Can I Borrow On My Life Insurance? 
A permanent life insurance policy -LRB- most commonly whole life -RRB- develops cash values to enable the policy to provide a level death benefit for a level premium for the whole life . The company will allow you to borrow against those cash values . They are guaranteed in the contract . The loan does not require anything except your request . You need not complete an application . The loan need not be repaid in any scheduled way . At death the loan will be repaid which will reduce the death benefit by that amount . There are permanent policies where the cash value is not guaranteed . These are most commonly called universal life or variable life policies . While similar provisions apply there is possibility that a loan will exhaust the value of the policy in which case the policy will lapse . 