Seanad debates
Wednesday, 12 February 2003
Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies Bill 2002: Second Stage.
As I read it, the only requirement under this Bill is for the assurance company to contact a policyholder or the heirs of a policyholder at one point only – five years after the policy matures. There is no requirement upon the assurance company to contact the policyholder at any time before the policy matures, as there should be, and there is clearly no responsibility upon the assurance company to contact the policyholders or their heirs for a full five years, or in some cases, 15 years, after the policy matures. Apart from anything else, this means that the assurance company has the benefit of that policy and the funds that accrue from it for a period of five or 15 years. It is almost certain under the terms of the policy that they would not have to pay out interest on foot of that, so they basically pocket the money and presumably hope that, in many cases, nobody turns up.
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