Select Choice 3-Year review

It depends on what you need. If you have a lump sum you do not expect to touch for three years and you want a fixed, guaranteed return with insurance-wrapper tax deferral, this is a straightforward vehicle. The declared rate is within a competitive range for 3-year MYGAs, the carrier carries an A- rating from AM Best, and the product is simple to understand. If you might need access to any portion of the money before maturity, the base contract offers no relief — you would need to add the optional PFW rider, which reduces your credited rate by 0.10%, or accept the surrender charge and MVA on amounts above the free amount. For buyers who are not certain about their liquidity needs over the next three years, that limitation is meaningful.

The rational case is rate and simplicity. Someone rolling over a maturing CD, a maturing MYGA, or a savings account who wants a guaranteed return for three years without market exposure would find Select Choice 3-Year easy to evaluate. The $5,000 minimum makes it accessible at premium sizes where many competing carriers set floors of $10,000 to $25,000. The wide non-qualified issue age range — 0 to 85 — also makes it a workable option for gifting or trust-held accounts where qualified plan rules do not apply. The 30-day penalty-free window at the end of the guarantee period gives buyers a clean off-ramp without needing to track an exact anniversary date.

I think Select Choice 3-Year fits best for a conservative buyer who has a defined sum — say, proceeds from a sale, a maturing fixed-income position, or a CD rollover — that genuinely does not need to be touched for three years. The wide non-qualified issue age range (0-85) makes it relevant outside the traditional retiree demographic. It is less appropriate for buyers who expect to need periodic withdrawals, anyone in a state where this product is not approved (CT, HI, MT, ND, NH, NY, SD), or buyers who are comparing this against a competing 3-year MYGA with a built-in free-withdrawal provision and no MVA.

You are buying a guaranteed declared interest rate credited daily for three years, backed by S.USA Life's general account. The insurance company takes your premium, invests it in fixed-income instruments, and credits you a contractually guaranteed rate. There is no index exposure, no market risk, and no crediting complexity. The rate is set at issue and guaranteed for the full guarantee period, with a contractual minimum renewal rate of 1% applying if the contract continues past the initial three-year term. The MVA — market value adjustment — is the one moving part. It means that if you exit early and interest rates have risen since you bought the contract, the insurer can reduce your payout below the stated surrender charge, because your locked-in lower rate is now less valuable in a higher-rate environment. If rates have fallen, the MVA can work in your favor.

Select Choice 3-Year credits interest daily at a declared fixed rate. Rate banding applies: as of the September 2025 rate sheet, the declared rate is 4.30% for contracts below $50,000 and contracts in the $50,000–$99,999 band, and 4.55% for contracts of $100,000 or more. These rates are guaranteed for the full three-year guarantee period — they do not reset annually. At the end of the three-year period, a 30-day window opens during which you can surrender the contract or transfer the value with no surrender charge and no MVA. If you take no action within that window, the contract automatically enters a subsequent five-year guarantee period at a then-current declared rate, subject to the 1% guaranteed minimum. That automatic renewal into a longer term is worth understanding before you commit — if you miss the 30-day window, your exit options become more constrained for another five years.

The optional Waiver of Withdrawal Charge and MVA Rider — which upgrades the base Select Choice 1 contract to Select Choice 3 or 4 — is the feature that most meaningfully changes what you can do with the money during the surrender period. Without it, there is no free-withdrawal provision on the base contract. With it, you can take one withdrawal per year of up to 10% of accumulation value after year one without a surrender charge or MVA. The cost is a 0.10% reduction to your credited rate (0.20% if you also add the return-of-premium rider). Whether that trade is worth making depends on how confident you are that you will not need the money. If there is genuine uncertainty, the 0.10% cost for liquidity on a 3-year MYGA is a reasonable insurance premium. If you are confident you will not touch the money, paying for the rider is unnecessary.

Select Choice 3-Year uses a declining surrender charge schedule that starts at 7% — higher than many competing 3-year MYGAs, where opening charges of 4% to 6% are more common. Combined with the MVA, early exits can be meaningfully more expensive than the printed schedule suggests when interest rates have risen since issue. The death benefit is exempt from both the surrender charge and the MVA, which is standard. The nursing home and terminal illness waivers (available after year one, nursing home waiver not available in CA) provide additional liquidity relief for covered health events.

The 30-day penalty-free surrender window at the end of the guarantee period is the cleanest exit path. Buyers who track that window and act within it face no surrender charge and no MVA. Buyers who miss it re-commit to a five-year subsequent period.

The base contract carries no explicit annual fees. The entire cost of this product is embedded in the spread between what S.USA Life earns on its general account investments and what it credits to you. Optional riders reduce the credited rate rather than adding explicit charges: the return-of-premium rider costs 0.15%, the PFW rider costs 0.10%, and adding both costs 0.20% in total. There is no income rider, no premium bonus, and no base contract fee.

The structural tradeoffs are the MVA and the absence of a built-in free withdrawal. Both are unusual for a 3-year product where competing MYGAs often include a 10% free-withdrawal provision and some carry no MVA at all. The 7% opening surrender charge is also on the higher end for a 3-year surrender period. Buyers who are comparing several 3-year MYGAs should weigh the declared rate against these structural constraints.

Legal Entity: S.USA Life Insurance Company, Inc.

Parent: Prosperity Life Group

AM Best Rating: A-

S.USA Life is a subsidiary of Prosperity Life Group, a mid-sized insurance holding company. The A- AM Best rating sits one notch below A and well below the A+ or A++ ratings of larger national carriers. For a 3-year commitment at modest premium levels, the carrier profile is reasonable for most buyers, but those placing larger sums should verify current ratings directly with AM Best before committing.