Strange letter

swingaloo

Ive received a letter from Clerical Medical which was posted to an address I used to live at. It says they are trying to trace a person of my name who used to live at yet another address.

It is for me, I have moved 5 times since 2001. The letter states that they are 'Trying to reunite me with my pension/investment'. I have to send several proofs of ID to find out what it is about.

Im absolutely sure that I have no pension with them, the only pension I had with a company has been cashed in and I have never had money to put into any kind of investment.

Im going to send the ID and find out but Im really curious. Im sure its not a hoax letter as Ive googled the company and everything looks ok.

Anyone else had a similar letter and can shed any light on what it may relate to?

FutureGirl

If you're sure you don't have a pension with them why would you send them ID? Why don't you phone them first instead if you're curious?

swingaloo

It says on the letter that they will reveal nothing on the phone until they have received and verified you identity so there is no way to find out without doing so.

forgotmyname

Could be a debt collector chasing someone with a similar name, make sure you withold your phone number etc.

dunstonh

Pension providers are required to chase people who have gone missing.

CM is now owned by Scot Widows. However, before CM was merged into SW, they too had companies they had bought or were merged into them. For example, if you used Halifax Building Society, their products fell under the CM brand in the past.

These letters are not strange and very common.

swingaloo

Thank you for the replies. I did once have a Halifax account but that was closed and no investments with them or pension.

Shall send off and see what happens.

GingerBob_3

If this isn't a hoax then it's yet another example of outrageous practices carried out in the finance sector these days.


They expect you to send vital identification documents but will tell you virtually nothing about why they are needed. Unbelievable! I'd be vary wary about this one. If it is genuine but it turns out you're not who they are looking for, what will they do with the copies of your documents? Hint: probably allow them to be stolen or hacked.

Quentin

Insurers have no choice over getting ID off everyone before they pay out money on eg. maturing policies which are many years "old"

It's legislation. (And ensures the right person gets paid.).

They do it all the time and this obviously means they have to get important documents which they destroy as soon as used.

dunstonh

If this isn't a hoax then it's yet another example of outrageous practices carried out in the finance sector these days.

Yes. How disgraceful it is that the insurers are trying to make sure that someone gets their money.

They expect you to send vital identification documents but will tell you virtually nothing about why they are needed. Unbelievable!

Tracing services are not 100% reliable. They have to make sure that the "lost" policy belongs to that person and not someone else with the same name or similar details. Data protection laws prevent them from giving out data to someone they cannot identify.

System

dunstonh wrote: »

Data protection laws prevent them from giving out data to someone they cannot identify.

They don't need to give out data, just sufficient information to identify themselves as genuine and the enquiry worth pursuing.

If a man in a pub says he has important financial information for you, but asks for your ID first, do you give it to him? Wouldn't you ask him to prove who he was first?

kingstreet

Surely the veracity of a letter from a known life assurer can be established so nothing is sent until certain;-

http://www.clericalmedical.co.uk/

If the OP suspected he had benefits with CM, he would contact them and then expect to hand over ID/POA for them to prove his entitlement.

OP - did you ever have a SERPs replacement Personal Pension, going back to 1988? If so, was the arranger/provider swallowed up by LLoyds Banking Group, which contain(s/ed) among others;-

Lloyds
Halifax
Bank Of Scotland
Birmingham Midshires
Leeds Permanent
The Mortgage Business
Scottish Widows
Black Horse
Lloyds Bowmaker
TSB
Cheltenham & Gloucester
Mortgage Express.