Following the devastation from the tornadoes and the massive storms that have struck central Oklahoma over the last few weeks, homeowners insurance customers have been worried that this will increase their risk level and will cause their premiums to skyrocket.
However, the commissioner has released a statement to assuage those fears and has said that increases will hold off.
Commissioner John Doak has released a statement that has said that the homeowners insurance industry in the state will be holding off from increasing its rates as well as on all non-renewals, terminations, and cancellations, in order to provide the area with adequate recovery time. The moratorium from the Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID) has been called for all of the affected areas from the storms and tornadoes that struck on May 19 and 20, 2013.
This is to help to ensure that homeowners insurance policies that were in effect will remain that way.
According to Commissioner Doak, “Our goal is to help ensure that insurance policies that were in effect will remain in effect while numerous families go through the recovery process.” He added that “Many families have lost everything, so anything we can do to eliminate even the smallest stressors will go a long way in the days to come.”
The commissioner’s office released a bulletin that asked insurers not to terminate, cancel, non-renew, or increase coverage rates for homeowners insurance until the Disaster Emergency Executive Order is lifted. This will help consumers to have enough time to maintain the protection of their policies.
It stated that any homeowners insurance rate increases for policies that were in the counties affected by the storms and tornadoes on or after May 19, 2013 should be “deferred during the pendency of this emergency” and that the coverage must remain effective at the rate that had been previously established. The OID had received over 4,000 home and auto claims by the middle of last week and the number of filings have only continued to rise since that time.