Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) latest report suggests unclaimed insurance money is lying with all the 23 Insurance Companies which amounts for Rs.15,167 crore and has been growing by 25% annually over the past five years. Life Insurance Corporation(LIC) has about Rs.10,509 crore while the balance is with the other insurance companies like ICICI Pru, SBI Life ,HDFC Life and Reliance which are amongst the top companies with unclaimed insurance money.
Unclaimed Insurance Money is the amount that becomes due because the claims with respect to death, Money back, maturity, premium refund, premium deposit but not adjusted against policy or indemnity are not claimed. The same remained unclaimed for 6 months or beyond from the date of claim due date.
The main reason attributed to this money
1. Lack of awareness amongst the policyholder and the family- The policyholder failed to share the investment details with the family and the nominee.
2. Change of address of the policyholder- Insurance Company is not updated with the change of address and hence all communication going to old address.
3. Paid few premiums and then stopped paying- Customer does not know what to do and just ignores
4. Loss of policy documents- The family lost the policy documents so have no idea of the investment
How to claim your money?
In order to claim the unclaimed insurance money hassle-free, IRDA had directed all the insurers (life and non-life) to provide the details of unclaimed insurance money on their websites.
Go to the Insurance company website and you need to provide the following information to check if the company has your money
- Policy number (optional)
- Policyholder’s name (required)
- Date of birth of Policyholder (required)
- PAN card number (optional)
