Performance SPDA 7 review

It's a solid, straightforward MYGA from a fairly rated carrier — but "good" here depends entirely on why you're buying seven years specifically. As a standalone product, the mechanics are clean: no-load, no rider fees baked in, a full-term rate lock, and a real (if modest) chronic-illness surrender waiver. What keeps it from rating higher is that United Life isn't charging you anything extra to own the shorter version. When a 5-year and a 7-year product from the same shelf pay the identical rate, the 7-year only earns its keep if the extra duration itself is the point.

Most buyers shopping "best MYGA rate" should be comparing across carriers and durations, and on that basis this 7-year doesn't have an edge over United Life's own 5-year contract. The buyer this product actually serves is someone who has already decided they want money locked up for seven years — maybe to fill a specific rung in a maturity ladder, maybe because they expect rates to keep falling and want to lock today's yield for as long as this shelf allows without giving anything up to do it. For that buyer, paying zero premium for the extra two years is a genuine, if narrow, upside.

I think this is best for a retirement saver who already owns (or is building) a ladder of MYGAs at different maturities and specifically needs a 6-7 year rung, or someone with a strong rate-direction view who wants today's yield locked for longer without having to accept a worse rate to get it. It is not a good fit for someone comparing "which United Life MYGA pays the most" — that buyer should look at the 5-year first, since it currently pays exactly the same and asks for two fewer years of commitment and surrender exposure.

You're buying a straightforward interest-rate guarantee: United Life credits a declared rate — 4.60% under $100,000, 4.80% at $100,000 or more — for a full seven years, with no market participation, no index exposure, and no living benefit attached. The insurer, not you, takes on the reinvestment risk if rates fall during the term; you take on the opportunity cost if rates rise and you're locked in. What you are not buying is a rate premium for choosing the longer duration — that's the one thing this contract, as currently priced, does not deliver.

The core feature is the seven-year rate lock itself. United Life declares a single fixed rate at issue, banded by premium size — 4.60% for contracts under $100,000, 4.80% for contracts of $100,000 or more — and that rate is guaranteed to apply, unchanged, for all seven contract years. There's no annual reset, no index crediting, and no strategy menu to choose between; the entire product is this one declared rate. The tradeoff for that certainty is the surrender schedule: 8%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 4%, 3%, 2% across the seven years, plus a market value adjustment on withdrawals above the free amount during that period, so the guarantee only holds if you keep the money in for the full term.

The feature worth flagging here isn't a rider — it's the free-withdrawal structure, because United Life's own product profile and the shared family brochure describe it two different ways. The base contract's standard free withdrawal is the prior year's accumulated interest only, available immediately each contract year. A 10% of Account Value option can be added at issue for a 0.15% annual reduction to the credited rate, which is what turns the provision into "greater of interest or 10%." If you want meaningfully more liquidity than interest-only withdrawals, you need to elect that rider when you apply — it isn't automatic, and confirming which version you're actually being quoted is worth double-checking with the agent before you sign.

This is a seven-year commitment, and the surrender schedule reflects it: 8% in year one, stepping down by one point each year to 2% in year seven, with a market value adjustment layered on top of any withdrawal that exceeds the free amount during that window. Combined with a base free-withdrawal provision of prior-year interest only (unless you've paid the 0.15% rate reduction for the 10% option), this is not a contract to fund with money you might need access to on short notice. A nursing-home and terminal-illness waiver removes the surrender charge — not the MVA — if you're confined to a nursing home or diagnosed with a life expectancy of 12 months or less, up to $50,000 a year or $200,000 over the contract's life, though that waiver isn't available in California.

There's no annual contract fee, no mortality and expense charge, no product fee, and no administration charge — the cost structure here is genuinely no-load, and the only "fee" in the product is the 0.15% rate reduction you accept if you elect the optional 10% free-withdrawal enhancement at issue. That's a fair, transparent price for real extra liquidity, and it's worth taking if you think you might need more than interest-only access.

The bigger tradeoff isn't a line-item fee at all — it's opportunity cost. Locking seven years for the same rate as United Life's own 5-year product means the "cost" of choosing this contract over the 5-year is two extra years of surrender exposure and MVA risk with zero compensation in yield. That's not a hidden charge, but it's the single thing every buyer should weigh before choosing Performance SPDA 7 over its shorter sibling.

Legal Entity: United Life Insurance Company

Parent: Kuvare US Holdings, Inc.

A.M. Best Rating: A-