Quotacy is always here to answer your life insurance questions. One of the most commonly asked questions we receive is: How can I find out if someone purchased life insurance on me without my knowledge? You should feel relieved knowing that it is nearly impossible to purchase life insurance on someone without their consent.
Life insurance companies implement a number of obstacles in order to prevent insurance fraud.
These obstacles include:
- Application questions – When applying for life insurance, there are certain questions that the insurance company uses to verify identity. These questions include:
- Full name
- Street address
- Social Security number
- Driver’s license number
- Employer information
- Signatures – All life insurance applications require the signature of the proposed insured.
- A release form – Most policies require the proposed insured to sign a consent form to release his/her medical information.
- Phone interview – After submitting an application, the insurance company will contact the proposed insured for a confidential phone interview to review the application’s accuracy.
- A medical exam – After applying, most life insurance policies require the proposed insured to take a medical exam. The medical examiner will check the insured’s ID to ensure it’s the correct person and will ask the insured many of the same questions from the application to verify answers.
- Insurable interest – In order for someone to purchase life insurance on someone else, life insurance companies require insurable interest. Insurable interest means there has to be financial dependence. For example, spouses rely on one another’s income for their standard of living. Your neighbor does not have a financial interest in your life and could not buy life insurance on you.
Life insurance companies implement a number of obstacles in order to prevent insurance fraud.
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Is There a Policy in My Name? Steps to Take
After taking those obstacles into consideration, if you still think someone may have bought coverage on you without your permission, there are steps you can take, but it may take some effort. It is not possible to just Google your name alongside the words “life insurance” to find out. Life insurance is personal, so protecting privacy is important.
Step 1 – If you think you know which insurance company the policy in question was purchased from, you can call their customer service and explain the situation. They will be able to confirm if there is a policy on you and then help you make the appropriate steps to terminate it. There are many, many life insurance companies, however, so this option only realistically works if you know the name of the life insurance company.
Step 2– You can request your MIB Consumer File. Life insurance underwriters use MIB’s services when assessing individual applications. The consumer file may include the name of any MIB member company that:
- Received a copy of the medical and personal information that MIB has in its database about you during the three-year period preceding your request;
- Made an “inquiry” to MIB about you within the past two years.
It is free to request your MIB (Medical Information Bureau) file. You will not have an MIB Consumer File unless you have applied for individually underwritten life, health, disability income, long-term care or critical illness insurance within the past seven years (or earlier depending on applicable law) and the insurance company to which you applied (or its reinsurer) was an MIB member company that submitted an MIB inquiry. So, if you get a letter stating you don’t have an MIB file, you can rest assured there is likely no policy out there on you. If you do receive a file, you can look for any companies that you did not personally apply to and contact them.
Step 3 – You can hire policy locator services. There are online services that for a fee will send out emails and letters to life insurance companies on your behalf to discover if there is a policy in your name. The MIB website mentioned earlier is one company that offers this service. It costs $75 and it is important to note that the locator service generally will not report on policies with a $100,000 face amount or less, guaranteed issue policies, employer-based life insurance, or military issued life insurance.
As you have read, it is unlikely that there is a life insurance policy out there with your name on it that you did not sign off on. Life insurance companies take privacy and security very seriously. We hope this information was helpful and answered your question.
Photo credit to: Pawel Janiak
Related Posts:
How to Find Out if Someone Has a Life Insurance Policy
About the writer
Natasha Cornelius
Marketing Content and Social Media Manager
Natasha is a content manager and editor for Quotacy. She has worked in the life insurance industry since 2010, and making life insurance easier to understand with her writing since 2014. When not at work, you can find her throwing a tennis ball for her pit bull mix, Emmett, or curled up on her couch watching Netflix. If it’s football season, the Packers game will be on. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
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My uncle brought life insurance for my grandmother, but he died so ownership transferred to my aunt. My grandmother does not like my aunt and do not want my aunt to have access to this life insurance on my grandmother. In other words, my grandmother no longer wants to give consent to the life insurance company and my aunt for the life insurance policy that was purchased. However, my grandmother is not the policy owner, so she has trouble trying to cancel the policy. How does my grandmother go about cancelling the life insurance policy where she is insured but not the owner? Thank you.
