California insurance regulators target GeoVera Insurance, imposing fines and requiring the company to make changes to underwriting

California insurance regulators have taken action against GeoVera Insurance Co., providers of residential earthquake insurance, this week. Regulators took notice of the company after having received a multitude of complaints from policyholders. According to these complaints, the insurer’s underwriting procedures are not as adequate as they are supposed to be. Regulators have investigated the matter and found that the insurer’s practices were indeed falling short of the state’s standards. GeoVera will be facing major changes as regulators look to make the company more compliant with state laws. The insurer will…

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Allstate boosts efforts for recruiting in California

Allstate Insurance Company has announced its intention to grow its agency owning workforce for the fourth consecutive year in California in 2012. This is a part of an ongoing aggressive campaign to recruit new agency owners, which resulted in 17 new recruits in 2009, 44 in 2010, and 58 in 2011, in that state alone. According to the California strategic deployment leader at Allstate, William Vasquez, “Allstate is committed to growing in California and to serving more Californians.” He went on to say that professional entrepreneurs with the sales and…

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California homeowners to benefit from new insurance regulations

New rules for homeowners insurance have been implemented in California to help to protect people when disaster strikes their homes. The regulations have been implemented to help consumers to make sure that they have the coverage that they need when they have been paying into an insurance policy and the time comes that they need to make a claim following a disaster. According to Amy Bach, the head of United Policyholders, following a large loss, people frequently discover that they don’t have as much coverage as “they thought they had…

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Mercury’s controversial Prop 17 finds its way back to the Californian ballot

Mercury Insurance’s controversial Proposition 17 has been resurrected and made its way to California’s November ballot. The proposition received funding from George Joseph, the billionaire chairman of the insurance company. The money was enough to bring the proposition back to life after it had been struck down by voters in 2010. Now, voters will have another opportunity to weigh in on the proposition, but there may be no guarantee that their efforts will put an end to the insurer’s plans for good. The proposition aims to make changes to Proposition…

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Mercury Insurance to raise rates in California, agitating consumer advocates

Mercury Insurance is looking to raise rates on homeowners and renters insurance policies in California. The company has plans to raise rates by an average of 8.8% for some 300,000 consumers in the state. If state regulators approve the proposal, the company will be generating an additional $19 million per year in profits. Consumer Watchdog, a non-profit organization concerned with fairness for insurance consumers, claims that the proposal is unreasonable because the insurer is already awash with profit. According to Consumer Watchdog, the company paid less than 50 cents on…

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