Why it earned this rating
Our assessment
Passport 3 earns a middle-of-the-pack rating because its core structure has a real mismatch: the 3.75% rate is only locked for 3 of the 7 years you're committed to. Columbus Life's automatic Return of Premium guarantee -- which floors your cash surrender value at 100% of premium regardless of what happens at renewal -- meaningfully softens that risk, and the A+ rating and fee-free structure are genuine positives. But the lack of any rate-triggered exit window at the point the guarantee expires keeps this out of top-tier territory relative to a MYGA where the guarantee period matches the surrender period.
The short version
Passport 3 is Columbus Life's 3-year rate-guarantee election inside a fixed 7-year MYGA chassis: you lock 3.75% (including a first-year-only 2% rate enhancement) for three years, then the account renews annually at whatever rate Columbus Life declares, never below a contractual floor of 1%-3%. The surrender schedule, by contrast, runs the full seven years no matter which guarantee period you pick, so there are four years after the rate lock expires where you're still exposed to surrender charges if you want out. What keeps this from being a trap is Columbus Life's Return of Premium guarantee, which floors your cash surrender value at 100% of premium even during the charge period — you can't be charged your way below what you put in. That's a meaningful backstop, but it doesn't change the fact that you're accepting four years of rate uncertainty with no built-in exit ramp.
Key facts
The full review
Is Columbus Life Passport 3 a Good Annuity?
Depends. As a locked 3-year rate from a highly rated carrier with no fees and full return-of-premium protection, Passport 3 is a reasonable product. As a full 7-year commitment, it's harder to love, because you're only getting rate certainty for the first 3 of those 7 years and then betting on Columbus Life's future renewal declarations with no formal exit if they disappoint. If you specifically want a 3-year rate and don't mind that the surrender obligation outlasts it, this works. If you want your rate lock to match your surrender commitment, Columbus Life's own Passport 7 election is the cleaner structure for the same carrier.
Why Someone Would Buy This Annuity
Someone would buy Passport 3 to lock in a competitive short-term rate — 3.75% beat the 3.65% Columbus Life was quoting on its own 4- and 5-year Passport elections on the same date — from a carrier rated A+ by A.M. Best, without paying any fees or rider charges to get it. The automatic Return of Premium guarantee adds a layer of comfort a straight MYGA doesn't always offer: even if the renewal years turn out weak, the contract can't leave you with less than 100% of what you put in. For someone parking conservative money for a few years, that combination is genuinely attractive.
Who This Annuity Is Best For
I think this is best for someone with non-qualified or IRA money who wants a clean, fee-free rate lock for 3 years, is comfortable holding the contract through year 7 regardless of how renewals play out, and values carrier strength and principal protection over rate-lock certainty. It's a weaker fit for someone who wants their guarantee period and surrender period to match, or who might need penalty-free access to more than the free 10% in years 4 through 7 if the renewal rate turns out to be underwhelming.
What You're Really Buying Here
"Passport 3" names the rate guarantee period, not the length of your commitment. Columbus Life sells one MYGA chassis — "Passport" — with a single 7-year surrender schedule (7/7/7/6/5/4/3) regardless of which initial guarantee period you elect: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 7 years. Choosing the "3" just tells the carrier how long to hold your rate fixed before it starts renewing annually. So you're not buying a 3-year annuity. You're buying a 7-year annuity where the rate is only locked for the first 3 of those years.
How the Core Feature Works
The declared rate is 3.75%, guaranteed for 3 years, and it includes a non-guaranteed first-year-only 2% interest-rate enhancement — Wink's materials label it a rate bonus, not a premium bonus, meaning it boosts year-one crediting and then drops back to the base declared rate for years 2 and 3. After the 3-year guarantee period ends, Columbus Life declares a renewal rate annually. That renewal rate is entirely at the carrier's discretion each year, subject only to a contractual floor set at issue and required by state nonforfeiture law to fall between 1% and 3%. Nothing in the Client Guide or Quick Reference promises the renewal rate will track new-money rates, match what Columbus Life is offering new Passport buyers, or trigger any special withdrawal right if it comes in low.
Why the Secondary Feature Matters
The feature that actually matters for this product's risk profile is the automatic, no-charge Return of Premium guarantee. On top of the standard 1%-3% minimum guaranteed annual return, it separately guarantees that the contract's cash surrender value will never fall below 100% of premium paid, adjusted for any withdrawals. Practically, that means the renewal cliff described above is a ceiling risk (you might renew at a mediocre rate) rather than a floor risk (you can't be charged your way below what you contributed). It's the single biggest reason this product's structural quirk doesn't sink the rating further.
