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Life Insurance Policy Locator finds millions for Delaware users

State of Delaware

Delaware’s Department of Insurance released new data this week about local use of the Life Insurance Policy Locator.

 

Delaware made the Life Insurance Policy Locator available in November of 2016.

 

And since then Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro says it has found millions dollars for beneficiaries, “This is a tool that can be used by people when someone passes; it’s free. And we’ve had tremendous success with this program; it has been almost four years now and during that time period we’ve recovered over $3.5 million for people who otherwise may not have had an opportunity or a mechanism to find policies that benefited folks who were due.”

 

Navarro explains that requests are submitted by a beneficiary, executor, or legal representative - and then a National Association of Insurance Commissioners liaison asks participating companies to search their records to identify any matching policies or annuity contracts. 

Navarro notes Delaware has logged 1,116 requests - with 387 matches found - a match rate of nearly 35%, “When you think about it - when people purchase life insurance - something really that’s not tangible - it’s something that really doesn’t help a person until they pass on. And then you know, the premise is to help their families.”

 

Navarro says it’s especially useful when someone dies and there is no will or detailed plan for the family’s financial future.

 

He says it allows a family to easily find out if a life insurance policy or annuity contract exists and claim it, “There’s a couple of ways we can help consumers. They can simply call our office at (302) 674-7300 and we can do it for them; and we have done that - time and time again. They can also go on our website to access the tool.

 

Navarro adds that $1,071,516 was claimed in 2019 alone - and in the past five months successful searches have turned up $402,574 for beneficiaries.

 
 

Kelli Steele has over 30 years of experience covering news in Delaware, Baltimore, Winchester, Virginia, Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California.