Heritage Premier Plus 3 review

Yes, with a caveat. As a standalone 3-year MYGA it's a reasonable option — an A- rated carrier, a real guaranteed rate, no rider fees, and a built-in chronic-illness liquidity feature that a lot of MYGAs skip entirely. The caveat is that "Plus" implies you're getting more than the base version, and on a full-term basis you're not. I think a shopper should treat the year-one 5.35% figure as a marketing number, not a reason to prefer this contract over its sibling.

Someone buys this because the year-one rate is genuinely attractive relative to money-market and short CD alternatives, and because a 3-year commitment is short enough to feel manageable. The health waiver adds a real safety valve that most bank CDs don't offer — if a qualifying health event happens, you can access up to 50% of the account penalty-free after the first year instead of being locked in regardless of circumstance. For someone who wants a locked short-term rate with a floor and doesn't want to shop around every year, this covers the basics.

This fits a conservative saver, likely retired or near-retired, who has non-qualified or qualified money they don't need for three years and wants a guaranteed rate with no market exposure. It's a reasonable fit for someone consolidating short-term CD-like money who values the health waiver as a backstop. It's a poor fit for someone who might need more than the free-withdrawal amount before year three ends, or for anyone in California or New York, where the product isn't approved.

You're buying a 3-year insurance contract, not a bank product — the guarantee comes from Liberty Bankers Life Insurance Company (A- rated by A.M. Best) rather than FDIC insurance. In exchange, the carrier locks in a rate for the full term and adds a modest floor (a 0.15% minimum guaranteed interest rate) below which your return can't fall even at renewal. The "Plus" in the name refers to the crediting shape — a bigger number up front, a smaller number after — not to any additional benefit, rider, or feature beyond what the base Heritage Premier 3 already includes.

The core feature is the front-loaded crediting rate. Liberty Bankers declares a 4.35% base rate guaranteed for the full 3-year term, then adds a 1.00% first-year interest rate bonus on top, producing an annual effective yield of 5.35% in year one and 4.35% in years two and three. Note that Wink's own product data explicitly labels this an "Interest Rate Bonus," not a "Premium Bonus" — it enhances the crediting rate, it does not add extra dollars to your account value at issue the way a true premium bonus would.

Run the actual compounding: $100,000 growing at 5.35% / 4.35% / 4.35% ends the 3-year term worth about the same as $100,000 growing at a flat 4.70% the whole way — which is exactly what the sibling Heritage Premier 3 pays with no bonus structure at all. The front-loaded shape moves *when* you earn the interest, not *how much* you ultimately earn. Rates are current as of a 2/9/2026 rate sheet and subject to change without notice on new issues.

The Health Waiver Benefits matter more than most riders on a short MYGA because they're included at no extra cost and they solve a real problem: what happens if you need the money early for a health reason. If a nursing home, terminal illness, disability, or home health care event occurs, you can withdraw up to 10% of accumulated value penalty-free in year one and up to 50% thereafter, waiving both the surrender charge and the market value adjustment on the qualifying amount. That's meaningfully broader than the standard interest-only free withdrawal and it's the kind of feature that only shows its value when you actually need it.

Outside of a qualifying health event, liquidity is limited to interest-only Systematic Penalty-Free Withdrawals after the first 30 days, subject to a $100 minimum — you can pull out what the contract earns, but not principal, without triggering a charge. Full or partial withdrawals of principal during the 3-year term are subject to the surrender schedule below, and a market value adjustment (MVA) also applies, meaning the penalty can move up or down with interest rates at the time you withdraw, not just follow the flat percentage in the table.

Worth noting for comparison shoppers: this schedule is 0.1 percentage points higher in every year than the base Heritage Premier 3's 8.1% / 7.1% / 6.1% schedule. It's a small gap, but combined with the roughly equal total yield, it means this version doesn't clearly out-earn its plainer sibling — it just front-loads the same interest and charges slightly more to get out early.

There's no base contract fee disclosed — no M&E charge, product fee, administration charge, or annual contract fee — and no rider fee, since there's no optional income rider on this product. The real tradeoff isn't a line-item fee; it's structural. The "Plus" version's marketing appeal (a 5.35% headline rate) comes with a fractionally lower total 3-year yield than the flat 4.70% sibling once you compound both out, plus a marginally steeper surrender schedule. Someone comparing the two Heritage Premier products should weigh the surrender schedule and their own preference for front-loaded versus flat crediting, not assume "Plus" means "more."

Legal Entity: Liberty Bankers Life Insurance Company

Parent: Liberty Bankers Insurance Group

A.M. Best Rating: A-