"More Profit the Longer You Wait?"... Unclaimed Insurance Money Exceeds 9 Trillion Won

Kang Ming-guk "Customized Guidance System Must Be Established"

The amount of 'unclaimed insurance money' that policyholders have not collected has been identified to exceed 9 trillion won. There are calls for insurance companies and financial authorities to actively return unpaid insurance money such as mid-term, maturity, and dormant insurance payments.

According to data requested by Kang Min-guk, a member of the People Power Party, from the Financial Supervisory Service on the 7th, the total unpaid insurance money by domestic insurance companies was recorded at 9.122544 trillion won (2,907,549 cases) as of the end of August.

Unpaid insurance money refers to insurance funds held by insurance companies because the policyholder has not claimed the payment despite the occurrence of a reason to receive the insurance money. Often, policyholders do not receive notification of payment due to changes in address or contact information, or they neglect to claim the money due to the misconception that interest will always accrue if they delay. Typically, for products with maturity, about half of the agreed interest rate is applied for one year from maturity, and no interest is added after three years post-maturity, so there is no need for policyholders to leave the insurance money unclaimed.

Among unpaid insurance money, mid-term insurance payments were the largest at 5.3631 trillion won (903,662 cases). This was followed by accident installment insurance payments at 1.8225 trillion won (482,994 cases), maturity insurance payments at 1.1658 trillion won (265,188 cases), dormant insurance payments at 682.6 billion won (955,729 cases), and dividends at 88.4 billion won (300,021 cases).

By sector, unpaid insurance money in the life insurance industry accounted for 8.6956 trillion won (2,399,351 cases), representing 95.3% of the total. Dongyang Life Insurance had the largest amount at 1.3995 trillion won (246,332 cases), followed by Heungkuk Life Insurance at 1.2244 trillion won (136,840 cases), Samsung Life Insurance at 1.2098 trillion won (389,611 cases), Hanwha Life Insurance at 1.0829 trillion won (555,375 cases), and Shinhan Life Insurance at 1.0069 trillion won (198,248 cases).

Representative Kang stated, "The fact that unclaimed insurance money has exceeded 9 trillion won indicates a lack of methods and efforts by insurance companies to pay out insurance money." He added, "Insurance companies should establish a customized unpaid insurance payment notification system by age group, and the Financial Supervisory Service should strengthen guidance to ensure that insurance companies secure accurate customer information and that notifications related to unpaid insurance money are properly delivered to policyholders and others."