The director of the Affiliates Information and Defense Agency (DIDA), Nelsida Marmolejos told El Dia newspaper reporters that red tape, lack of budget of her office to carry out a campaign to reach out to the possible beneficiaries, and lack of general knowledge of the procedures to follow by pension plan holders and their families are among the reasons for the large number of pensions that have gone unclaimed.
As reported in Diario Libre, pension funds have RD$780 million belonging to pension plan heirs that could soon expire uncollected. The Administrators of Pension Funds (AFP) have accumulated the amounts in the Capitalization Accounts (or retirement accounts) that belong to 39,386 persons who have passed away and this money is not been claimed by any of the heirs. The actual pension funds savings pending to be paid to heirs are more than RD$780 million because that amount reflects only accumulated through 2014, says Ramon Cabrera, who presides the Hacienda Commission of the Chamber of Deputies.
Data from the Superintendence of Pensions says that as of June 2018, of a total of 30,133 pensions that have been claimed, the AFPs have granted only 14,469 and rejected another 14,418. Another 1,246 requests are in the pipeline.
Read more in Spanish:
El Dia
Diario Libre
Listin Diario
24 October 2018
