Aviva reconnect letter

Davidw1988

Both my wife and I received letters from aviva relating to an address we last lived in around 40 years ago.

The letters stated that they believed they held an unclaimed Life Assurance or Pension policy taken out with one of Aviva's  previous companies.

Has anyone had a letter like this? We are pretty certain that we have no unclaimed pensions nor do we have any life assurance policies with these companies. Apparently it takes 12 weeks for them to respond, so just wondering if anyone has been through this process?

flaneurs_lobster

Can't see it doing any harm as long as you are replying to the enquiry by letter, and you can confirm the return address by checking their website. 

What information are they seeking? Sounds like they've got a fair bit already.

dunstonh

Has anyone had a letter like this?

yes. Plenty have.

the majority of cases turn out to be correctly identified, but a good number turn out to be a different person, and it allows them to tick you off the list if its not you.

There is no reason not to engage in the process.   You will either be helping yourself with something forgotten or someone else.

xylophone

We are pretty certain that we have no unclaimed pensions 

You might just have a look here

https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details

But even then you can't be sure.

You might just also read  right to the end of this thread 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6520742/rank-money-purchase-pension-scheme

See also

https://www.aviva.co.uk/services/finding-lost-customers/

Davidw1988

Thanks for all the replies so far. The fact that they had the year of birth for both my wife and I suggests that we've been correctly identified and I've confirmed those precise dates to them. I'll find out 12 weeks but pretty intrigued right now.

We have both tracked down (and are receiving) what I am 99.99% certain are our only pensions, and have no current life assurance that dates back to that time. Hope springs eternal of course, but it's very strange - and particularly since both of us involved l. 

Cheers 

xylophone

I wonder did you have some kind of endowment policy (perhaps connected with a mortgage) with one of the companies swallowed up by Giant Aviva?

The fact that both of you have been contacted could suggest something of this nature?

Davidw1988

xylophone said:

I wonder did you have some kind of endowment policy (perhaps connected with a mortgage) with one of the companies swallowed up by Giant Aviva?

The fact that both of you have been contacted could suggest something of this nature?

We did briefly have an endowment mortgage but replaced it with a repayment mortgage after becoming sceptical about that product. I can't recall all the details now, but I think we were told that all the endowment payments we had made until that point would be effectively lost to us. 

xylophone

but I think we were told that all the endowment payments we had made until that point would be effectively lost to us. 

I suppose it might depend on how briefly was briefly - I seem to remember that it was possible to make a policy "paid up" after a certain

period and still retain some benefit.


Time will tell - do come back and tell us what happened. 

Davidw1988

The mystery continues. Now that 12 weeks have elapsed without any response, I called the tracing company (Capita) who reluctantly gave me a telephone contact for Aviva. 

On calling this number I was told that they couldn't tell me anything since I didn't have the policy number, but they would send me a contact form in the post. The contact did mention a Maturity Pack, so I now wonder if it is something to do with the very briefly held endowment policy from 40 years ago. 

Frustratingly, they did also say that the contact form might not reach me for another 3 weeks!

dunstonh

These things tend to be done in batches and by a dedicated team.  So, the general call centre wont see what is going on and the team dealing with it will wait until they have enough back to do the next stage.   

Frustratingly, they did also say that the contact form might not reach me for another 3 weeks!

Whats another 3 weeks on something you didn't know you had from 40 years ago

Davidw1988

dunstonh said:

Whats another 3 weeks on something you didn't know you had from 40 years ago

Haha - very true, although I'm more impatient to find out what it is for, than impatient with expectation. We paid the endowment for such a short period it's hard to imagine any return even reaching three figures! 

I'll report back when I hear more