Live Insurance News

As home values fall, homeowners’ insurance rates will keep rising in 2023

April 10, 2023April 7, 2023 Marc

Homeowners’ insurance rates - Low home value

A new Insurify report has predicted falling values, rising premiums and upside-down mortgages. As home market volatility continues to stomp its way through this year, homeowners’ insurance rates will be rising even as the home values themselves drop, said a recent Insurify report called the 2023 Insuring the American Homeowner report. The price paid for individual policies is continuing to climb and policyholders should expect to pay more. “The cost of individual policies is rising. Homeowners may notice an increase of hundreds of dollars for one year to the next,”…

Florida home insurance prices heading as much as 60% higher

April 5, 2023April 4, 2023 G. Turner

Florida home insurance - Home - Price - Dollar Signs

As state lawmakers scramble to get the industry under control, consumers will be paying more. The Florida home insurance industry has been in a dire situation for some time now, and even as lawmakers implement strategies to help, the situation is only getting more expensive for the state’s property owners. Last year, state lawmakers held two special sessions to deal with the serious property coverage problems. According to many of those lawmakers, the Florida home insurance situation isn’t getting better, as the goal right now is to simply try to…

California homeowners overcharged for wildfire insurance to be refunded

April 3, 2023March 31, 2023 Live Insurance News

Wildfire insurance - person holding money that's on fire

State Commissioner Ricardo Lara has announced that there will be about $1.5 million in refunds. California Commissioner Ricardo Lara has announced that Kemper Independent Insurance Company overcharged its policyholders for their wildfire insurance coverage. As a result, that insurer has issued $1.5 million in refunds to thousands of homeowners. The Department of Insurance determined that the insurer had been overcharging for that risk. Both Kemper and Unitrin Auto and Home Insurance Company, its affiliate insurer, have also agreed to pay $617,200 to the General Fund as a combined penalty and…

State Farm says hail insurance claims rose by $1 billion in 1 year

March 29, 2023March 28, 2023 G. Turner

The insurer has released its annual claims figures showing the impact of increased filings and inflation. State Farm recently released its hail insurance claims data, revealing that there was a $1 billion increase in filings for damage from that cause in 2022 when compared to the figure for 2021. The insurer has pointed to more claims and rising inflation to explain this massive spike. Compared to 2021, the number of hail insurance claims rose by nearly 45,000 in 2022. That said, as large as that jump may be, it wasn’t…

It’s that sewer backup insurance time of year again

March 27, 2023March 24, 2023 Marc

Springtime is a big reminder of why this type of additional coverage can be very worthwhile. Springtime comes with melting snow and heavy downpours while the ground is already saturated with moisture, reminding many people of the importance of sewer backup insurance for their homes and businesses. This is a common time of year for people to find that there is water on the lower level of their homes. Basements are at a particularly high risk but in some areas, where the water levels are high enough, the ground floor…

9 Louisiana insurance companies apply for new incentive program

March 20, 2023March 17, 2023 Marc

Commissioner Donelon released an update about the strategy to take the pressure off Citizens. Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon recently held a news conference during which he released an update about the new incentive program in the state. The announcement revealed that 9 insurers selling in the state have applied for the program. The Louisiana insurance program announcement was a follow up to the $45 million funding bill state legislators passed to allow the Department of Insurance in the state to form an incentive program to draw more insurers to…

Citizens provides home insurance to three times the Floridians it used to

March 14, 2023March 13, 2023 Logan B.

As the state sinks further into a coverage crisis, the insurer of last resort’s use is ballooning. The recent inflation and regular severe hurricanes have caused massive home insurance challenges in Florida, forcing many homeowners to turn to the insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance, for coverage. Lawmakers have been working to change regulations to dig out of the crisis, but the crisis is continuing. Both availability and price of home insurance coverage is becoming increasingly problematic in Florida, to the point that many property owners don’t have any…