December 10, 2012 Is Your Homeowners Insurance Falling Short? The Cleanup From Superstorm Sandy Has Been an Exercise in Frustration for Homeowners. Here’s How to Maximize Insurance Payouts—and Reduce the Hassle of Filing a Claim. Click here to read the whole article online.
December 7, 2012 Experts: Wider need for flood insurance Think you don’t need flood insurance because you don’t live near the ocean? Or because your mortgage company doesn’t require it? Or because you’re in a low to moderate hazard area according to the National Flood Insurance Program? Think again. If you’re near any body…
December 6, 2012 Sandy Victims Should Winterize Their Homes Coverage Can Exclude Frozen & Burst Pipes, If Precautions Aren’t Taken With winter’s freezing temperatures rapidly approaching, insurance experts are advising victims of Hurricane Sandy to act now to winterize their homes to avoid further damage that won’t be covered by their homeowners policies. Many…
December 5, 2012 Sandy’s Crash Course on Hurricane Deductibles An insurance industry that has taken its lumps from hurricanes has come to treat them differently. Today, homeowners insurance often comes with special and potentially steeper deductibles that kick in when claims are related to the punishing storms. Superstorm Sandy recently raised awareness about hurricane…
December 1, 2012 Wind could blow deductibles higher Newsday.com by: Joe Ryan Sandy may not have been a hurricane by the time it slammed into Long Island, but its winds were still powerful enough to trigger higher insurance deductibles that could cost homeowners thousands of dollars. As the tempest swirled toward New York,…
December 1, 2012 SANDY: Warning on Insurance; Thanks to Sandy, premiums could rise on LI www.newsday.com By: Joe Ryan Long after the electricity returns and the gas lines end, last week’s massive storm is likely to take another swipe at Long Islanders by driving up the cost of homeowners insurance, experts say. Private insurance companies are expected to pay out…
December 1, 2012 Insurance Catch-22; Banks may need to co-endorse checks for repairs www.newsday.com By: Joe Ryan For homeowners struggling to rebuild from Sandy, the bureaucratic maze may not end once the insurance settlement check arrives. Consider the plight of Diane Ortiz and George Tranos, whose Amityville home was gutted by a torrent of seawater. Two weeks later,…
November 29, 2012 Hurricane insurance deductibles: What? When? An insurance industry that has taken its lumps from hurricanes has come to treat them differently. Today, homeowners insurance often comes with special and potentially steeper deductibles that kick in when claims are related to the punishing storms. Superstorm Sandy recently raised awareness about hurricane…
November 29, 2012 Speaking UP Pays In “Sandy Victims Cry Foul Over Insurance” a recent piece that included Executive Director Amy Bach, CNN reporter Deborah Feyerick captured the bad and good news. The bad news is the fear and frustration Sandy victims are experiencing when told the damage to their home…
November 28, 2012 Sandy’s victims find flood insurance coverage wanting As their sodden couches and carpets rot at the curb, Long Islanders are coming to a grim realization: Flood insurance only covers a fraction of what it will cost to replace furniture ravaged by the storm. While most flood policies do cover dining sets, televisions,…
November 27, 2012 Sandy victims cry foul over insurance Superstorm Sandy victims say they’ve been denied insurance. Should they be getting payouts? CNN’s Deb Feyerick reports.
November 12, 2012 Before catastrophe strikes People whose homes were damaged by Superstorm Sandy will soon find out whether they have the right kind of insurance and enough to rebuild. In other recent disasters, one-half to two-thirds of homeowners discovered after the fact that they were underinsured, often by hundreds of…
November 5, 2012 Tips for making insurance claims after Sandy One inevitable consequence of the megastorm named Sandy will linger for a long while after the devastation is cleaned up and the victims buried: a large number of insurance claims from people hoping to rebuild their homes and their lives. Sandy’s historic size and scope…
November 2, 2012 A 12-step plan for your Sandy insurance claim Some consumers will be shocked to learn that superstorm Sandy devastated not only cities, coastal areas and transit systems — but their pocketbooks, too. “A lot of people are going to have a rude wake-up call after this storm and realize that flood damage isn’t…
November 2, 2012 Governor Cuomo Announces Homeowners Will Not Have To Pay Hurricane Deductibles Department of Financial Services Working Closely with Insurers to Speed Response to Homeowners Who Experienced Losses New Yorkers Can Call DFS Disaster Hotline for Help Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that New York homeowners will not have to pay potentially large hurricane deductibles on…
November 1, 2012 The overlooked benefits of renters insurance The storm damage is still be tallied up from Sandy, but lot of New York residents will have to cover their losses themselves. That’s because most households in New York city rent — nearly 70 percent — and renter’s insurance isn’t a very popular product.…
October 29, 2012 Coverage drying up? UP water alert As a downpour drenched but did not deter our Giants this week and we watched the East Coast brace for Frankenstorm, it reminded me that it is time to remind our readers that there are now big differences in how property policies cover (and don’t…
August 27, 2012 Can mortgage lenders hold your insurance money hostage? If your home has been seriously damaged or destroyed, your insurance company will release a check made out to both you and your mortgage lender to pay for the necessary repairs. “Lenders have a substantial investment in the property, sometimes more than the homeowner, especially…