You'd be surprised how many calls we receive each month asking us to please check our records to see if somebody's parent or sibling by any chance had a life insurance policy with Pinnacle Life. The conversation goes something like this ... " We think our dad/mum/brother may have had a life insurance policy, but we’re not sure which company he had the policy with, and we have no access to his bank account records... can you help?"
Of-course trying to help these poor souls is in itself a challenge given the privacy and data protection act we are obliged to adhere to. All too often this gets confused with "Ah typical insurance companies.. take your money month after month, but when claim time comes, everybody hides". It’s very hard to take an anonymous call, and on the basis of a sob story, search your database to see if one can get a name / d.o.b match. The search is not hard, it’s the validity in doing the search, and then having to inform the desperate caller that you're very limited in what sort of information you can reveal if a match is found.
While buying life insurance there’s another important step to take after purchasing a life insurance policy before you can consider the job of protecting your family done: You need to share this important information with your beneficiary (your spouse, your children, a sibling, a business partner — whoever you’ve designated on your policy).
It’s vital to tell that person or persons not only that you’ve taken out a policy, but also which life insurance company is holding it. Without this critical knowledge, your beneficiary may not be able reach the insurer to submit a claim.