Hi Sophia,
The policyowner, in this case your aunt, has complete control over the life insurance policy. Once a life insurance policy is active, the insured (your grandmother) cannot simply withdraw his or her consent. Your grandmother should discuss the situation with your aunt. She can ask your aunt to either terminate the policy or transfer ownership to someone else, but your aunt does not need to comply. She controls the policy. If your grandmother believes your aunt may have malicious intentions in mind, however, she should contact the authorities.
Hi ,
We are concern and have been informed of my son being insured by the parents of his fiancé without his kniwrkrdge. There has been 2 attempts made against his life. How do we verify if a policy has been purchased in the state of Nevada? He has been set up and framed for the murder of his daughter by the family. They have told multiple lies surrounding the circumcunstances leading to the events of my granddaughters death. She was never evaluated for seizures and she was never treated for the seizures . He was left alone to care for 2 10 months olds with a known history of paranoid schizophrenia – bi polar dis order however the stated to the news media they had no clue or idea .
Thanks
Jenny
Jenny,
You should contact the authorities if you fear for your son’s life – especially if multiple attempts have been made against him.
It would have been extremely difficult for your son’s fiancee’s parents to purchase a policy on him because of all the obstacles in place to prevent insurance fraud, but you can still hire a policy locator service which may help ease your mind (see step 3 in the post above). Your son can also request his MIB file which would shed some light if a policy was purchased on him within the last seven years (see step 2 above).
I received a call today from an insurance company asking if I was ready to move forward with the life insurance applied for. I did not apply for this. I researched the phone number and this is a real agent in my area. I asked who submitted the application and he said the information came to him electronically so he was not sure. Is there a way to find out more info? I am concerned. Thank you.
Kristen,
This is concerning. The first question is: What information does he really have about you? Is it your common, easily found information on the internet or in a phone book? If that is the case, this “real” agent is cold calling you and trying to sell you insurance in an unethical way. I would ask the agent where he got the information from digitally. What is the name of the company that he buys leads from? And then I would ask him to send over all the information he has on you and tell him that you need it so that you can forward it to your state’s insurance commissioner along with his name. Either he is playing games and will get very uncomfortable with the line of questioning or he is being completely transparent and this should be reported to your state’s insurance commissioner.
My Mother-In-Law moved in with my wife and me. My wife’s sister is currently power of attorney. We are going to revoke her power of attorney and have us named since we are caring for her. My sister-in-law has a life insurance policy on my Mother-In-Law, there is bad blood between siblings and Mom. Once power of attorney is transferred to us are we legally obligated to furnish a death certificate so she can claim her insurance, or is she able to collect on her own and request a death certificate. My sister-in-law is refusing to communicate with her Mom or any other family member. What are our obligations as power of attorney? Are we even required to notify her of a death? We are trying to protect my Mother-In-Law and want to know our rights/responsibilities. Thanks.
Doug,
My heart goes out to everyone involved in your family. Sorry to hear that there is bad blood and stresses that are occurring near the end of your mother-in-law’s life.
Your question about what you are obligated to do as a power of attorney will be determined by state law. It sounds as though she is near the end of her life and you are contemplating what actions to take with your sister-in-law after her mother passes. I don’t know if you are responsible to furnish a death certificate to your sister-in-law by law, but it may be important for the family to share information with the estranged sister-in-law. The passing of a parent is typically one of the more impacting moments in our lives.
After mom dies, her estate will go into probate and there will be an executor of that estate. The executor of the estate has to act as a fiduciary and would be required to hand over a copy of the death certificate when it is requested. So it comes down to what kind of power of attorney you are getting on her and whether or not it includes you becoming executor of her estate. Make sure to ask your lawyer about this.
I just found out that my aunt had a life insurance policy on my dad thru his dad when his dad was alive and working for the railroad but when his dad passed away in 1981 she took it over on all the kids. She called and asked me for a death certificate on my dad so she can claim the money. She said the amount is 300.00. Is there any way I can find out all of the information on the policy and if it was on all of my aunt and uncles? No one else knows anything about this policy and she wont let us see it. I’m hurt to know she has done this without knowledge of any of the siblings. I feel they are benefiting from my dads death and to me that is low. Can you help me in the right direction to find out the information I need to put this to rest? thank you
Nellie,
I can understand that you feel hurt that your aunt has this policy and won’t let you see it. And my condolences to you and your family for losing your dad.
