Keep your insurance policies in electronic form

I will bet that those of you who have taken some form of insurance will vouch for the fact that keep track of the documents year after year can be a big hassle. There is good news for you! From now onwards you can hold your insurance documents in electronic format, just the way you hold you shares and bonds.

The age of insurance repositories is here. Insurance Repositories is a facility that will allow policy holders to hold their policies in electronic format. These repositories are approved by IRDA and as of today, there are 5 approved repositories. They are NSDL Database Management, Central Insurance Repository, SHCIL Projects, CAMS Repository Services and Karvy Insurance Repository.

A policyholder can open an e-account with any of the five approved insurance repositories and just like your de-mat accounts, you can have only one repository account. Even when you have policies from multiple insurers, you can use the same account to store them. Imagine the ease of having all you policies at the tip of your fingers! This makes sure that you don’t run the risk of losing documents and helps you to keep track of all you policies in a more organised manner.

Unlike your de-mat accounts, the policyholder need not pay any annual fees or charges for operating a repository account. The cost will be borne by the insurance company. This e-holding facility is extended to your existing policies also, for which you have to open an account with any of the five approved repositories by contacting the office of the same. As policyholders you are free to deal directly with the insurance repository you have chosen. A request is all that is needed from your end to convert your current policies into electronic format.

As of now this repository facility is offered only for your life insurance policies. But come January 2014, this facility would be extended to health and motor insurance policies too!

So take charge of your insurance policies today! And save trees!