A friend of mine gave my number to a man named Tarun. Tarun said over the phone that Annapita had been working for a well-known company in Mumbai for many years and was receiving a monthly pension after retirement as part of a group annuity scheme. The mother was receiving a pension as a legal heir after her father died four years ago. Last year the pension suddenly stopped and the tension started. At that time, the teenager found out that the pension would be resumed only if a life certificate was issued proving that the mother was still alive. However, this was not an easy task. Tarun said on the phone that he had no information about the annuity policy. The company where her father worked had closed down a few years ago and the teenager’s mother did not remember what documents she had signed for the pension.
We talked in the last article about some of the important aspects to keep in mind when it comes to insurance claims. Let’s move on to that today.
1) Group annuity policy is taken by the employer. Since this policy is taken by the employer, the employees do not pay much attention to it. Employees are only interested in their own salaries and allowances. Groups usually pay no attention to insurance. That is why a situation arises in the family of a teenager. The big question is how to submit a life certificate when there is no policy number or any other information.
The lesson to be learned from this case is that the employer should take note of all the details related to the insurance whenever it is offered. It should contain information such as group insurance policy number, insurance company, person to contact the insurance company, name-number of some other associates with the benefit, details of the branch from which the policy has been taken. If the amount of annuity is received after retirement, all the details about it should be given to the spouse and children.
2) Nowadays, it has become common for children to live abroad and parents to live in the country. Geographical distances no longer have much effect, but in some formalities the distances become a hindrance. The insurance process is different in every country. Most parents do not inform their children about the insurance policy, as the children are busy educating and the insurance side is left out. However, there are often cases where it becomes difficult to make a claim without insurance information if both the children are young and both the parents have died for some reason. Also, if no one in the household knows about the insurance, the children may be deprived of the benefits even though the parents have insurance.
In one case of children living abroad, it happened that no one knew about the policy of the parents. Suddenly, while inspecting the house, he found a receipt for the insurance premium. He did a lot of research and found the policy. However, it took a lot of time for the children to do all this and it was too late for them to start their own business abroad. Thus, whether the children are in the country or abroad, they should have all the information about the whole family insurance policy. If someone has taken out a policy through an insurance consultant, everyone should also have their contact number. In addition KYC documents of all the family members, original copy of the policy, all the details of the investment should be handy.