Odd request for personal info from Aegon

squiresmount

I received a letter on Aegon/Scottish Equitable headed paper asking for me to confirm my contact details such as NI number, DOB, address and plan number.

NB: I do have a pension plan with Scottish Equitable but it is inactive, I have been careful to advice them of changes of address.

I was wary so called the number and reached a company called Tracemark who said they were working for Aegon.

I feel the fact the letter was sent on Aegon headed paper but the number was for a third party company is misleading and I am loathe to give such info in any event - after all, if the letter reached me they surely have the info they need and I am not a "lost contact".

Has anyone any advice? Should I give them the info they want?

dunstonh

You should contact Scot Eq directly and ask them about it.

jennifer56

if the letter reached me they surely have the info they need and I am not a "lost contact

but how do they know the letter reached you if you don't reply?

Jennifer

TMFTP

Insurance companies are largely contracting-out huge swathes of their administration - typically to a company called Capita. They may also contract out tracing customers they've lost contact with - so it's possible that you would receive info from what appears to be a third-party company.

Also, they won't send you out any detail on the fund / investment / whatever it is until after you've done the Data Protection needed to establish you ARE the person they're looking for.

Typically it will be done in cases where you move addresses but don't tell them.

lle

I received a similar letter this morning from Aegon. It arrived correctly addressed to where I have lived for almost seven years, which is of course the same address where they corresponded with me earlier this year. I was also suspicious as they required my date of birth and NI number - for identity verification purposes they said. But as the form also required a signature from me, that should be a better verification.
I contacted Aegon who claimed they had got my address through the DWP - obviously easier than looking in their own files!!

I asked why they needed to go to the DWP, had they had a letter sent to an earlier addressed returned as unknown. Their response then was to apologise for including me on the list of lost contacts.
I knew they couldn't possibly have a letter returned to them because the purchaser of our old house is a friend and former neighbour who we see regularly (the last time being less than 3 weeks ago) who would have redirected any mail to me not return it to sender.
From Aegon's e-mail it was not clear whether they were contacting all their policy holders or just those they thought they had lost contact with. This must be a very expensive exercise for them, if it includes people like myself who have had correspondence with them within the last 6 months. But of course, it is we the policy holders who are paying for it all so it doesn't matter does it.

oggyngolly

My partner has also received same letter today asking for information as lost contact but he doesnt know anything of them.

He called them and they didnt know on the other end of the phone what it was regarding but said a letter would be sent to him in 3 to 4 weeks?

If anybody else can shed any light I would be grateful

sleepless_saver

lle wrote: »

I contacted Aegon who claimed they had got my address through the DWP - obviously easier than looking in their own files!!

I'm just amazed that DWP apparently disclosed your personal data to an external organisation without your agreement. Looks like a clear breach of data protection legislation.

confused76

hi
where i used to work, we would use the DWP to trace people if we had correspondence returned 'addressee unknown'. the DWP do not disclose your details, in our case we would send a letter to the dwp and the dwp would forward them on

Glitterbin

Has anyone any further information regarding this? An elderly friend has received one of these letters and I'm cautious to encourage her to reply.

Cool_man

Very nice post. This will help possible client to get a quality person.

confused76

Glitterbin wrote: »

Has anyone any further information regarding this? An elderly friend has received one of these letters and I'm cautious to encourage her to reply.

i would give them a call and ask what it is in relation to, without giving out any personal information they haven't already quoted in their letter. if it is to do with a pension scheme your friend recognises then i would proceed and talk to them.

as i said earlier where i used to work this was standard practice to trace people for whom we no longer had addresses for. i can see for the recipient it can look suspect, i would feel the same