Why it earned this rating
Our assessment
Tarrant Trail 6-Year earns a middle-of-the-pack rating because its bailout provision and RMD-friendly free withdrawal are real, useful features, but pairing an annually renewable declared rate with a full six-year surrender schedule leaves buyers exposed to five years of renewal-rate uncertainty after the year-one bonus rolls off — a longer uncovered tail than its 4-Year sibling carries. Combined with a B++ carrier rating that clears our recommendation bar only at its low end and no rider options, it settles into a narrow niche rather than a broadly strong option.
The short version
This is a single-premium fixed annuity, not a multi-year guaranteed annuity, even though the six-year surrender schedule makes it look like one. The rate you see today — 7.00% — is a one-year rate that includes a temporary bonus. After year one, CL Life declares a new rate every anniversary, and that new rate is only promised to stay above 2%. If you are comfortable with that structure and you like the built-in bailout protection, this can work. If you were expecting a locked-in rate for six years, this is not that product.
Key facts
The full review
Is CL Life Tarrant Trail 6-Year a Good Annuity?
It can be, for the right buyer, but it is not a "set it and forget it" product. This is a good annuity for someone who wants a tax-deferred, insurance-company alternative to a long CD, understands that the rate resets every year after the first, and is fine holding the contract for the full six years regardless of what the renewal rate turns out to be. It is a weaker fit for anyone who assumed the 7.00% figure was locked in for the life of the contract, or who wants a top-rated carrier, or who might need meaningful liquidity in the early years.
Why Someone Would Buy This Annuity
The main draw is the current 7.00% first-year rate and the simplicity of a traditional declared-rate fixed annuity — no index formulas, no participation rates, no caps to track. The secondary draw is the bailout provision: if CL Life ever declares a renewal rate below the fixed bailout rate set at issue, the owner gets a 30-day penalty-free window to walk away, take a partial withdrawal, or annuitize, without surrender charge or MVA. That is a real safety valve most annually renewable fixed annuities do not spell out this clearly, and it is the feature that makes the renewal-rate risk more tolerable than it would otherwise be.
Who This Annuity Is Best For
I think this fits a buyer who has a genuine six-year time horizon, wants principal protection and tax deferral more than they want top-of-market growth, and is not going to be surprised or upset when the rate resets in year two. It is a reasonable fit for someone rolling over CD or savings money who values simplicity over a rider-laden contract. It is a poor fit for anyone chasing the 7.00% headline as if it were a multi-year guarantee, anyone who wants carrier strength above B++, and anyone who thinks they might need more than the annual 10%-or-RMD allowance in the first five years.
What You're Really Buying Here
You are not buying a locked-in 7.00% rate for six years. You are buying a traditional fixed annuity where CL Life guarantees your rate for one contract year at a time, backed by a promise that no renewal will ever be declared below 2%, wrapped inside a six-year surrender schedule with a market value adjustment. The 1.75% first-year bonus is real money in year one, but it is a bonus on the rate, not on your premium, and it disappears after year one — the ongoing base rate underneath it is roughly 5.25% at current pricing, and that is the number a buyer should actually be planning around, not the 7.00% headline.
How the Core Feature Works
The core mechanic is the annually renewable declared rate. CL Life sets an Initial Interest Rate that holds for the first contract year only. Before every anniversary after that, the company declares a new Renewal Interest Rate that applies for the following twelve months, and that cycle repeats for the life of the contract. The one hard guarantee across all of those resets is a 2% floor — the carrier can never declare a renewal rate below that. It is worth separating this 2% renewal floor from the contract's 1% Nonforfeiture Interest Rate, which is a completely different number used only to accumulate the Guaranteed Minimum Surrender Value in the background — it does not describe what you actually earn on your account value. The current 7.00% rate splits into a 5.25% base plus a 1.75% bonus that applies in year one only; from year two forward, the declared rate reflects the base-rate side of that math, whatever CL Life sets it to be at each renewal, subject only to the 2% floor.
Why the Secondary Feature Matters
The bailout provision is the feature that makes the renewal-rate risk manageable rather than open-ended. At issue, CL Life fixes a Bailout Interest Rate specific to this contract. If a future declared Renewal Interest Rate ever comes in below that bailout rate, a 30-day window opens after that anniversary during which the owner can fully or partially surrender, or move to an income settlement option, free of both surrender charge and MVA — and this window is available at any point during the surrender period, not just starting in year two like the standard free withdrawal. In practice, this means a buyer is never fully trapped by a bad renewal rate: if CL Life lets the rate drop too far, the exit door opens without a penalty. It does not protect against a renewal rate that stays mediocre-but-above-bailout for years, but it does cap the worst-case outcome.
