Is CL Life a Good Insurance Company?

CL Life and Annuity Insurance Company is a small, focused fixed annuity carrier that most consumers have not heard of — and that is by design. Based in Fort Worth, Texas, CL Life was originally chartered in 1978 but relaunched in its current form in 2022 after being acquired by Crestline Investors, a Dallas-based alternative asset manager with over $16 billion in assets under management. The entire product lineup consists of two fixed annuity contracts: the CL Sundance MYGA and the CL Tarrant Trail. That is it. No variable annuities, no FIAs, no life insurance, no income riders. If you are researching CL Life, you are almost certainly evaluating one of those two products — and the honest evaluation requires understanding both what makes them attractive and what the trade-offs are. At Diversified Insurance Brokers, Jason Stolz, CLTC, CRPC, DIA, CAA, evaluates CL Life products the same way we evaluate any carrier: on whether the specific contract, at the specific premium and term, makes sense relative to what the full market currently offers.

Company Snapshot

The AM Best Rating: What B++ Actually Means

This is the most important thing to understand about CL Life before anything else. AM Best rates CL Life B++ (Good) — the seventh highest of thirteen rating categories. That sits below the A- threshold that most independent financial advisors use as the minimum for annuity carrier recommendations, and well below the A and A+ ratings held by carriers like F&G, Athene, American National, and Allianz. B++ is not a failing grade — AM Best explicitly defines it as “Good,” reflecting adequate financial strength — but it does mean CL Life carries more financial uncertainty than higher-rated competitors. For context, an April 2026 AM Best special report noted a broad industry trend of lower credit quality among PE/alternative-asset-manager-backed carriers that have entered the annuity market over the past several years, using higher yields from private credit portfolios to offer competitive rates. CL Life fits that profile directly.

There is also a current wrinkle: as of September 2025, AM Best placed CL Life’s rating under review with developing implications — meaning it could be upgraded, downgraded, or confirmed — related to Rithm Capital’s announced acquisition of Crestline Investors. “Developing” means the direction is uncertain, not necessarily negative. The NAIC complaint index of 0.00 is a genuine positive — zero consumer complaints on record. But for a carrier that has only been operating in its current form since 2022, there is simply less long-term track record to evaluate than a carrier with 50 or 100 years of history. For clients who have a firm A- minimum requirement, CL Life does not meet it and the evaluation can stop here. For clients who are comfortable with B++ for a portion of their fixed savings — particularly amounts within state guaranty association coverage limits — the products themselves have meaningful features worth understanding. Our resource on annuity surrender charges explained covers how to evaluate surrender schedules when comparing fixed annuity contracts across carriers at different rating tiers.

The CL Sundance MYGA

The Sundance is CL Life’s straightforward MYGA. You choose a guarantee period of two, three, or five years, deposit a lump sum, and receive a locked fixed interest rate for the entire term. Qualified minimum premium is $10,000; non-qualified is $20,000; maximum is $1,000,000. The surrender schedule runs 9, 8% on the two-year term and scales accordingly on longer terms. Both products include a market value adjustment (MVA) — meaning early surrender outside the free withdrawal provisions may result in a market-value-based adjustment to the amount returned, which can work in the client’s favor or against depending on the interest rate environment at the time of surrender.

Liquidity on the Sundance is limited — the contract allows withdrawal of accumulated interest only after 30 days, along with RMD waivers, but does not include the 10% annual free withdrawal provision that many competitive MYGAs offer. For clients who want access to a portion of the contract value during the term without paying surrender charges, the Sundance is more restrictive than most competing MYGAs from higher-rated carriers. At contract maturity — 30 days before the end of the guarantee period — CL Life notifies the owner of the renewal rate for the next term. The owner then has a window to surrender without penalty if the renewal rate is not acceptable. For clients who want tax-deferred fixed growth in a defined window and do not anticipate needing access to principal, the Sundance does what it says. The question is always whether the rate offered — relative to CL Life’s B++ rating — is meaningfully better than what an A-rated carrier offers on the same term. Our resource on how annuities earn interest covers how MYGA crediting works and what to look for when comparing fixed annuity rates across carriers.

The CL Tarrant Trail: The Bailout Feature Explained

The Tarrant Trail is CL Life’s more distinctive product, and the bailout provision is what sets it apart. This is a six-year fixed annuity with a $20,000 minimum (both qualified and non-qualified), a first-year bonus rate, 10% annual penalty-free withdrawals starting in year two, and a surrender schedule of 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4%. The bailout rate is set at 5.5%. Here is how the bailout works: at each annual anniversary, CL Life declares the renewal rate for the coming year. If that renewal rate falls below 5.5%, all surrender charges and any MVA are waived — the contract owner can make a full or partial withdrawal, or do a 1035 exchange to another carrier, with no exit cost. This is a meaningful consumer protection in a rising-rate environment or in a scenario where the carrier’s financial position leads to lower renewal rates in future years.

The practical value of the bailout feature depends on where interest rates go during the six-year term. If rates stay well above 5.5% and CL Life renews competitively, the bailout never triggers and the owner simply holds a six-year fixed annuity with a bonus rate and 10% annual free withdrawals. If rates fall and CL Life sets renewal rates below 5.5%, the owner gets out at no cost. It is essentially an insurance policy against the carrier under-renewing — which is precisely the risk that matters most with a B++ carrier in a changing interest rate environment. Our resource on how 1035 exchanges work covers the mechanics of moving from one annuity contract to another without a taxable event — directly relevant for anyone evaluating the Tarrant Trail as a position that might be moved at renewal.

Who CL Life Makes Sense For — and Who Should Look Elsewhere

CL Life fits a specific and narrow client profile. If you are placing an amount within your state’s guaranty association coverage limit (most commonly $250,000 in annuity benefits — confirm your state’s specific limit), are comfortable with a B++ carrier for that portion of your savings, and the Tarrant Trail’s bailout feature genuinely adds value given your interest rate concerns, then CL Life is a legitimate consideration alongside A-rated alternatives. The 0.00 NAIC complaint index is a real positive — no complaints on record means no service failures that have reached the regulatory level. The products are simple and transparent.

CL Life is not the right fit for clients who: require an A- or higher minimum financial strength rating; need access to principal during the contract period beyond 10% annually (Sundance provides even less); are placing amounts above guaranty association limits; need products in states where CL Life is not yet licensed; or want income riders, FIA options, or any product beyond two basic fixed annuity designs. For clients who need a broader carrier evaluation — including A-rated MYGAs that may be competitive with or superior to CL Life’s rates — our resources on non-qualified annuity strategies and tax-deferred annuity strategies cover how to use fixed annuities effectively within a retirement income plan regardless of which carrier is ultimately selected. Our resource on common annuity myths also covers the misconceptions — including about carrier ratings — that most frequently lead clients to make suboptimal fixed annuity decisions. For a direct side-by-side comparison of CL Life’s current rates against the A-rated MYGA market, our current fixed annuity rates page shows what the full market looks like in real time.