Residents can now claim uncollected millions after audit

The Indiana Attorney General’s office pinpointed more than $18 million in unclaimed insurance benefits state residents have not collected in past years.

The money was discovered by an insurance audit that brought to light more than 20,000 unreported insurance accounts, according to a press release.

These unclaimed accounts might result from unclaimed accounts, people forgetting to fill out certain details on insurance forms or people being unaware of being listed as a beneficiary on an account.

According to the release, the money comes from agreements made with four insurance companies: American International Group, John Hancock, MetLife and Prudential Financial.

So far, more than $3 million has been returned to state residents. The Attorney General’s office expects they will uncover even more unclaimed benefits as the audit proceeds.

“Indiana’s leadership in this audit process reflects our commitment to the rightful owners of unclaimed property,” Attorney General Greg Zoeller said in the release. “It’s our obligation to do what we can to seek out these types of funds and to return them to the rightful owners. The recovered money represents hundreds of unreported insurance accounts for Hoosiers, so it is very important that people go online and check for their name, their relatives, neighbors and friends’ names to determine if any of these funds belong to them or someone they know.”

State residents can check for unclaimed funds online at indianaunclaimed.gov.

“The recovered money represents hundreds of unreported insurance accounts for Hoosiers,” Zoeller said in the release.

— Colleen Sikorski