Liquidity and Surrender Schedule
This is a six-year commitment with no free withdrawal at all in the first year — any withdrawal in year one, including an RMD, triggers both the surrender charge and the MVA. Starting in contract year 2, the owner can take the greater of 10% of account value (measured off the prior anniversary) or their attributable RMD each year without penalty, and the RMD amount is part of that 10% allowance rather than an extra amount on top of it. Outside of the annual allowance and the bailout window described above, withdrawals above the free amount during the surrender period are hit with both the surrender charge shown below and a market value adjustment, which can cut either way depending on where interest rates have moved since issue.
| Contract Year | Surrender Charge |
|---|---|
| 1 | 9% |
| 2 | 8% |
| 3 | 7% |
| 4 | 6% |
| 5 | 5% |
| 6 | 4% |
Fees and Tradeoffs
There is no explicit rider fee or contract fee here — CL Life's own product materials list every fee line item as not applicable, and there is no income rider to add a cost in the first place. The real tradeoff is structural rather than a line-item charge: a buyer is trading five years of renewal-rate uncertainty (after the year-one bonus rolls off) for the safety of a fixed, insurance-backed contract with an MVA and a hard 2% floor. The B++ A.M. Best rating is also worth weighing against carriers rated A− or better — it does not mean CL Life cannot pay claims, but it is a real step down in financial-strength cushion compared to top-rated fixed annuity issuers. CL Life's B++ rating sits right at this site's recommendation floor — it clears the bar, but only just — even though the underlying contract terms are competitive for the category.
Product snapshot
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Product Type | Fixed Annuity |
| Surrender Period | 6 years |
| Issue Ages | 0-90 (based on oldest owner's age at last birthday) |
| Minimum Premium | $20,000 |
| Crediting Methods | Fixed (declared rate) |
| MGSV | 87.5% of premiums at 1% |
| Death Benefit | Full Account Value as of the date of the owner's death, paid to the named beneficiary(ies) in a lump sum or as income payments; a surviving spouse who is sole beneficiary may continue the contract; for joint owners, the death benefit is paid on the death of the first owner. Surrender charges and MVA are waived on death benefit payment. |
| Income Rider | Not available |
| Premium Bonus | None |
| Availability | Not approved in CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, HI, IA, ID, MA, ME, MN, NC, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OR, RI, SC, SD, VT, WA, WI, WY. Available in AK, AL, AR, AZ, GA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MI, MO, MS, MT, ND, NE, NM, OH, OK, PA, TN, TX, UT, VA, WV. AL, MA, MN, OR, UT, and WA have cross-border sales restrictions (a resident of these states cannot buy the product where not approved in their home state). |
Carrier snapshot
Legal Entity: CL Life and Annuity Insurance Company
A.M. Best Rating: B++
Final take
Tarrant Trail 6-Year does what a traditional fixed annuity does: it protects principal, defers taxes, and pays a declared rate that the carrier resets every year. The 7.00% figure that draws attention is real, but it is a one-year number built from a 5.25% base plus a temporary 1.75% bonus, not a rate you should expect to see again once the contract renews. The bailout provision is the standout protection here — it caps how bad a future renewal rate can get before the buyer gets a penalty-free exit — but it does not erase the basic fact that this is a six-year surrender commitment riding on annual rate resets, backed by a carrier rated B++, which clears our recommendation floor though it's one notch below where the strongest-rated issuers sit. For a buyer who understands exactly what they are signing up for and is comfortable with the tradeoff, it is workable. For a buyer shopping on the headline rate alone, it is easy to misread.
- Death Benefit
- Full Account Value as of the date of the owner's death, paid to the named beneficiary(ies) in a lump sum or as income payments; a surviving spouse who is sole beneficiary may continue the contract; for joint owners, the death benefit is paid on the death of the first owner. Surrender charges and MVA are waived on death benefit payment.
- Minimum Guaranteed Surrender Value
- 87.5% of premiums at 1%
- RMD Treatment
- RMD-friendly: surrender charges waived on IRS required minimum distributions.
- Withdrawal Provisions
- RMD is part of, not in addition to, the annual 10% penalty-free allowance. Separately, a 30-day Bailout Window opens after any contract anniversary where the declared Renewal Interest Rate falls below the fixed Bailout Interest Rate, permitting full or partial surrender, or election of an income settlement option, free of surrender charge and MVA (available at any point in the surrender period, not just from year 2).