CHARLESTON, W.Va. — This Sunday’s “60 Minutes” will feature a story with West Virginia State Treasurer John Perdue and his office’s Unclaimed Property Division.
The story will take a look at how insurance companies try to find beneficiaries of life insurance policies. Several states have passed laws to make sure the companies are looking. Perdue’s Unclaimed Property Division and similar operations in other states will be featured in the “60 Minutes” piece.
The division, which ensures insurance companies are properly reporting and paying out unclaimed life insurance policies, will be on the longtime CBS News show.
“West Virginians will have an opportunity to get a lot of those life insurance policies back that have fallen through the cracks over many years,” Perdue said. “We’ll find the rightful owners of that money.”
Perdue said they’ve returned over $160 million dollars so far, and there’s still some money left to distribute.
“We found one of those policies that was about 25-26 years old that we returned to the rightful owners, that the insurance companies claimed they couldn’t find,” he said. “We found them–the brother and the sister who’s (family member) had passed away were the beneficiary. That will be be part of the story.”
Perdue will appear in part of the segment. He’s pleased with the work of those in his office.
“I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished in the Treasurer’s Office. We’ll continue to work hard to return that money,” he said.
Perdue worked with the state legislature on HB4739 this past session, which creates measurable requirements for insurance companies. It requires life insurance companies to regularly search for deceased policy holders using the Social Security Administration Death Master File.
The “60 Minutes” story and additional information will be available following Sunday night’s broadcast at www.cbsnews.com/60-minutes.
More information on West Virginia’s Unclaimed Property program can be found at www.wvtreasury.com.