life insurance beneficiaries Archives

What You Need to Know Before Using Your Life Insurance Policy as Collateral

February 5, 2020February 4, 2020 Logan B.

Putting up your life insurance policy as collateral first requires an understanding of what collateral assignment entails. By assigning any asset of yours as loan collateral, you’re legally pledging to give lenders proportional legal ownership of those assets in the event that you default on your loan. Life Insurance as Collateral 101 In short, putting up your life insurance policy as collateral on a loan means that you need to be ready to lose it in the event that you can’t pay your loan back. Before anything else, you need…

Life insurance companies in Illinois owe $7.5 billion to unknowing beneficiaries

June 23, 2017June 21, 2017 Marc

Many insurers are keeping the money owed to beneficiaries who have no idea they’re entitled to a payout. Life insurance companies across the country are struggling with the issue of tracking down beneficiaries owed death benefits. While some states have very strict and specific laws about insurer practices in these situations, others make it possible for insurers to admittedly keep the owed money. In Illinois, this problem has risen to several billions of dollars owed to beneficiaries but kept by insurers. The practice has meant that life insurance companies aren’t…

Life insurance companies must try harder to locate beneficiaries

July 20, 2016July 18, 2016 Marc

States say insurers should be making a greater effort to find heirs to ensure payments are being made. Life insurance companies have paid beneficiaries billions of dollars in unclaimed policy payouts. That said, if many states are successful, it could mean that even more beneficiaries will be receiving funds. Certain state actions aim to force insurance providers to make a greater effort to locate heirs. Almost two dozen states have passed laws pushing life insurance companies to look for policy beneficiaries. Among them, Illinois has become the most recent state…

Pennsylvania fines life insurance companies for partial benefits payments

August 20, 2015August 19, 2015 Julie Campbell

The state has been slapping insurers with penalties for failing to offer a full payout to beneficiaries. Pennsylvania has started implementing a crackdown on life insurance companies that have been discovered to be failing to pay out full benefits to the beneficiaries of policies soon after those policy owners have died. So far in 2015, the state has recovered $70.4 million for almost 4,300 beneficiaries in Pennsylvania. This is all a part of a broader effort by the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance, which involves a number of other states, as…

Casey Kasem Life insurance battle is now headed to court

November 4, 2014November 1, 2014 Julie Campbell

The war within the legendary radio personality’s family over his estate will now be settled in the courtroom. The fights between the children and the second wife and widow of radio legend Casey Kasum (who died in the summer of 2014) didn’t start with the raging disagreements over his estate and the massive life insurance check that comes with it, but those are the latest issues being faced, and they are now headed to court to allow the legal system to try to figure them out. The life policy carried…

Life insurance settlements in California reach $763 million

June 11, 2013June 8, 2013 G. Turner

So far, there have been 11 insurers that have joined into the multistate agreement to pay. According to John Chiang, the California State Controller, there have been 11 life insurance companies that have now signed the multistate settlements for unpaid benefits of up to $763 million. These settlements were the result of a half decade investigation conducted by Mr. Chiang and his team. This investigation looked into the compliance that the life insurance industry has maintained with the unclaimed property laws in California. What his research revealed was that companies…

Life insurance law in Vermont drives insurers to pay

June 6, 2013June 4, 2013 Julie Campbell

Companies in the state were not adequately seeking beneficiaries are now paying out. Auditors in Vermont have determined that many of the life insurance companies in the state were not being adequately aggressive to seek out the beneficiaries of policyholders that had died, and steps have now been taken to remedy that trend. This has meant that many beneficiaries were not receiving the payments that were due to them. A number of large life insurance companies in Vermont, such as Lincoln Financial, Prudential, and AIG, have each reached settlements with…