Axa

oramdg

My axa sunlife endowment life policy matured on the 1/02/2011. after paying £8 per month for 15 years. so i sat and waited for the cheque to drop on the doormat but after 11 days i had heard nothing. so i phoned them and was told they had lost my address details. so they sent me a form to fill in which i promptly did. i asked them to put the money back into account it came from (my wifes) not good enough for AXA. got a letter back asking me to send passport or photo evidence of my wife just in case we were money launderers.i phoned and refused point blank to send them and asked for a cheque to be sent and was told it would take 14 days to process.i complained to there website (big mistake) because now i have to wait another 8 weeks for the complaint to be dealt with.
My complaint was based on the fact If it was my wife claiming for the money on my death would she have had to go through all this hassle. i cannot believe that such a big company like AXA treats its customers this way. and worst of all i have another one that matures in 2015

kingstreet

If the policy isn't in joint names and it wasn't written in trust, your widow would see the payout pass into your estate and then have to go through the probate process before she would have access to the money. This can be a lengthy process where there are complications with the estate.

It's normal for "age admittance" and title to have to be proved at surrender, maturity or on death by production of birth and marriage certificates and possibly photographic ID too.

As far as the maturity payment is concerned, I would expect any insurer to take precautions in ensuring payment is made to the person who holds title over the policy - ie you. Any deviation from that should have safeguards built in to the process to protect them and you from making payment to a fraudulent third party.

Now they have your address details, your next maturity should be prefaced by the sending of a discharge letter, together with details of the benefits payable before the due date.