FSS: "Claim Your Dormant Personal Pensions Worth 72.8 Billion Won"

Unpaid Insurance Claims of 72.8 Billion KRW Among 370,000 Cases Investigated Over Past 2 Years
Results of Remaining Pension Inquiries Provided to 2,924 Heir Applicants
Notification Sent by Mail Only to Prevent Voice Phishing Fraud

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo Gang-wook] The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced on the 16th that it will implement a service to locate 72.8 billion KRW of 'dormant' personal pensions and directly notify heirs by mail.

According to a full survey conducted by the FSS and insurance companies on 370,000 cases that applied for the 'Heir Financial Transaction Inquiry Service' over two years from January 2017 to the end of January 2019, there were 8,777 personal pension insurance contracts held by deceased individuals among the subjects of the investigation.

In particular, 3,525 of these contracts were not claimed by heirs, and unpaid insurance benefits amounted to 72.8 billion KRW.

Accordingly, the FSS plans to notify 2,924 applicants (with unclaimed amounts totaling 72.8 billion KRW) by mail by the 18th about the personal pension insurance subscription details, unclaimed pensions, and remaining pension inquiry results.

An FSS official explained, "If the insured died before the pension payment start date, the heirs can receive the accumulated amount at the time of death (including death benefits), not the pension. Therefore, those who receive the mail notification must contact the insurance company."

Notification Only by Mail to Applicants to Prevent Voice Phishing Scams

Heirs who receive the inquiry results from the FSS can visit the relevant insurance company to file a claim. In this case, the representative heir with the consent of all heirs or all heirs themselves must visit the insurance company branch and submit documents verifying the inheritance relationship (such as a family relation certificate).

If it is difficult for the representative heir to visit, each heir can submit documents proving their inheritance share, and if verified, they can receive the pension amount corresponding to their share.

The FSS plans to notify applicants (heirs or their agents) only by mail to prevent voice phishing scams.

An FSS official stated, "We expect that by not only promoting financial consumers to voluntarily check and claim insurance benefits through the 'Heir Inquiry Service' but also proactively verifying and notifying insurance benefits, financial consumers (heirs) will be able to easily find insurance benefits that were previously difficult to claim due to lack of awareness."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.