RM327 million in insurance money lying unclaimed
6 July 2017 Print page
Policy holders have been urged to update their personal details and sign up for an e-payment system as otherwise their unclaimed money will be sent to the Registrar of Unclaimed Money.
PETALING JAYA: Have you forgotten that old life insurance policy that has now matured?
If so, your money may be part of the RM327 million in life insurance policies that has not been claimed in the past five years.
According to the Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM), this is the amount of money available from policies that have matured but remain unclaimed.
Last year alone, about RM64 million was submitted by LIAM member companies to the Registrar of Unclaimed Money which is under the Accountant-General’s Department, according to a report in The Star.
LIAM said this was the total value of “516,728 matured life insurance policies (that) have been forgotten by the policyholders and their beneficiaries”.
To overcome this problem LIAM suggests that policyholders sign up for an e-payment system by providing an active bank account number to their life insurance companies.
“Once an e-payment account has been set up, insurance companies will transfer their maturity proceeds, claims payments and dividends into their bank accounts.”
Policyholders should update their personal details, especially contact numbers.
The Unclaimed Monies Act 1965 says companies must submit a record to the registrar by the end of March every year, detailing unclaimed amounts from the previous year.
The Star quoted LIAM as saying almost all these policyholders were unreachable, mostly because of outdated contact information.
It said: “Mandatory submission as per the law is usually one year after the cheques issued in their names are returned and all efforts to contact the claimants have failed.”
But after insurance companies submit unclaimed money to the registrar, no further attempts are made to contact the policyholders or beneficiaries.
PETALING JAYA: Have you forgotten that old life insurance policy that has now matured? If so, your money may be part of the RM327 million in life insurance policies that has not been claimed in the past five years. According to the Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM), this is the amount of money available from policies that have matured but remain unclaimed. Last year alone, about RM64 million was submitted by LIAM member companies to the Registrar of Unclaimed Money which is under the Accountant-General’s Department, according to a report in The Star. LIAM said this was the total value of “516,728 matured life insurance policies (that) have been forgotten by the policyholders and their beneficiaries”. To overcome this problem LIAM suggests that policyholders sign up for an e-payment system by providing an active bank account number to their life insurance companies. “Once an e-payment account has been set up, insurance companies will transfer their maturity proceeds, claims payments and dividends into their bank accounts.” Policyholders should update their personal details, especially contact numbers. The Unclaimed Monies Act 1965 says companies must submit a record to the registrar by the end of March every year, detailing unclaimed amounts from the previous year. The Star quoted LIAM as saying almost all these policyholders were unreachable, mostly because of outdated contact information. It said: “Mandatory submission as per the law is usually one year after the cheques issued in their names are returned and all efforts to contact the claimants have failed.” But after insurance companies submit unclaimed money to the registrar, no further attempts are made to contact the policyholders or beneficiaries.
Source : http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2017/07/05/rm327-million-in-insurance-money-lying-unclaimed/