Liquidity and Surrender Schedule
You get a standard 10% annual free-withdrawal allowance from day one, non-cumulative, plus penalty-free access for IRS-required minimum distributions and 72(t) substantially equal periodic payments, annuitization (if payments start at least 2 years after issue and last at least 5 years), death, terminal illness, and 30+ day long-term-care or hospital confinement. Outside of those, any withdrawal beyond the free 10% triggers the surrender charge shown below — for the full 7 years, no matter which guarantee period you picked. There's no MVA, so the charge itself doesn't move with interest rates, but there's also no rate-triggered bailout window at year 3 when the guarantee expires. If the renewal rate disappoints in year 4, your only penalty-free options are the same ones available in year 1.
| Contract Year | Surrender Charge |
|---|---|
| 1 | 7% |
| 2 | 7% |
| 3 | 7% |
| 4 | 6% |
| 5 | 5% |
| 6 | 4% |
| 7 | 3% |
Fees and Tradeoffs
There's nothing to erode here in the traditional sense — no policy fee, no administrative charge, no rider fee. The tradeoff isn't a fee, it's rate risk: everything you earn from year 4 forward depends on what Columbus Life chooses to declare annually, bounded only by the 1%-3% floor. The Return of Premium guarantee limits how bad that risk can get (you can't lose principal to surrender charges), but it doesn't guarantee you a competitive rate — just a floor rate that could sit well below what new MYGA buyers are getting elsewhere at the time. One disclosure detail worth flagging: minimum premium is technically two-tiered in the older product profile ($5,000 non-qualified, $2,000 tax-qualified), though the figure captured above reflects the standard $5,000 threshold.
Product snapshot
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Product Type | Fixed Annuity |
| Surrender Period | 7 years |
| Issue Ages | 0-89 (Wink's per-product 'Passport 3 SPDA' profile, current as of 4/1/2026, single band applying to both qualified and non-qualified -- this supersedes the older CL 5.1027 (03/15) split figure previously used here). Older generic Passport literature disagrees: Quick Reference CL 5.1027 (03/15) gives 0-89 non-qualified / 15-89 tax-qualified rollover-only (transfer/rollover money only after age 69); Client Guide CL 5.817 (11/18) gives 18-89 for both. The per-product Wink profile is the most current, most specific source and controls, matching how Passport 2 and Passport 7 are extracted. |
| Minimum Premium | $5,000 |
| Crediting Methods | Declared fixed rate (MYGA) |
| Free Withdrawal | Up to 10% of contract value may be withdrawn each contract year, free of surrender charge, beginning immediately (non-cumulative; $250 minimum). Systematic withdrawals of the 10% free amount or interest earnings available monthly/quarterly/semiannual/annual, minimum $100 ($50 if EFT); not available with Roth IRA plans. |
| MGSV | 100% of premiums paid minus withdrawals — the automatic no-charge Return of Premium guarantee (surrender value never below net premium); a 1.00%-3.00% minimum interest floor applies to renewal rates. |
| Death Benefit | Full account value passed to the designated beneficiary at the time of distribution, without a surrender charge, bypassing probate (Client Guide CL 5.817 (11/18); Wink: 'Death Benefit: Full Account Value'). |
| Income Rider | Not available |
| Premium Bonus | None |
| Availability | Not approved in NY, AK, or OR. FL and MS use a separate F.A.I.R. policy-form variation; all other states use the standard MRA form. Columbus Life is licensed in DC and all states except NY (Wink profile, 4/1/2026; confirmed by 2015 state-approval filing). |
Carrier snapshot
Legal Entity: Columbus Life Insurance Company
Parent: Western & Southern Financial Group
A.M. Best Rating: A+
Final take
Passport 3 works as a fee-free way to lock a competitive short-term rate from a highly rated carrier, and the Return of Premium guarantee is a real, uncommon protection that takes the worst-case scenario off the table. But the fundamental structure — a 3-year rate promise wrapped inside a 7-year surrender obligation, with no rate-triggered exit at the point the guarantee expires — means this isn't a clean fit for someone who wants their commitment length to match their rate certainty. If that mismatch doesn't bother you and you're reassured by the principal-protection backstop, this is a reasonable choice. If you'd rather your guarantee period and surrender period line up, Columbus Life's own Passport 7 election, or a shorter-surrender MYGA elsewhere, is the more honest structure for the same commitment.