A new insurance tool has helped thousands of Californians receive more than $11 million by locating lost insurance policies, according to the California Department of Insurance.
State officials said the Life Insurance Policy locator discovered lost or misplaced life insurance policies for 583 beneficiaries in the state. It was developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' (NAIC) and the state's insurance department in 2016.
"The Life Insurance Policy Locator was created to help beneficiaries search for lost life insurance policies and to ensure consumers receive money they are entitled to," said California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, in a statement. "This national tool has been an enormous success. I encourage everyone to use this tool to see if they are owed benefits."
Since its launch in November, the tool has matched $92.5 million with 8,210 beneficiaries across the U.S.
After the tool was created, more than 3,200 consumers in California conducted searches and over 40,000 consumers across the nation, according to the California Department of Insurance.
The tool was designed to find lost insurance policies and annuities through its search capabilities. State insurance regulators have investigated unclaimed life insurance benefit payments since 2010.
According to the state's insurance department, life insurers paid more than $74 billion to consumers nationwide in 2015 as a result of insurance policy benefits.
