A notice, similar to the following is published by Insurance Ireland in September each year and can also be found on their website, www.insuranceireland.eu.
Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies Notice
- Under the terms of the Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies Act 2003, life assurance companies are required to identify policies where there has been no recent communication from the policy holder and to designate them as unclaimed policies.
- A policy is unclaimed where premiums are no longer being paid and an amount is payable to the policy holder* and where:
- In the case of a fixed term policy which matured at least 5 years ago, there has been no written communication from the policy holder since the policy matured, OR
- In the case of a policy which matured at least 5 years ago, there has been no written communication from the policy holder for at least 15 years, OR
- In the case of personal pension policies (i.e. those not linked to an employer’s pension scheme), 5 years have elapsed, without communication, since the latest retirement date contained in the policy
- Life Assurance companies are required to contact holders of unclaimed policies to ascertain their wishes in respect of the policy, eg. to receive money due or to continue/reactivate the policy (if permitted by the policy conditions). Once written instructions are received from the customer, the policy will be removed from the unclaimed list.
- Life Assurance companies are not required to write to holders of unclaimed policies where (a) the value of the policy is less than €500 or (b) the company has been instructed not to correspond with or contact the policyholder, or (c) the company has tried but failed to contact the customer. In such cases, the advertisement serves as a notice of the Act’s provisions.
- Where there has been no communication from the customer by 31st March 2013, the net encashment value of the policy will be transferred to the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) which will manage the funds on behalf of the State.
- The rights of policy owners are unaffected by the transfer of moneys to the NTMA. Policies may be reclaimed from the insurance company by following the procedures outlined in the leaflet A Guide to Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies, available at all insurance companies or from www.insuranceireland.eu.
- If you have any queries or concerns regarding a policy which you believe may be classified as unclaimed, please contact your insurer**
- Where the original owner of the policy has died or ownership of the policy has been transferred, any person having a valid legal interest in an unclaimed policy e.g. heirs, executors, administrators or assignees should contact the relevant insurer.
- Individuals who make fraudulent claims may be guilty of an offence.
*This does not apply to a policy which constitutes or forms part of the assets of an occupational pension scheme, other retirement benefit scheme or trust, a group permanent health insurance or disability benefit scheme, a sponsored superannuation scheme
**If the branch or insurance company that initiated your policy no longer exists please log on to the Insurance Ireland website at www.insuranceireland.eu which contains contact number of individual companies or telephone Insurance Ireland on (01) 6761914. Further information is available in our leaflet ‘
New Ireland Home Service policies
Home Service policies are Industrial Branch business sold between 1919 and 1999. In accordance with the provisions of the Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies Act 2003 when a policy becomes unclaimed in accordance with the Act, New Ireland write to Home Service policy holders to remind them that they have a sum assured or an unclaimed cash value which may be payable to them and to ascertain their wishes in respect of their policy. Often we don’t receive a reply – the policyholder may have moved address or passed away. We hope that by including this information on our website we can help policyholders, or their personal representatives, reunite with the benefit of their Home Service policy.
Reuniting customers with unclaimed funds is important to us because if we cannot, we are required to pay the value of unclaimed policies to the National Treasury Management Agency.
Do you recognise this document? This may mean that you, or a member of your family, have a New Ireland Home Service Policy. We’re here to help. Please contact us on 01-7039948 if you have any queries.
