3.8 Trillion Won in Unclaimed Insurance Benefits Recovered Last Year... 12 Trillion Won Still Unclaimed

[Asia Economy, reporter Song Hwajeong] Last year, the amount of unclaimed insurance benefits recovered by consumers reached 3.8 trillion won.

On June 15, the Financial Services Commission announced that, thanks to proactive efforts by the government and the insurance industry, consumers recovered approximately 3.8351 trillion won in unclaimed insurance benefits across 1,266,000 cases in 2021.

By insurance sector, life insurance companies returned about 3.5233 trillion won (943,000 cases), while non-life insurance companies returned 311.8 billion won (323,000 cases). By type of benefit, 1.9703 trillion won was interim insurance benefits, 1.5729 trillion won was maturity insurance benefits, 264.3 billion won was dormant insurance benefits, and 27.6 billion won was death insurance benefits.

However, as of the end of last year, around 12.3431 trillion won in unclaimed insurance benefits remained unrecovered by consumers. This includes approximately 8.54 trillion won in interim insurance benefits, about 3.16 trillion won in maturity insurance benefits, and about 640 billion won in dormant insurance benefits.

Unclaimed insurance benefits refer to insurance payouts that have been confirmed as payable under the terms of a policy but have not been claimed or paid. This includes interim insurance benefits, maturity insurance benefits, and dormant insurance benefits. There are various reasons why unclaimed insurance benefits occur, such as the policyholder being unaware that a claimable event has occurred, or mistakenly believing that not claiming the benefit will automatically result in a higher interest rate. To address this, in 2017, the Financial Services Commission and the insurance industry launched the "Find My Insurance" platform, which allows consumers to view all their insurance policies and the amount of unclaimed benefits in one place. In addition, with cooperation from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, a "Find My Hidden Insurance Campaign" is being conducted, sending notification letters to the most recent registered addresses of all policyholders with unclaimed insurance benefits. The campaign also provides information on death insurance benefits that have not been claimed due to the beneficiary being unaware of the policyholder’s death, as well as unclaimed retirement pensions for employees of businesses that have closed or gone bankrupt.

The Financial Services Commission and the insurance industry plan to continue efforts to help consumers recover remaining unclaimed insurance benefits by sending notification letters and expanding the claim services available through the "Find My Insurance" platform.

First, starting in August, notification letters regarding unclaimed insurance benefits will be sent using resident registration data from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. These letters will be sent to the most recent addresses of both holders of unclaimed insurance benefits and beneficiaries of death insurance benefits who have not yet filed a claim.

Additionally, the system will be improved so that beneficiaries can file a one-stop claim for not only unclaimed insurance benefits held by insurance companies but also dormant insurance benefits managed by the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency, all through the "Find My Insurance" platform.