Got a call this morning from the daughter of one of our agency's long-time clients. In addition to his auto and home, my long-since-retired colleague had written a life insurance policy for him. As the official "Life/Health guy," it fell to me to get the ball rolling on the claim, so I called the carrier's home office to get that started.
The first question I always ask is "is the policy in force?" That is, is it still active and thus able to be paid out. The answer is almost always "yes," and then I start asking about beneficiaries, face amounts and the like.
So I was a bit startled when the customer service rep said "no, that policy was cancelled at the insured's request."
Whoa.
In fact, the cancellation request came in almost exactly a year ago. Of course, unless he was being treated for a terminal illness at the time, it seems unlikely that the insured knew that this was, perhaps, premature. I have no idea why he cancelled the plan; perhaps he had adequate coverage with another agent, or it had grown unaffordable, or some other reason. All I know is that it's now my sad duty to let his daughter know that there's going to be no payout from that policy.
'Tis a shame.
The first question I always ask is "is the policy in force?" That is, is it still active and thus able to be paid out. The answer is almost always "yes," and then I start asking about beneficiaries, face amounts and the like.
So I was a bit startled when the customer service rep said "no, that policy was cancelled at the insured's request."
Whoa.
In fact, the cancellation request came in almost exactly a year ago. Of course, unless he was being treated for a terminal illness at the time, it seems unlikely that the insured knew that this was, perhaps, premature. I have no idea why he cancelled the plan; perhaps he had adequate coverage with another agent, or it had grown unaffordable, or some other reason. All I know is that it's now my sad duty to let his daughter know that there's going to be no payout from that policy.
'Tis a shame.
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