Pennsylvania Insurance Department: Life Insurance Policy Locator’s Second Year Recovers $4.8 Million

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania, Nov. 27 -- The Pennsylvania Insurance Department issued the following news release:

Insurance Commissioner Jessica Altman today announced The Life Insurance Policy Locator, launched by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), has matched consumers with policies totaling $4,778,419 in the past 12 months. Since NAIC launched the free national locator service to make it easier to connect consumers with lost life insurance policies or annuities in November 2016, it has matched 1,546 Pennsylvania beneficiaries with $12,859,379 in life insurance benefits.

"Governor Tom Wolf's top priority for the Insurance Department is consumer protection, and the life policy locator does just that by efficiently connecting consumers with lost policies and possibly money they're owed," Altman said. "We hear often from children, siblings, and other family members about a life insurance policy a loved one took out years or decades before that has been lost. This service makes it possible in many cases to locate that policy and provide payment to beneficiaries."

Pennsylvania consumers can access the life insurance policy locator services on the Insurance Department website's life insurance page. Information is also available by calling the department's Consumer Services Bureau at 1-877-881-6388.

Governor Wolf bolstered the life insurance policy locator service by signing Act 48 in June. This law requires all companies selling life insurance policies in Pennsylvania to participate in this service. Prior to this law, insurer participation was voluntary.