Delaware Department of Insurance, NAIC Offer Nationwide Life Insurance Policy Locator Tool

DOVER, Del., Nov. 29 -- Delaware Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart issued the following news:

The Delaware Department of Insurance and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) announced a national service that provides consumers with search capabilities to help find a deceased person's lost life insurance policies and annuities.

The NAIC's Life Insurance Policy Locator provides nationwide access for assistance with finding life insurance policies and annuities. An estimated $1 billion in benefits from life insurance policies are unclaimed, according to Consumer Reports. The new tool builds on the life insurance policy locator programs developed separately in a number of states before this launch.

"Earlier this year, in response to consumer inquiries about finding lost life insurance policies and annuities, the Department started its own search service," said Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart. "Now I am happy to announce that the NAIC's new locater service gives Delawareans an additional tool to track down those lost policies."

The NAIC life insurance policy locator streamlines and simplifies the process for consumers and insurance companies. Consumer requests are encrypted and secured to maintain confidentiality. Participating insurers will compare submitted requests with available policyholder information and report all matches to state insurance departments through the locator. Companies will then contact beneficiaries or their authorized representatives.

More information on the NAIC locater service can be found at

https://eapps.naic.org/life-policy-locator/#/welcome.

Delaware's locater service may be found at

http://www.delawareinsurance.gov/services/missingpolicy.shtml.

In 2015, life insurers paid more than $74 billion in insurance policy benefits to consumers nationwide. Since 2010, state insurance regulators have investigated unclaimed life insurance benefits. To date, nearly 23 regulatory actions have resulted in returning more than $6.75 billion life insurance proceeds to U.S. consumers.

For more information, call the Department of Insurance's Consumer Hotline at 1-800-282-8611.

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