05 May
Posted by Lisa Wilson as Home Insurance
Insurance companies hoping to gain access to over 800,000 free-agent flood insurance policies are fighting on Capitol Hill this week. Since State Farm Insurance dropped the policies last year to lighten its burden, other major insurers hope to gain control of them to increase their profits.
A number of major insurance companies, including Fidelity National, Allstate, Travelers and The Hartford are hoping to gain access to flood insurance policies State Farm dropped last year, which represent approximately 15 percent of the $3.3-billion flood insurance market.
While State Farm did not insure property against floods or storm surgesthis is handled by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)the program relies on private insurers to administer the policies and State Farm was NFIPs largest administrator.
State Farm dropped its policies in the middle of 2010 as it, among other insurers, grew frustrated with the shaky NFIP and its continual expirations, which left many policyholders without coverage for weeks at a time.
20 Jan
Posted by Lisa Wilson as Home Insurance
Homeowners carrying State Farm insurance will find out in the next few weeks whether they are a part of 125,000 policies that the insurer plans to purge. The major homeowners insurance company originally set out to eliminate over 800,000 policies, but settled on the lower number in exchange for a higher interest rate.
In May 2009, we reported that State Farm was to hold a meeting with Florida insurance regulators with the intention of ridding itself of hundreds of thousands of property and homeowners insurance policies.
In the negotiations, the insurer was encouraged keep the majority of its policies.