Heritage Premier 3 review

Yes, for the right buyer. This is a good annuity for someone who wants a clean three-year rate lock from an A- rated carrier and likes having chronic-illness and terminal-illness access built in without paying for a rider. It's less appealing for someone who wants meaningful penalty-free access to principal during the term or who is shopping purely for the single highest 3-year MYGA rate on the market.

The main reason to buy Heritage Premier 3 is the straightforward rate lock — three years at a stated, guaranteed 4.70% with no participation rate, cap, or spread to track. The secondary reason is the included Health Waiver Benefits, which waive surrender charges for nursing home confinement, terminal illness, disability, or home health care needs without an extra fee. For a buyer who wants simplicity plus a modest safety valve for care-related events, that combination is genuinely useful.

I think this annuity is best for someone with a shorter time horizon who wants a guaranteed rate without market exposure and values having the health waivers in place should a qualifying event happen during the term. The issue-age ceiling here (90) is unusually high for the category, which makes it accessible to older buyers many MYGAs shut out. It's a workable qualified-money vehicle too, though buyers in Colorado, Maine, South Dakota, or Wyoming should note it's qualified-only in those states. It is less suited to someone who wants ongoing access to a meaningful percentage of principal during the term, or who is shopping purely on rate and is willing to consider less household-name carriers to get a higher one.

You're buying a single-premium, fixed-rate contract that credits 4.70% annually for three years, tax-deferred, with the full account value protected from market swings. There's no index-linked upside, no participation rate, and no income rider layered on — this is a CD-like commitment wrapped in an insurance contract, with a modestly better tax-deferral profile and the health waivers as a built-in extra rather than an add-on rider.

Heritage Premier 3 credits a single fixed rate — currently 4.70% Annual Effective Yield — on the full premium for the entire three-year guarantee period. That rate is locked at issue and doesn't move with the market, up or down, for the duration of the term. At the end of the three years, MYGAs of this type typically renew into a new rate the carrier declares at the time (or the owner can surrender or exchange), though the brochure materials reviewed here didn't spell out Capitol Life's specific renewal mechanics in detail.

The Health Waiver Benefits are the real differentiator on this contract. Nursing Home, Terminal Illness, Disability, and Home Health Care waivers are included at no additional cost, and they waive surrender charges on qualifying claims — up to 10% of accumulated value in year one, and up to 50% thereafter. Many entry-level 3-year MYGAs don't offer any waiver at all, so having four qualifying triggers bundled in without a separate rider fee is a real value-add for buyers concerned about needing access to funds for a health event during the surrender period.

The surrender schedule runs 8.1%, 7.1%, then 6.1% across the three-year term — broadly in line with typical 3-year MYGA peers. An MVA — Market Value Adjustment, meaning the surrender penalty can move up or down with prevailing interest rates — applies to withdrawals above the free amount. The free-withdrawal provision itself is narrower than most competitors': after the contract has been in force 30 days, owners can take systematic withdrawals of interest earnings only, subject to a $100 minimum. That's meaningfully different from the flat percentage-of-premium free withdrawal common on many sibling and competing MYGAs. It gives earlier access (30 days versus a full year on many contracts) but caps what you can actually pull out to interest, not principal.

There are no explicit contractual fees disclosed on Heritage Premier 3 — no rider fee, because there's no income rider, and the Health Waiver Benefits are included at no additional cost. The real tradeoff is structural: the interest-only free withdrawal limits liquidity more than most peers during the term. The MGSV — Minimum Guaranteed Surrender Value, the floor the contract must credit even in a poor-rate environment — is stated as a 0.15% guaranteed minimum annual interest rate, a modest floor consistent with typical state nonforfeiture minimums rather than a standout feature in either direction.

Legal Entity: Capitol Life Insurance Company

Parent: Liberty Bankers Insurance Group

A.M. Best Rating: A-