There are almost 150,000 policies and unit trusts that have remained unclaimed. Furthermore, financial companies managed to trace owners of these unclaimed policies and investment which were only to the value of R8.1 Billion.

But why are South African’s not claiming money that is due to them?

The research revealed that many South African’s took out policies or invested in unit trusts but didn’t tell their loved ones. Others died without letting the heirs to their wealth know about it, leaving financial companies sitting on a lump sum of money. There are still 147,000 policies that have been left unclaimed leaving finance companies with R17.1 billion in unpaid policies. Therefore, it is vital for people who take out life insurance policies, funeral policies, and unit trust investments to tell their beneficiaries about it to ease the claim process.

What do financial companies do with unclaimed money?

Financial companies are held accountable by the Financial Service Board (FSB) who ensure that consumers are fairly treated. This means that companies who provide life insurance policies, funeral policies, and unit trusts are obliged to keep their promise of paying out the beneficiaries. They are obliged to search for the investors or beneficiaries for at least three years before they can list it as unclaimed. However, if a beneficiary has passed on or moved abroad without alerting the company it can make it difficult for the claims process to run smoothly.

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What can you do to make the claims process a smooth one?

The claim process is a straight forward one once you know what is needed. However, the first step is to tell your beneficiaries or a trusted loved one that you have taken out a policy so that they are aware of it. Other things to make the claim process smoother are:

• Having the necessary documents. This will differ if the policyholder has passed on naturally or by accident. The documents that required are: a fully completed claims form, a certified copy of the Death Certificate, a fully completed DHA-1663 form, a certified copy of the ID of the main life insured or of all the beneficiaries, 3 months bank statements for all beneficiaries, and a police report if the death was an unnatural death.
• Contact the company as soon as possible to process the claim. This can be tricky if the policyholder has not informed their beneficiaries about their policy. A good starting point is calling various financial companies to check if the policyholder had not taken out a policy with them to see if there is an unclaimed policy.
• Make sure that the information that you have is updated. Having detailed information in the form of payments to the alleged company or confirmation that there has been an unpaid policy can make the process smoother. This can come with a financial cost that you will have to take into consideration.

Always remember to read the fine print to your life insurance policy to have a smooth process when it comes to placing a claim. You can also speak to a financial advisor or a call centre agent to have the information clarified to you before you take out a policy.