Cove
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For permanent life policy owners

Use the asset you already own

Borrow against your whole life, UL, IUL, or VUL policy’s cash value at 5-8% APR.
No credit check, no agent, funded in about a week.

Open the explorer How this works

See what your policy can do

Four quick inputs. Estimated borrowing power, rate, and impact. All in one place.

Your policy

About three minutes.

Carrier
  • Other / not sure
  • Northwestern Mutual
  • MassMutual (fixed)
  • Penn Mutual
  • Guardian
  • New York Life
Policy type
$30,000
$5K$150K
$15,000
$0up to $25,500
Policy age (optional)
What you’re considering (optional)

Showing illustrative numbers. Add your carrier and policy type for a more specific estimate.

What you can borrow

$25,500

About 85-90% of cash value, typical across carriers.

What it costs

Estimated APR
7%
Monthly interest
$88
Annual interest
$1,050

What changes

Death benefit reduction
$15,000
Cash value tied up
$15,000
Loan-to-cash-value
50%
Check my exact rateRead how this works

Three steps
About a week

We pull your
carrier’s terms

Your specific carrier’s policy loan terms: stated rate, effective cost
with Direct Recognition where it applies, and your available loan amount.

We compare it
to Cove’s rate

Same policy, same collateral, but we lend from our own balance sheet,
so the carrier doesn’t reduce your dividend.

You pick the
cheaper one

We initiate the loan and it’s funded in about a week.
Your agent isn’t involved unless you tell them.

What major carriers charge

We list rates we can verify

Carriers don’t usually surface this publicly. We do.

Northwestern Mutual (WL)
StatusDR
Stated rate5.0%
Effective (with DR)~7.0-8.0%
MassMutual (WL fixed)
StatusDR
Stated rate8.0%
Effective (with DR)8.0%
MassMutual (WL adjustable)
StatusNDR
Stated rate5.14-5.81%
Effective (with DR)same as stated
Penn Mutual (WL)
StatusDR, year-11+ offset
Stated rate6.20%
Effective (with DR)~6.2% (years 1-10)
Guardian (WL)
StatusDR
Stated rate~8.0%
Effective (with DR)8.0%
New York Life (WL)
StatusNDR
Stated rate5.33% (variable)
Effective (with DR)same as stated

Source citations at trycove.co/sources.

What you don’t see in marketing

Interest accrual
If you stop paying interest, it doesn’t disappear. It accrues against the cash value, steadily eating into the collateral behind your loan.
Lapse risk
If the accrued balance grows past your cash value, the policy can lapse and end, taking the coverage down with it.
Tax on lapse
A lapse with a loan outstanding triggers a taxable event on the accumulated gains. Avoidable with annual interest payments.
Death benefit reduction
While the loan is outstanding, the death benefit is reduced by the loan balance. Repay the loan and the full benefit returns.
Direct Recognition dividend impact
On most whole life policies, the carrier cuts the dividend on the loaned portion. It’s what makes Cove’s model worth 1-1.5% a year on DR carriers.
NDR carriers
On NDR carriers the dividend isn’t touched, so the savings from Cove’s model are minimal. We say so out loud instead of hiding it.

Questions,
answered

No. Policy loan requests go directly to your carrier's policyholder service line, and Cove can initiate the paperwork for you. Your agent isn't notified unless you choose to tell them.
Under Direct Recognition, your carrier pays a lower dividend on the slice of cash value backing a loan, so a “5%” loan can effectively cost around 7%. It's common on whole life (Northwestern Mutual, MassMutual fixed, Guardian) and absent on most UL/IUL/VUL. We surface whether your specific carrier uses it when you submit the form.
While a loan is outstanding, the death benefit is reduced by the loan balance, so your beneficiaries receive the death benefit minus what you owe. Repay the loan and the full death benefit is restored.
A Modified Endowment Contract is a policy funded faster than IRC §7702A allows. Loans from a MEC are taxed as distributions to the extent of gain, plus a possible 10% penalty if you're under 59½. Most policies sold for protection aren't MECs. Your policy schedule says so, and we flag it before you borrow.
A policy loan isn't taxable as long as the loan stays outstanding and the policy stays in force. It becomes taxable if the policy lapses or is surrendered with a loan outstanding, or if the policy is a MEC. Paying interest at least annually and watching your loan-to-cash-value ratio keeps you clear of the lapse case.
Cove lends from its own balance sheet, so your carrier never sees a loan on the policy and never reduces your dividend, worth roughly 1-1.5% a year on Direct Recognition carriers. On Non-Direct Recognition carriers the rate is similar to carrier-direct, and we say so; there the value is speed and skipping agent involvement.

Check your exact rate

We’ll pull your carrier’s specific terms. About three minutes.

TODO · Tally form

Create the rate-inquiry form at tally.so, then set NEXT_PUBLIC_TALLY_FORM_ID.

Hidden fields will carry entry=cove-policy + UTM params. No placeholder handler is wired. The form ships when the ID is set.