Social Security Numbers for Life Insurance: Locating Beneficiaries Trumps Privacy Concerns
In a perfect world when the insured of a life insurance policy dies, the beneficiary soon after notifies the company and files a death claim. But what if the beneficiaries are not aware of the policy’s existence or have died themselves? Death creates a void, combined with poor planning, no executor, no immediate relatives, a lack of information. Decades may have passed since the life policy was taken out. Beneficiaries forget details, change addresses and phone numbers.
Evidently life insurance companies, at least up until a few years ago, tended not to fill the void. A good number of carriers have reached settlements in multiple states, including California, for failure to identify and pay claims for policy holders. They were exposed as having a double standard, using the social security master death file to cease payments on annuity customers who had died. That’s legitimate and in their best financial interest to stop annuity payments, but on the other side of their operations did not use the social security master file to identify deceased life insurance policy owners because it would cost them money to pay out the death benefits. Worse it allowed carriers to drain cash value out of permanent life policies and allow them to lapse when required premiums were no longer being paid.
Social Security numbers for beneficiaries depend on the state, the carrier and product. Most major life carriers, though not all, request the social security number for their term, Universal Life, IUL and participating whole life products. In the past applicants could request the social security number be waived for the beneficiary if not provided on an application, but given the more strict compliance post settlement environment, many carriers not will not allow that.
Simplified issue whole life companies, better known as burial insurance, still tends to require only the most basic information on beneficiaries. I’m surprised life companies, given the predictable results of lost policies or beneficiaries, still get away with that. For one carrier, unlike the other states, for their New York final expense application, besides name, date of birth and relation to the insurance asks for the beneficiaries address, social security number and phone number. New York sets the gold standard for consumer protection. Even though those standards are restrictively high in many aspects, it’s certainly justifiable here to help facilitate claims. Florida has recently tightened their laws.
Even if not required, provide social security numbers for all beneficiaries. Plan for the unexpected decades from now. It’s a valuable resource to help locate a beneficiary. Give as much basic information as possible, and as time passes keep the contact information up to date.
Life insurance carriers require applicants to provide social security numbers for the insured and owner of the policy. Don’t expect to get around this requirement primarily to prevent fraud and misrepresentation. Carriers do MIB, or Medical Information Board, check, and may do pharmacy prescription checks.
Licensed Agent: Sean Drummey
national producer #5534308
phone: (910) 328-0447
email: spdrummey@gmail.com