Cap rates, lawsuits and illustration rules, dated

Cap rates on the board

These rows come from rate guides that insurers publish for the public, and each one carries the date printed on the sheet. A cap is the most a strategy can credit for one period. The insurer can move it for new money at any time, down to the guaranteed minimum it lists. Any row older than 90 days is tagged, because a sheet that old may already be replaced.

Current rates apply to new money and the insurer can change them. The asterisk marks a rate that is not guaranteed. Sources, Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, Guide to current rates M-8871 (R-11/2026) dated November 3, 2026; Nationwide Life and Annuity Insurance Company, IUL Rate Guide FLM-1737AO (03/26) dated March 7, 2026. Each sheet opened November 10, 2026. Only documents the insurer publishes for consumers are used.

Two kinds of document never reach this board. One is a sheet an insurer marks for agents or financial professionals only. The other is a broker's rate sheet. When a rate exists only in one of those, the row stays off until the insurer prints it for consumers. The full tracker, with the source document for every row, is on the cap rate page.

Case file, latest first

Most IUL lawsuits turn on what the buyer was shown, the illustration and the sales material, or on how the premiums were paid for. Each entry below comes from a trade press report we opened, dated by its latest event. What a complaint says is an allegation until a court rules or the parties settle.

1. September 16, 2026Verdict vacated

   Idaho Supreme Court ruling for Pacific Life

   Idaho's highest court vacated a $1.5 million negligence verdict against Pacific Life, tied to an outside product a producer sold that later proved to be a Ponzi scheme.

   Pacific Life Insurance Company. Reported by Insurance Business, September 18, 2026. Read the report

2. May 7, 2026Settled, $58.3 million, final approval granted

   Pacific Discovery Xelerator class action

   The court approved the settlement after the May 7, 2026 final hearing. In-force California PDX owners get a credit from a $33 million fund, and former owners could apply for term coverage.

   Pacific Life Insurance Company. Reported by OpenClassActions, July 30, 2026. Read the report

3. April 27, 2026Allegations, case open

   Premium financed IUL suit over an Iowa farm

   The complaint alleges a farm family bought $23 million in coverage through Ameritas and Pacific Life by 2014, with annual premiums topping $2.5 million.

   Ameritas and Pacific Life. Reported by InsuranceNewsNet, April 27, 2026. Read the report

4. February 27, 2026Settled, terms confidential

   Kyle Busch v. Pacific Life

   The parties reached a confidential settlement in a suit claiming more than $10.4 million in premiums paid, and each side bears its own fees and costs.

   Pacific Life Insurance Company. Reported by InsuranceNewsNet, February 27, 2026. Read the report

5. January 30, 2026Ruling for the insurer, complaint refiled

   Proprietary index suit over the US Pacesetter Index

   After a January 2026 ruling for National Life on the contract, deception and racketeering claims, the policyholder refiled, adding a Massachusetts consumer protection claim over an index that did not exist before December 2021.

   Life Insurance Company of the Southwest (National Life Group). Reported by Insurance Business, January 30, 2026. Read the report

The full list, with a page for each case people search for by name, is in the lawsuit registry.

Rule changes that reach your illustration

An IUL illustration is a projection, not a promise, and since 2015 a model guideline from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, known as AG 49, has limited how rosy it can look. The guideline has been revised several times since. The dates below decide which version applies to a given policy, so the sale date printed on an illustration matters.

• 2015, AG 49 adopted to make index-linked illustrations uniform
• December 14, 2020, start of the AG 49-A sales window
• May 1, 2023, tighter limits for sales on or after
• November 13 and December 11, 2025, revision adopted
• April 1, 2026, revision applies to sales on or after

For policies sold on or after April 1, 2026, the guideline text says neither the basic illustration nor a supplemental one may show historical returns beyond the ones the rule itself requires. For policies sold before that date, a ledger at the lower alternate scale had to appear beside the illustrated ledger with equal prominence. One rule has applied since AG 49-A took effect for sales on or after December 14, 2020. When an illustration includes a loan, the rate it credits on borrowed value may not run more than 0.50 points above the loan interest rate it shows.

How a credit is set

1. Step 1

   Charges come out first

   Pacific Life's consumer brochure says cash value is reduced by policy charges and by any loans, withdrawals and other distributions. Those charges are taken in every year, including a year the index credits nothing.

2. Step 2

   The index change is measured

   For a one-year point-to-point strategy, the insurer compares the index at the start and the end of the segment year. The policy never owns the index. Allianz's rate guide says plainly that you cannot buy or receive dividends from any of the indexes through the policy.

3. Step 3

   Cap, floor and participation apply

   Nationwide's March 7, 2026 guide for IUL Accumulator III lists its one-year S&P 500 strategy at 100% participation, a 10.50% cap and a 0% floor. An index gain of 20% would credit 10.50%. A loss would credit 0%, and the charges in step 1 would still come out.

Play with those three numbers in the chart at the top of this page. The cap and the participation rate are the insurer's to change for new money, which is why every rate here is dated.

Start where you are

Four common situations, each with the page to read first. Where that page is still being checked against its sources, the card opens a short request for a licensed agent instead.

• I was just pitched an IULCheck the pitch against the documents before you sign anything.
• I have an illustration in handSee which columns are guaranteed and which assume a rate that can change.
• I own a policy that is slippingAsk for an in-force projection and test the loan and lapse math.
• I run a businessPremium financing and bonus plans, with the exit questions asked first.

The market in one number

LIMRA credits broader distribution, newer products and a strong equity market. That growth is why so many people now hear an IUL pitch from a friend, a recruiter or a video, and why a dated record of what the documents say is worth keeping.

How this desk works

• Consumer documents onlyRates come from guides and brochures insurers publish for the public, each with its form number and date. Agent-only sheets are left out even when they are easy to find.
• Both columns, alwaysEvery illustration we request for a reader is run at the insurer's illustrated rate and again at a lower rate, so the weaker outcome is on the table too.
• Allegations labeledCase entries say who reported them and when, and a claim in a complaint is called a claim.
• Paid by the insurerIf you buy through our licensed agents, the insurer pays our agency a commission. You pay no fee. How we are paid

Read our editorial standards for how sources are chosen, dated and corrected.