EXHIBIT 99.1


                                                           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


                      UNITRIN REACHES AGREEMENTS TO SETTLE
                          RACE-BASED UNDERWRITING ISSUE

CHICAGO, IL - (May 2, 2002) - Unitrin, Inc., is pleased to announce an agreement
to resolve issues relating to the use of race decades ago as a factor in the
underwriting and pricing of life insurance by certain Unitrin subsidiaries. The
agreement will provide additional benefits to African-American and other
minority policyholders with racially-underwritten policies and will resolve all
pending class action lawsuits on this issue, as well as other issues in the
litigation unrelated to race-based underwriting. The settlement provides a
minimum of $33 million in benefits to class members. The agreement was reached
with attorneys representing affected policyholders and is subject to approval by
an Alabama state court. The Unitrin subsidiaries covered by the settlement are
United Insurance Company of America, The Reliable Life Insurance Company and
Union National Life Insurance Company.

At the same time, the Company has completed a regulatory agreement with Illinois
Director of Insurance Nathaniel S. Shapo on behalf of insurance regulators
nationwide. This agreement provides for an additional $1 million of cash relief
to certain policyholders and a fine of $1.25 million to be apportioned among
participating states.

Unitrin currently estimates that the settlement and associated litigation costs
will be covered by a $48.8 million pre-tax charge ($32.4 million after-tax)
recorded in the second quarter of 2000. However, the precise cost may vary from
this charge based on a variety of factors and will not be known until a final
accounting of settlement benefits is concluded, which could be a year or more in
the future.

The long-abandoned industry practice of using race as an underwriting factor
meant that African Americans and other minorities with affected policies paid
higher premium rates than whites. This practice was based on decades-old
actuarial tables that indicated a shorter life expectancy for African Americans
as a group.

"We deeply regret that years ago, some of our companies followed the industry
practice of using race as one of several factors in determining insurance rates
and we apologize to our former and current customers for the time it took to
address this issue," said Richard C. Vie, Unitrin's Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer. "Race-based pricing is not our practice today and has not been
practiced by our companies for decades, so we are pleased to have resolved this
historic pricing issue and renew our mission to provide basic, affordable and
fairly priced insurance for all our customers."



Page Two

The proposed settlement provides relief for racially-underwritten insurance
policies by either increasing the death benefit of affected policies that are
still in force or allowing class members the option of receiving a cash refund
instead of the increased death benefit, and reducing the future premiums, if
any, that may become due on these policies. Beneficiaries or heirs of
racially-underwritten policies on which a death claim or endowment was paid will
receive a supplemental cash payment. Persons who owned racially-underwritten
policies that were premium-paying after 1960 but have since lapsed or terminated
are also eligible to make a claim for benefits.

The Company's independent actuaries estimate that approximately 300,000 policies
will automatically receive relief. These policies represent less than 3 percent
of Unitrin's life insurance business today, based on the total face amount of
in-force business.

If policyholders believe they may be affected and have questions, they can
contact the United Insurance Settlement Administration Center at 1-877-347-4719.

Unitrin's family of insurance and finance companies serves the basic financial
needs of more than 6 million policyholders and consumer finance customers in
select markets throughout the United States. Unitrin is one of America's leading
financial services providers, specializing in property and casualty, life,
health and accident insurance, as well as a variety of consumer finance
products.

This press release contains projections and other forward-looking statements,
which speak only as of the date hereof. Readers are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on such statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those
contemplated in such statements. No assurances can be given that the events or
results described in this release will occur as presently anticipated or that
these projections will be achieved. Unitrin assumes no obligation to release
publicly any revisions to forward-looking statements as a result of events or
developments subsequent to the date of this press release.




Contact: Scott Renwick
         (312) 240-2624

         Stacey Brown
         (312) 240-2719