My Personal Finance Blog

When facing an insurance case, people often find it frustrating to wait for the insurance company to settle their case and ask how long it takes to process a claim. Many customers look for legal support of their anticipation, asking if there are any laws regulating the duration of insurance procedures.

Every state has its own regulations and legislation concerning insurance activities to which the insurance companies have to abide. In some states you may also find things like “Unfair Insurance Practices Act” or “Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act”, which are more specific and targeted at insurance activities in contrast with broader laws and regulations presented in other states. The nuances and specifics of such regulations have their own peculiarities across different states, however there are certain common points that they all share in regard to insurance companies, imposing them to: a) accept your insurance claim within a specific period of time (usually 15 days); b) conduct a prompt investigation on your claim a) make everything possible to process and settle the claim with a clear liability. Besides, the insurance company has no right to refuse your claim a payment without delivering a valid and clear reason.

In case you feel that your insurance agent or company representative did something without correspondence to state legislation, you might want to speak to the person’s supervisor first. In case the attempt wasn’t satisfactory, it’s time for you to file a report in your state’s insurance regulation department. If the department has other similar claims concerning the same company it will conduct an investigation and is likely to impose a fine or even revoke the company’s license if the case is quite severe.

In some states you are even allowed to take legal actions against an insurance company individually, if you feel to do so. In case you choose to pursue in a lawsuit against your insurer, there are certain regulations that might help you: a) broader interpretation of coverage provisions, b) limited interpretation of exclusion provisions c) favorable interpretation of any ambiguities contained in the policy. However, take into account that in certain states, in case you’re successful with your legal action you will only get the claim amount, while in other states you may also be reimbursed with court fees and punitive damages.

Here are some helpful tips you may use in order to be prepared in case of filing a home insurance claim.

Prior getting the policy:

• Write down the coverage proposals told by the agent, you may need them for reference in the future
• through the policy before signing it, making sure that you understand its contents
• Don’t misinterpret or change the information provided to the application

Prior to filing a claim:

• Read your current policy thoroughly

When the claim is filed:

• Review your actual home insurance policy and the notes you’ve taken when signing the policy
• Inform the insurer about your loss in a prompt manner
• Keep the claim as objective as possible
• Log your communication with the insurer (especially when speaking by phone)
• Get all the materials proving your claim (such as receipts)
• Have copies of any documents you give to the insurer no matter what
• Estimate the loss on your own
• Sign releases or checks only if you think they’re fair

When you are looking around for a house to buy, the cost of home insurance is not always the most important thought on your mind. Even if you do think about it, the most common consideration is the state of repair and how easy it would be to repair or rebuild should there be a fire. This confidence continues when buying the insurance policy. You sign up for an all-perils policy and take the words at face value. If you are insured against all perils, that surely means you can sleep peacefully at night. Except that confidence is too often misplaced. Looking around the US right now, it’s one of the coldest winters on record with heavier snow fall than usual. When the weather warms, the melting snow will flood into the rivers… That’s a joy to come. So let’s list the most common events that damage your home: landslides, subsidence, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. Live in the wrong states and we add earthquakes. Now take out your policy and check that exclusion clause. You will see some mysterious phrases like “surface water”. That excludes every possible source of water no matter whether it comes in as a high tide, wind surge, rain or local sewage drains backing up. When you add up everything not included, even the top-of-the-range policies from the supposedly best insurers often end up as covering rebuilding costs from fire and wind only – that’s wind and not tornadoes or hurricanes.

To protect yourself, you need to start early in the buying process. Start with simple questions: has there been any accidents in this area? Is there a heavy clay content in the soil? Is this an earthquake zone? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, you should get a geology report before going any further. Mining subsidence is a real problem in some areas. Soil that expands when wet and contracts when dry can wreck the foundations of your home – the Department of Agriculture estimates that up to 25% of properties in the US are at risk of damage. We all know about earthquakes. If your proposed property is on a slope, what’s the risk of a landslide or rock fall? When we move on to flood risks, every community is at risk – check out the addresses of potential properties through http://www.floodsmart.gov/ which is run by Homeland Security’s FEMA. It also gives you estimates of the likely premiums for areas at higher risk.

