It is just a shame that money owed to some beneficiaries of lost insurance policies never get to them during their lifetimes. I spoke with some representatives of insurance companies, to see how many, on a daily basis, get phone calls from the public, asking them to search their database for insurance policies. I had one company say 100's a day. I had another company tell me 1000's a day and they even elaborated that it was a total waste of the consumer's time as well as resources and man power of his company. He said that they will never find it if they do not know which company their loved one bought it from. Well, I took this opportunity to explain the need of a central life insurance database to him; telling him that it is a safe and a much needed service. He listened to me for around 10 minutes while I explained the many benefits a central database could have to his insurance customers. Even with him telling me that it was a waste of time for anyone calling his company, he did not want anything to do with the thought of a database. He flatly told me that he did not feel a database was a benefit to his customers, I was surprised.

Now as a insurance agent myself, I took offense to this comment. Isn't it the responsibility of the agent (regardless of the company they work for) to do what is best for the customer? Don't you think that registering anyone with life insurance on a central database so their beneficiaries can locate the company name is the best thing for the customer? Well I do. Not only does a database allow an individual to register the company name they have insurance with, it allows the beneficiary with certainty to find the policy you have in place. All an individual would need, to find a life insurance policy, is the company name. Since there are over 2000 life insurance companies in the United States alone, having the company name on a central database will solve a major problem that gets recognized only when it is too late; lost life insurance policies. Hopefully consumers of life insurance will also recognize the need and buy it from agents and agencies that offer to register on a free central database. It is definitely something to think about.