Solution Provider, Madison Strategic Partners Group, Greater New York City Located, Serving Clients Nationwide
The first place that you can check is Policy Locator Service through the Medical Information Bureau. MIB Group, Inc is a cooperative data exchange formed by the North American life insurance industry in 1909. There is a cost associated with the search but it will return results via mail with a list of queries by insurance companies for underwriting on the search subject, from whenever they were "shopped" for insurance. Keep in mind, that this is not 100% inclusive for all insurers.
Secondly, through some sleuthing using either the above list or my following list of suggestions, you should contact the insurers on your target list, in order to verify the active policies.
Where to search:
- Credit card and bank statements: Go back through the insured's financial records and look for periodic payments to insurers, whether it be on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis. This should indicate who the insurer is/was based upon where the money is paid to.
- Banks, Credit Unions, Credit card companies: Often times, many banks, lenders and credit companies offer group policies for their account holders for as little as $1,000.00 of coverage and higher amounts based upon certain requirements. Check with these groups to see if they had offered any of these products at any point in time.
- Pay stubs/Employers and Benefits companies: Many employers offer a basic life or AD&D policy to full time employees for free as well as inexpensive group policies. Deductions for the premium payments on the group policies may be found on the insured's pay stub. However, many times, this coverage is only active when the insured is employed.
- Split Dollar/Executive Compensation plans: Some employers taking advantage of tax regulations, used life insurance to pay benefits to key employees which may have also been part of Supplemental Exec Retirement Plans (SERP). Verify with the insured's former employers if any plan existed.
- Unions, Pensions and Fraternal organizations: Many Unions and Pension funds may have a small paid-up policy on the insured as part of their benefits package. The same goes for Fraternal organizations including Knights of Columbus, Elks, Masons, etc.
Many times the search is no easy task however, after a bit of detective work and dedication, you may uncover a handful of forgotten or unknown small policies, where the cumulative benefit adds up and more than justifies the search!
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The search form is located here http://www.mib.com/lost_life_insurance.html
Secondly, through some sleuthing using either the above list or my following list of suggestions, you should contact the insurers on your target list, in order to verify the active policies.
Where to search:
- Credit card and bank statements: Go back through the insured's financial records and look for periodic payments to insurers, whether it be on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis. This should indicate who the insurer is/was based upon where the money is paid to.
- Banks, Credit Unions, Credit card companies: Often times, many banks, lenders and credit companies offer group policies for their account holders for as little as $1,000.00 of coverage and higher amounts based upon certain requirements. Check with these groups to see if they had offered any of these products at any point in time.
- Pay stubs/Employers and Benefits companies: Many employers offer a basic life or AD&D policy to full time employees for free as well as inexpensive group policies. Deductions for the premium payments on the group policies may be found on the insured's pay stub. However, many times, this coverage is only active when the insured is employed.
- Split Dollar/Executive Compensation plans: Some employers taking advantage of tax regulations, used life insurance to pay benefits to key employees which may have also been part of Supplemental Exec Retirement Plans (SERP). Verify with the insured's former employers if any plan existed.
- Unions, Pensions and Fraternal organizations: Many Unions and Pension funds may have a small paid-up policy on the insured as part of their benefits package. The same goes for Fraternal organizations including Knights of Columbus, Elks, Masons, etc.
Many times the search is no easy task however, after a bit of detective work and dedication, you may uncover a handful of forgotten or unknown small policies, where the cumulative benefit adds up and more than justifies the search!