole owner in 1974. Today its product line spans cancer, disability, accident and hospital indemnity insurance, individual life insurance and tax-deferred annuities, and its markets have grown from education to public sector, auto dealer, manufacturing and health care employers. It has operated a broker-dealer subsidiary, American Fidelity Securities, for its variable annuity business. Leadership has stayed in the Cameron family through three generations.

AM Best has rated American Fidelity A+ (Superior) every year since 1982. The company has not been sold, merged or taken public; there have been no ownership changes beyond the family's own holding structure.

Life insurance products

American Fidelity sells three individual life products, usually through employer enrollment:

• Term life with 10-, 20- or 30-year level-premium periods, aimed at people who want lower premiums during their working years (term life insurance).
• Term 100 covers you to age 100. Premiums are based on issue age and stay level for 30 years or to age 85, whichever comes first; after that they can rise, fall or stay the same but cannot exceed the guaranteed maximum in the policy.
• Whole life covers you to age 121 with premiums that stay level for the life of the policy. It builds cash value that can be used for loans or premiums, and pays a cash benefit if you reach maturity at 121 (whole life insurance).

American Fidelity says its life policies are fully portable: because they are individual policies, you own them and can keep them if you change jobs or retire, as long as you keep paying premiums directly (keeping group life insurance when you leave a job). Policies can include an accelerated death benefit that pays part of the death benefit to someone who is terminally ill (accelerated death benefit), and the company says its Term 100 plans can add several riders at extra cost. American Fidelity does not publish rates, coverage maximums or detailed underwriting rules online, since prices are set through each employer's enrollment.

Other products

Most of American Fidelity's business is supplemental health and income protection sold at work: disability income, cancer, accident, hospital indemnity and critical illness insurance. It also offers 403(b) and IRA annuities, including the AF Advantage variable annuity, and works as a benefits administrator for employers (life insurance for teachers).

Buying and service

You generally buy American Fidelity coverage through your employer's benefits enrollment, where an American Fidelity account manager reviews your needs and recommends a plan. Its sales model is built around employer enrollment, so it is rarely an option for someone shopping on their own. Before you sign up for life insurance at work, compare the price with an individually underwritten term policy, especially if you are young and healthy (is life insurance through work enough?).

Customer Service is at 800-662-1113, Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central, with chat and a contact form online. The main office number is 405-523-2000.

Claims

American Fidelity does not accept life insurance claims online. Beneficiaries complete a death benefit claim form and send it by mail, fax or email to the Life Benefits Department, P.O. Box 25160, Oklahoma City, OK 73125-0160, or [email protected]. The claim needs a certified death certificate showing the cause and manner of death (a copy is accepted for policies under $25,000), an IRS Form W-9 for each payee and, if wanted, a direct deposit form. The company says claims are usually processed within seven business days after it receives all required documents. See how to file a life insurance claim.

Ratings and reputation

AM Best affirmed American Fidelity Assurance Company's A+ (Superior) financial strength rating in August 2026, a rating the company has held since 1982; it was previously affirmed in July 2025. American Fidelity does not publish ratings from S&P, Moody's or Fitch. It was named to the Ward Group's list of 50 top-performing life-health insurers and has appeared repeatedly on Fortune's best workplaces lists.

American Fidelity was not among the brands ranked in the J.D. Power 2026 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study.

Who it suits

American Fidelity suits teachers, school staff, government workers and auto dealership employees whose employer offers it and who want simple term, Term 100 or whole life paid by payroll deduction that they can keep after leaving the job. It is a poor fit for anyone whose employer does not offer it, for New York residents, and for shoppers who want large amounts of coverage at the lowest price, which an individually underwritten term policy may beat.

• Strengths: A+ (Superior) from AM Best (August 2026), held since 1982; portable individual policies sold through payroll deduction; Term 100 and whole life options; a clear claims process with a stated seven-business-day turnaround.
• Weaknesses: Generally available only through participating employers; not licensed in New York; no published rates or coverage limits; only AM Best publishes a rating; life claims cannot be filed online.

How to contact American Fidelity