Colonial Mutual/Winterthur Limited

orangekazzie

Help!!
Going through my Mum's documents and have discovered a With Profits Life Assurance Policy Endowment which was taken out in 1976 and expired in 1990.


As far as I can see the maturity has never been paid out. I believe Colonial Mutual was taken over by winterthur Limited. Does anyone know if this company still exists as I've drawn a blank from search engines. I found a thread on MSE but didn't give any outcome.

Can anyone help please. Are there any companies which will search these policies out.

Thanks

K

TrickyDicky101

AXA initially took over Winterthur and subsequently the AXA Life business was merged into Friends Provident which became Friends Life, so this is where your policy would reside.

Their contact details are here:

http://www88.friendsprovident.com/contactus/index.jhtml;ms_jsessionid=AS2B0V2ZKY00QCWCDY0CFEQKYIPDAIV0

orangekazzie

Thank you so much. Its somewhere to start.

TrickyDicky101

Just be aware that 24 years ago most/all of the policy documentation would have been paper based. I wouldn't expect investigations to be completed quickly as a result.

Out of interest, why do you think the policy never paid out? Was it linked to a mortgage? In which case might it have been originally assigned to the lender hence why you have not seen the proceeds?

dunstonh

If the policy is industrial branch and matured 24 years ago, there may not be much paper documentation left either.

If it never went full distance and was surrendered early, then it would be even less likely for paperwork to exist.

orangekazzie

TrickyDicky101 wrote: »

.

Out of interest, why do you think the policy never paid out? Was it linked to a mortgage? In which case might it have been originally assigned to the lender hence why you have not seen the proceeds?

The original Policy Document is in her papers and I'm thinking that if its been paid out then she would have had to send in the original document in order for payout. It wasn't assigned to anyone or attached to a mortgage. Its not worth a huge amount but has been accruing annual bonuses if its still in force. It was only taken out for a period of 14 years and has been dormant since 1990.

K

dunstonh

The original Policy Document is in her papers and I'm thinking that if its been paid out then she would have had to send in the original document in order for payout.

No. When surrendering or maturing a policy without a policy document, there is no need for the policy document. There is usually just an extra section on the form to cover no policy document.

Its not worth a huge amount but has been accruing annual bonuses if its still in force. It was only taken out for a period of 14 years and has been dormant since 1990.

Contact the insurer but dont expect to hear good news. Insurers dont just let policies mature without doing something about it. If your mum went missing around 1990 (moved addresses for example) then its possible but the insurers would employ tracking agents to see if they could find her. It is easier to find someone today than in the early 90s. So, they would have given up after a period if you mum went awol from the system. That would likely be the only way they would still have funds.

The policy would not still be getting bonuses as it matured. Although normally interest would be added.