Obviously it’s not possible to avoid every peril. Because of work, family and other commitments, we cannot all choose where to live. But, if you have good information about the weather patterns and geology of your area, you can get quotes for named perils homeowners insurance. If there are policies available, this will give you real protection against the named threats, whether earthquake, flooding, subsidence, landslides, hurricanes, and so on. When you have the quoted premiums in front of you, the decision whether to buy becomes more clear cut. If you already know the insurance industry will not sell you a policy, you can decide to look in a different area. This is not to raise homeowners insurance to a make-or-break level, but if the annual costs of living in a hazardous area are going to strain your family budget, this is something you should consider carefully before buying. If you already have such a home, you can have named perils added to your existing homeowners insurance. Hopefully, you can afford the additional premiums.

I am yet to see someone who doesn’t think owning a home is important and a worthy goal. It is then a surprise to know that some people who own homes have not bothered to insurer their homes. Some insure their home without knowing if they are fully covered or not. Is home insurance a waste of money.

Let’s look at it like this. Have you ever wondered why your mortgage provider insists on having a full coverage for any and every home they finance? These are business people who are about making profit. Their insistence on this should start you thinking.

I have a friend who had a home that was not insured. Unfortunately, her home got burnt down. She had to become an inconvenience to friends who had to put her up. This does not take into account the emotional and financial cost to her. She in addition to not having the money to rebuild, she was not making that much money and had no hope of doing so because of her health.

If I had asked my friend before the disaster occurred if her home could be burnt down, her natural answer would of course be “NEVER” but it did occur.

I personally think that having a home without insuring it is an act of irresponsibility.

For those who have homes that are insured, have you taken the time to ascertain that your home is fully covered? It would be heart rending if you thought your home was fully covered only to discover too late that you are under covered.

How do you know if you are fully covered? You need to correctly value your home and your content for your content coverage.

The easy way to do this is find out how much it would cost you to rebuild your home at the current market price. Correctly valuing your home can also serve to make you know if your home is over covered.

Being over covered is as much a problem as being under covered since both result in loss of money.

Many people who are covered usually arise at this point because in valuing their homes, they included the cost of the land on which the home is built. In the even of a disaster that results in your needing to rebuild your home, would you need to re-purchase the land? This should answer your question.

If somehow your land is also in danger, then by all means insure it and be sure your policy includes it so you would not be surprised if you were to make a claim.

Getting free home insurance quotes is a necessity for both new, old and aspiring home owners. It is easy to get. Just go to a reputable quotes comparison site, fill out their online form with correct information. You would be contacted and receive quotes from several insurance companies. When you have compared amongst them all, you would have more information to help you decide on who to go with.

Get free home insurance quotes today and start enjoying lower rates for your home insurance coverage.

Home Insurance is really important, but the current trend is to skimp on the cost of it. but why? Your home is most likely to be the most expensive item you own, and so why not make sure its insured properly for any damage or theft that may occur.

The best way to work out what sort of insurance you needs is totally up how much your belongings cost. It’s really tempting to opt for the cheapest amount of cover, but if you have a flat screen tv, laptop, wii console and camera, then you are looking at close to this already. What about all your clothes, Cds and DVDs and other valuable possessions? If you were to make a claim, you would only be covered up to that cost, so therefore would be considerably out of pocket.

Make sure that you read through your policy wording, as it is important to know what your insurance company cover, and what they don’t cover.

A good idea is to make sure that you are covered for both buildings and contents insurance with the same provide. This makes it easier if you are making a claim, as some companies will confuse as to what is fixtures (covered in your buildings insurance) and what is a fitting (covered by your Contents Insurance). If both companies are the same, then there will be fewer arguments.

If you have any confusion on the wording, speak to someone within the company to explain it further. Not only will having Home Insurance keep you safe in the event of disaster it will help your peace of mind.