BANGALORE: Good news for insurance customers and nominees of deceased policyholders! Now,they will be able to access details of their unclaimed amounts on the websites of insurance companies from early next year, reports The Economic Times. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority have issued a revised circular on the procedure for allowing policyholders or their nominees to access details of unclaimed amounts on insurers' websites. It will also include death benefits, maturity proceeds, premium due for refund and indemnity claims that have been unclaimed for over six months.

Initially it was organized that the, insurers were supposed to offer this facility from April this year. But they have been granted additional time till January 31, 2015 to upload the information as on December 31, 2014. Also the details will be updated in April and October every year.

 "The move is pro-consumer and puts the onus of helping the customer get the unclaimed amount with least amount of delay on insurers. The various clauses ensure that insurance companies need to do their best to return policyholders' money," said Suresh Sadagopan, certified financial planner and founder, Ladder7 Financial Advisories.

Insurers are asked by IRDA to provide a facility on their portals to ascertain 'whether any unclaimed amounts due to them are lying with the insurer'. The details you have to enter include policyholder's name, date of birth, permanent account number (PAN) and the policy number. While providing the name and date of birth will be mandatory, other details can be treated as optional fields. After authenticating the information, the insurer will start the process of disbursing the amount.