Life Insurance Policy Locator Returns $17M To Consumers

DENVER, April 10 -- The National Association of Insurance Commissioners issued the following news release:

The NAIC's Life Insurance Policy Locator is benefitting U.S. consumers as state insurance regulators work to reduce the number of unclaimed life insurance benefits. In just six months, the policy locator has matched nearly 1,800 beneficiaries with lost or misplaced life insurance policies or annuities, totaling more than $17 million returned to consumers, as of April 1.

"This tool is connecting consumers with lost, unknown or unclaimed benefits," said Ted Nickel, NAIC President and Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner. "Strong results in our first few months of this project show just how important this locator is to consumers. We expect these numbers to grow as more consumers learn about this tool."

The policy locator has generated 15,333 requests since its national launch in November. The NAIC developed the locator in 2016 to provide search capabilities to help find a deceased person's life insurance policies and annuities.

Since 2010, state insurance regulators have investigated unclaimed life insurance benefit payments. In 2015, life insurers paid more than $74 billion in insurance policy benefits to consumers nationwide. To date, nearly 25 regulatory actions have resulted in returning more than $7.3 billion life insurance proceeds to U.S. consumers.