How to find unclaimed insurance money

The amount of unclaimed insurance money has been increasing. According to a report of PTI, as much as Rs 15,167 crore of policyholder's money was lying unclaimed with 23 life insurers as on March 31, 2018. Compared to this, for the year 2012-13, Rs 4,865.81 crore was the unclaimed amount for the entire industry. This is a 25 percent increase annually over the past five years in unclaimed money by policyholders. According PTI, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) data, out of the total unclaimed amount, insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is sitting on Rs 10,509 crore, while the 22 private sector insurers account for the remaining Rs 4,657.45 crore. Among the private insurers, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has 807.4 crore of unclaimed insurance claims followed Reliance Nippon Life Insurance (Rs 696.12 crore), SBI Life Insurance (Rs 678.59 crore), and HDFC Standard Life Insurance (Rs 659.3 crore). What happens to unclaimed amount?In July 2017, the Irdai had asked all insurers having unclaimed amounts of policyholders for a period of more than 10 years as on September 30, 2017 to transfer the same to the Senior Citizens' Welfare Fund (SCWF) on or before March 1, 2018. The fund shall be utilised for such schemes for the promotion of the welfare of senior citizens in line with the National Policy on Older Persons and the National Policy on Senior Citizens.Why claims go unclaimedNominees not aware of the policy: The nominees may not be aware that the policyholder had such an insurance policy or whereabouts of the policy document. Thereafter, on the death of the policyholders, the dependants may not be in a position to claim the amount. To avoid such a scenario, the nominees should not only be aware but they should also be in the know of where the policy document is. Also, make sure to update nominations in the policy.Change in address: Where the settlement of claims happens through payments made by cheque, any change in the address of the policyholder/claimants will delay the process. To avoid this, ensure that the address is updated in the insurer's records. Cheque misplaced: Cheque payments can become time-barred or misplaced leading to delays. Most insures have initiated claims payments through electronic transfer of funds, hence make sure to enrol for it in all the existing policies. For new policies issued after 2014, insurers insist on electronic transfer of funds and thus asking for blank cancelled cheque at the time of application itself. How to findIrdai had asked the life insurance companies to provide a search facility on their websites to enable policyholders or beneficiaries or dependents to find out whether any unclaimed amounts due to them are lying with these companies. Policyholders/beneficiaries are required to enter the details like policy number, PAN of the policyholder, name of the policyholder, date of birth or Aadhaar number, in a window provided on the website of the insurer to find out the unclaimed amount. The insurers have to update information regarding unclaimed amounts on their websites on a half-yearly basis.ConclusionDespite the clear guidelines by Irdai in 2014 and a strict monitoring of unclaimed amount every six months, the figures are rising. Insurers need to ensure that every amount goes to the rightful claimant at the right time as intended by the policyholder at the time of buying it. Policyholders, too, need to make sure that the family members are well aware of the policy details and their rights as nominees.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2mVLwmy