Controller Announces Unclaimed Life Insurance Policy Search
Targeted News Service |
State Controller
"This new search tool will help policyholders and the families of deceased policyholders quickly claim life insurance benefits that have been wrongfully withheld by insurers for far too long," said Chiang. "These policies were originally purchased to provide peace of mind and financial security to loved ones. With this search engine, the mailing of over one hundred thousand notices, and an expanded locater unit, I aim to ensure that every dollar is paid and delivered."
Controller Chiang's audits of national insurance company practices, which started in 2008, revealed an industry-wide practice of companies failing to pay death benefits to beneficiaries. Often, companies would draw down the cash value of the life insurance policy to continue paying premiums, even when they knew or should have known the policyholder had died and the beneficiaries should be paid. Once the cash reserves were depleted, the policies would then be canceled - without notifying the policyholder or their family members.
To protect life insurance policyholders and their beneficiaries, Chiang has led the national effort to end this practice. To date, Controller Chiang has reached global settlements with 19 life insurance companies. These agreements require the insurers to restore the full value of impacted accounts dating back to 1995, comply with the state's unclaimed property laws, and cooperate with the Controller's efforts to reunite millions of dollars in death benefits with their policyholders or their beneficiaries. These 19 life insurance companies have agreed to restore an estimated
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Since
The full unclaimed property database search is available at claimit.ca.gov.
For more news, please follow the Controller on Twitter at @CAController (https://twitter.com/CAController), and on Facebook at California State Controller's Office (https://www.facebook.com/pages/California-State-Controllers-Office/137732083043662).
Read a version of this press release in Spanish (http://www.sco.ca.gov/15500.html).
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