If the policy death benefit truly is $300 then there is not going to be any way of finding out more about this policy except by asking her for more details. A policy that small and coming through a railroad plan is not going to in any company’s records except for the insurance carrier that issued the policy. Also, when she took over the policy in 1981, she would have had to pay premiums as well. That means she has had a premium obligation for the past 35 years. I wish we had a way to share with you about how to go about getting the information, but I can’t think of any way to find it.
My suggestion is to have another conversation with your aunt and ask her about her own dad dying back in 1981. How did the policy and the premium obligation get transferred to her? What does she remember about the time? What was her dad like? Communication with her may help you understand where she is coming from and gives you an opportunity to find closure.
Please let us know if we misunderstood your question and we can discuss further. Feel free to contact us directly.
My Grandmother just recently found out that her oldest daughter has a life insurance policy on her. She did tell my Grandmother about the policy after the fact (not sure how long she has had the policy) but was told very little about the policy. Her daughter is the only beneficiary (she is one of five kids), it’s not to cover my grandmother’s final expenses, she got it because according to her my grandmother has helped her out the least financially compared to her siblings. My Grandmother never signed any insurance papers that she is aware of.
When I heard this I found it very alarming, my Aunt is planning on profiting from my grandmother’s death. So either she forged her mother’s signature or told her the papers were for something else that my grandmother was comfortable with signing.
What are your thoughts? And is there anything I can do about this situation for her? If not, what should she do?
Hi Danielle,
Your aunt likely purchased what is called a guaranteed issue life insurance policy on your grandmother. These policies are approved instantly and your grandmother’s signature may not have been required, however, these policies come with very high premium costs. Your aunt is likely paying a large premium to keep this policy inforce. Guaranteed issue policies are known as “last resort” insurance and tend to be a good deal if the insured individual dies between 3 and 8 years after it’s purchased, but by year 10 the amount paid as premiums can total more than what the benefit would be.
Although your aunt isn’t likely to profit much, if at all, off this policy, your grandmother still has the right to call the insurance company (if you know which) and voice her concerns.
NON CUSTODIAN FATHER HAS TAKEN OUT A LIFE INSURANCE POLICY ON MY 14 YO DAUGHTER WITHOUT MY CONSENT. I NEVER GAVE HIM HER SOCIAL SEC # SHE IS ON SSI.HE PAYS NO CHILD SUPPORT, HAS ALSO FRAUDULENTLY CLAIMED HER AS A DEPENDENT FOR TAX CREDIT ECT. IS SCREWING UP HER HEALTH INSURANCE WITH THESE
CONFLICTING CLAIMS AND POLICIES. SSI IS THREATENING TO TERMINATE HER BENEFITS BECAUSE OF THIS POLICY I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT. I DO NOT KNOW WHERE TO TURN OR HOW TO GET HIM OFF OF HER LIFE. WE DON’T KNOW HIS WHEREABOUTS. IT IS COURT DECLARED PATERNITY. PLEASE PRAY FOR US. WE NEED INFORMATION. THANK YOU
Val,
This is a hard situation and you and your family are in our prayers. Since life insurance is a contract between the insurance company and the owner of the policy (in this case your daughter’s biological father), it can be difficult to track down the life insurance policy without knowing the specific company it was issued from.
If you know the name of the insurance company, my first suggestion is to call the company and explain what is going on. This most likely will not lead anywhere though. But it gives you cover for step two which is calling your state’s insurance commissioner. You will have your story put together when you get a hold of that office. The question though is what do you ask them to do?
You mentioned that SSI is threatening to terminate her benefits because of this policy. Since he is not paying child support and is using her as a dependent, it sounds like he is wrecking havoc on your family finances. The insurance commissioner should be able to help if the policy is being deemed a resource even though it obviously is not in this case.
My daughters x partner violent abusive man, has taken policy out over the phone, that on her death he receives £158,000 , the letters arrived through her lettter box, she has spoke to company, who said he paid the first payment of £14 to get it up and running she knew nothing about it !!
Hi Caroline,
I’m sorry to hear about the issues your daughter is facing. Now, it sounds like you’re from the United Kingdom – we’re in the United States. Every country has its own rules and regulations regarding who can and cannot buy a life insurance policy on someone else. I suggest that your daughter call the insurer back and tell them she did not authorize this coverage and she is not comfortable with him owning the policy on her, and then ask that they cancel the coverage. I wish you and your daughter the best and hope the situation gets resolved quickly.