AVIVA POLICY

sweetkd68

Received a letter in my maiden name...been married 29 years...about an unclaimed Life Assurance or Pension I may have had with another company. I've seen a lot of people wary of this as they say it's asking for NI number...my letter is asking for 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th digit.  Tried the chat bot but it asked for my old policy company and I dont have a clue. I'm getting conflicted reviews about the legitimacy of this...any help appreciated.

DullGreyGuy

What's the telephone number or address they ask you to respond to?

Aviva is a very fragmented business and getting to the right team without using the supplied details can be challenging. They have, at least historically, used various outsourcers (eg Capita) for certain functions like tracing. 

Insurers have to make efforts to find the beneficiaries of policies, they can't send one letter, wait a month and then add the funds to the Xmas Party budget if the customer doesn't respond. As time goes on tools get better at finding people and so it's not uncommon for products to resurface "randomly" many years later. 

Ultimately proceed with caution, in the first instance validate the communication method you're asked to use 

dunstonh

 I'm getting conflicted reviews about the legitimacy of this

You are right to be on guard for scams but this almost certainly isnt one.   Aviva employ a tracking company to periodically do searches (I believe it is capita).    You need to use the contact details in the letter unless you know the policy number.  The team handling traces will need to identify you to make sure the policy is yours and not someone with the same name.