Live Insurance News

Homeowners insurance settlement of $300 million to be paid by Chase

March 7, 2014March 4, 2014 G. Turner

Allegations over the force placed policies and the practices surrounding them have led to the payout. A federal judge recently signed off on a JPMorgan Chase settlement that will have the lender paying out a minimum of $300,000 to approximately 750,000 mortgage customers who had expensive homeowners insurance forced upon them. Force placed insurance is commonly applied to mortgage borrowers who let their coverage lapse, breaching their contract. When the required homeowners insurance is allowed to lapse by the mortgage borrower, or if they simply stop paying it, the lender…

Force placed insurance lawsuit causes Citi to pay $110 million

February 10, 2014February 8, 2014 G. Turner

Citigroup Inc. has agreed to pay the money to thousands of homeowners who had been overcharged. According to recent news, Citigroup Inc. has now agreed to a payout of $110 million to thousands of homeowners who had force placed insurance applied to them when the allowed their own coverage to lapse or they stopped making payments. The forcibly charged property coverage came with highly expensive premiums, said a court filing. This trend of force placed insurance lawsuits has been spreading across the United States, as many American insurers and banks…

Force placed insurance regulations to be altered in the United States

November 8, 2013November 5, 2013 G. Turner

The FHFA now intends to ban mortgage lenders from being able to receive payments. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is now working to ban mortgage companies from being able to receive lucrative payments in order to arrange for forced placed insurance on behalf of homeowners in certain situations, such as when an existing policy has been allowed to lapse or has gone unpaid, against the agreement of the loan. The U.S. housing regulator is working to stop this controversial payments practice from continuing. Government officials have revealed that force…

Force placed insurance rules on their way to New York

September 23, 2013September 21, 2013 Julie Campbell

The state intends to implement some sizable and widespread regulations to this practice. Officials from New York have just proposed a new comprehensive list of rules in order to reform the practices of force placed insurance (also known as lender placed or creditor placed), for the industry within that state. These regulations are meant to help to make sure that the procedures will be kept free of abuse. This Department of Financial Services (DFS) in New York has stated that the regulations for force placed insurance are being designed in…

Force placed insurance penalties to be paid by Assurant

May 7, 2013May 8, 2013 Julie Campbell

The amount that the company will be paying will come to an estimated $14 million. Assurant Inc., the largest provider of force placed insurance in the United States, is now facing voluntary penalties of $14 million, following the outcome of an investigation that called the company’s practices into question. This is one of the latest of several similar penalties being faced by insurers with similar practices. Force placed insurance is a completely normal and legal form of coverage in the United States, and is purchased on behalf of a homeowner…

Insurance fraud rapidly growing among mortgage policies

April 11, 2013April 30, 2013

The rate of fraudulent cases has been rising very quickly, to the point of doubling in five years. The latest report based on Experian data has revealed that the rate of mortgage and insurance fraud has risen to 38 cases out of every 10,000 applications as of last year in the United Kingdom. This is over double the rate of the fraudulent claims that was recorded in 2007. The insurance fraud has been rapidly increasing since the start of the economic downturn and the credit crunch that was associated with…

Insurance news investigation includes accusations of kickback scheme

April 9, 2013April 8, 2013 H. Cutner

These allegations are appearing in the mortgage coverage sector and are being investigated by federal regulators. The latest insurance news has revealed that federal regulators have started a massive investigation into allegations of a mortgage coverage kickback scheme that has driven costs for homeowners skywards for nearly two decades. The first action in the investigation has been conducted around a bank and lender kickback scheme. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced the first insurance news that showed that the investigation is focused specifically at a scheme where lenders and banks…