$282 loan over 23 years ago has cost me $4000

I’ve been reviewing my life insurance policies, as we lost a family member and his policy was not as expected. One of my policies seems like it’s wonky. Here are the details. The policy was purchased in the first few years of my life. I’m 48. The face value is $5000. My younger self decided to take a $282 loan, in July of 2000. At the time, I was told it would only affect my death benefit and that my dividends would cover the small interest charge and pay back a small amount of premium. I forgot about it and got on with living. Fast forward 23+ years. My policy has a current death benefit of about $4600. My loan amount is showing as $636.13. Customer service at the insurance company can’t really tell me much, as they can’t access history that old and have to put in a research request. The reason I say it cost me $4000 is that I have a twin sister who has an identical policy, which was purchased at the same time, for the same amount, but didn’t have a $282 loan taken on it. Her death benefit right now is over $8,000. I know I took the loan, and I probably signed paperwork without knowing what it meant, but I can’t for the life of me fathom how this is legal. It was such a small amount of money that I took from the policy and I honestly didn’t even think about it. Does anyone have any suggestions of anything I could do? It just seems wrong. This is a company that was tied in with my parents’ church and I thought it would be ethical and trustworthy. It’s not a fortune, but I just can’t believe this is ok.