Local expert addresses hot topic of home insurance availability
Local expert addresses hot topic of home insurance availability

The Via Farallon La Cuesta Firewise group hosted a Zoom meeting, open to the public, on Feb. 22, so that local residents could hear from a local insurance expert about the problem of home insurance nonrenewals. Joel Laucher, a Moraga resident who worked for the…
United Policyholders: February 2022 Events
United Policyholders: February 2022 Events

United Policyholders (UP) is offering a Roadmap to Recovery® Q&A workshop in February for survivors of wildfires in California. You can submit your questions in advance and UP will address them during the webinar. UP will also have two Survivor to Survivor Forums scheduled for…
California Legislature OKs Annuity Sales Rule Update
California Legislature OKs Annuity Sales Rule Update

The California Senate voted 37-0 earlier this week to give final legislative approval to Senate Bill 263, California’s version of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners annuity sales standards model. The bill would update California’s existing annuity suitability rules and require annuity sellers to act…
7 Investigates: Sky-high surprise
7 Investigates: Sky-high surprise

Your insurance company might be checking out your house from the sky. And 7 Investigates found if they don’t like what they see, they’ll cancel your policy. Hank Phillippi Ryan has the story. While the family who owns a Saugus home was hanging out inside……
Virtual town hall will spotlight ‘homeowner insurance crisis’ in Humboldt County
Virtual town hall will spotlight ‘homeowner insurance crisis’ in Humboldt County

As insurers abandon fire-prone areas, homeowners are hard pressed to find — and afford — coverage. Wildfires are increasingly common in rural Northern California, and many homeowners are having to rely on insurance coverage through the insurer of last resort known as the FAIR Plan.…
VIRTUAL TOWN HALL TO ADDRESS HOMEOWNER’S INSURANCE CRISIS IN CALIFORNIA
VIRTUAL TOWN HALL TO ADDRESS HOMEOWNER’S INSURANCE CRISIS IN CALIFORNIA

At this virtual Town Hall, participants will hear from experts from the California Department of Insurance, United Policyholders, University of California Cooperative Extension of Humboldt/Del Norte Counties (UCCE) and CAL FIRE, who will discuss on-going actions being taken to address California’s homeowner insurance crisis and…
As Home Insurance Bills Go Up, Owners’ Coverage Is Going Down
As Home Insurance Bills Go Up, Owners’ Coverage Is Going Down

Frequent natural disasters and high inflation have led insurers to raise premiums, and forced many customers to pare back their policies. Robert Shiver’s bill for his homeowner insurance jumped from $3,800 in 2022 to $8,000 in July. “I remember opening the bill and, honestly, laughing,…
Tucson homeowners struggle with insurance hikes, and non-renewals
Tucson homeowners struggle with insurance hikes, and non-renewals

A growing number of homeowners in southern Arizona are being dropped by their insurance companies. Despite paying for years of coverage, some policy holders aren’t being renewed in 2024. A family from Tucson tells 13 News they weren’t renewed by their insurance company due to…
Bach Talk: CALIFORNIA HOME INSURANCE UPDATE – 2024
Bach Talk: CALIFORNIA HOME INSURANCE UPDATE – 2024

The following is an update on the California home insurance situation from the non-profit consumer organization, United Policyholders, (“UP”).  UP is working hard to help California property owners stay insured and financially protected despite unprecedented availability and affordability challenges in the current marketplace. Insurers are…
Desperate California homeowners turning to the Fair Plan for insurance, but facing severe delays
Desperate California homeowners turning to the Fair Plan for insurance, but facing severe delays

The delays are forcing them to go uninsured, so mortgage lenders are putting them on force-placed insurance, which can cost thousands of dollars a month Lloyd Messineo’s Simi Valley home is surrounded by beautiful hills. But those hills are now creating a problem. “We thought…
Caught in the Crossfire: One Homeowner’s Battle with California’s Overwhelmed Insurance System
Caught in the Crossfire: One Homeowner’s Battle with California’s Overwhelmed Insurance System

When Lloyd Messineo’s homeowners insurance was abruptly dropped due to wildfire risk, he found himself ensnared in a bureaucratic labyrinth. Turning to the California FAIR Plan as a last resort, he faced inexplicable delays and costly force-placed insurance. His story underscores a larger issue that…
Hurricane in California hits homeowners already facing insurance crisis
Hurricane in California hits homeowners already facing insurance crisis

This week’s hurricanes in California hit a part of the US that was already struggling with a home insurance crisis. Insurance costs have become too high in most of California, with some insurers leaving the market, unwilling to take the risks posed by the frequency…
Oklahoma insurance rates increase again – proposed legislation could help
Oklahoma insurance rates increase again – proposed legislation could help

Many families in Oklahoma have been opening up their mail to find notices that their insurance rates have gone up again, sometimes by hundreds of dollars. Frustrated drivers and homeowners have to find ways to budget for the added and unwanted cost. “Oklahoma has been…
Storms in California hit homeowners already facing an insurance crisis
Storms in California hit homeowners already facing an insurance crisis

The storms pummeling California this week hit a part of the US already being battered by a home insurance crisis. Insurance costs in much of California have become exceedingly high, with some insurers abandoning the market, unwilling to take on the risk presented by the…
Storms in California hit homeowners already facing an insurance crisis
Storms in California hit homeowners already facing an insurance crisis

The storms pummeling California this week hit a part of the US already being battered by a home insurance crisis. Insurance costs in much of California have become exceedingly high, with some insurers abandoning the market, unwilling to take on the risk presented by the…
Bach Talk: An insured future depends on bold public/private innovation
Bach Talk: An insured future depends on bold public/private innovation

By Amy Bach, Executive Director, United Policyholders So far 2024 has brought more bad news for property owners, public officials, lenders and home builders on the insurance availability and affordability fronts with non-renewals, scant options and high premiums. Front page news across the country. Rate…
The ‘red flags’ in INSURE Act natural catastrophe reinsurance program bill
The ‘red flags’ in INSURE Act natural catastrophe reinsurance program bill

Insurance policyholder advocates believe reinsurance program is needed amid insurer pullbacks Millions of Americans are squaring up to a homeowners’ insurance affordability and availability crisis, aided by climate change impacts, and legislators are set to grapple with whether a federal reinsurance backstop that has garnered…
Community Foundation grant to help DeSoto residents still recovering from Hurricane Ian
Community Foundation grant to help DeSoto residents still recovering from Hurricane Ian

A nonprofit agency created after Hurricane Ian to aid DeSoto County residents in need of disaster assistance has been awarded a $105,000 grant, the group announced on Tuesday. The Hope DeSoto Long-Term Recovery Group received the grant from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. The…