More than 50 Consumer, Civil Rights, Community Groups Call On Federal Insurance Office to Review Affordability of Auto Insurance in Low-Wealth Communities and Communities of Color
More than 50 Consumer, Civil Rights, Community Groups Call On Federal Insurance Office to Review Affordability of Auto Insurance in Low-Wealth Communities and Communities of Color

Groups Say Basic Auto Insurance Should Not Cost More Than Two Percent of Income for Low- and Moderate-Income Americans. The Federal Insurance Office FIO) must establish a strong affordability standard for low- and moderate-income Americans, according to nearly 50 organizations from 23 states and DC…
Low credit scores raise home insurance rates
Low credit scores raise home insurance rates

If you fall behind on your credit card bills, should your punishment include a homeowners insurance bill up 43 percent? Yes, and it’s perfectly justified, says the insurance industry. Unfair, say consumer advocates. The insurance industry has long used credit scores as a factor in…
How much credit affects your home insurance rate may surprise you
How much credit affects your home insurance rate may surprise you

Credit is playing an increasingly important economic role in Americans’ lives these days, and according to a recent study, your credit history can be a major factor in what you pay for home insurance. For the second year in a row, a Quadrant Information Services…
A Disaster Damaged Your Home? How to File a Successful Insurance Claim
A Disaster Damaged Your Home? How to File a Successful Insurance Claim

The TV commercials make it look so easy: You experience a disaster and, like magic, your insurance company swoops in and solves all your problems. Unfortunately, say consumer advocates, it rarely works that way in real life. Instead, if a disaster such as a fire,…
Homeowners Insurance and Common Natural Disasters
Homeowners Insurance and Common Natural Disasters

No matter where you live in the United States, there’s a good chance you’ll have to deal with one or more natural disasters or severe weather events. After all, every part of the country experiences at least one peril or another—in some cases, it’s hurricanes…
5 ways to cut medical bills long before you stick out your tongue and say “ah”
5 ways to cut medical bills long before you stick out your tongue and say “ah”

Medical costs can still be confusing and startling. But as transparency becomes the norm, we should be able to get a price quote before undergoing a medical procedure, know the amount our health insurance will cover, and even solicit a package price from the hospital.…
Springs renter hopes flooding nightmare can become lesson for others
Springs renter hopes flooding nightmare can become lesson for others

Annaleen DeHaan came home to a nightmare Monday evening. Her home on the east side of Colorado Springs was devastated by floodwater. “My mom calls me and is like, ‘So, the house flooded. I have a foot of mud and water,’” DeHaan said. “I kind…
Insurance issues arising from disasters bring little regulatory change to Colorado
Insurance issues arising from disasters bring little regulatory change to Colorado

The Colorado Division of Insurance, the regulatory agency charged with protecting consumers, has emerged from years of wildfires and floods with few tools to help it track market health in the state, and remains relatively powerless. Colorado residents are more or less where they were…
Insurance nightmare continues for Mountain Shadows family
Insurance nightmare continues for Mountain Shadows family

Three years after the Waldo Canyon Fire, many homeowners still struggle with their insurance claims. Paul and Jennifer Macomber have been at odds with their insurance company, American Family Insurance, since the fire started in June 2012. Their home in Mountain Shadows wasn’t a total…
What to Do if Your Car Insurance is Canceled
What to Do if Your Car Insurance is Canceled

You reach into your mailbox and retrieve a letter from your auto insurance company. It says you and your car are being kicked to the curb.  That’s right — you’re being hit with a car insurance cancellation. “What am I going to do?” you ask…
Capitol Pressroom
Capitol Pressroom

Amy Bach, the executive director of United Policyholders, looks at a report that shows property insurers have reaped higher-than-average profits in New York State despite losses from major weather events like Superstorm Sandy. Bach argues New York insurance law is crafted in a way that…
Insurers reaped outsized profits from NY homeowners’ policies, group says
Insurers reaped outsized profits from NY homeowners’ policies, group says

Despite catastrophic losses from superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Irene, property insurance companies have reaped profits in New York at rates more than double the national average in recent years, according to a study scheduled to be released Monday. Between 2004 and 2013, insurers posted an…
5 home insurance myths you may have fallen for
5 home insurance myths you may have fallen for

It may not be required by law, like auto or health insurance, but you’ll need home insurance to protect your family and household from a financial disaster in case another kind of disaster strikes. Your lender may insist that you have a policy. As with…
Thursday marks anniversary and deadline for Black Forest Fire victims
Thursday marks anniversary and deadline for Black Forest Fire victims

Thursday marks two years since the state’s most destructive wildfire, but it also marks a deadline for insurance policies related to the Black Forest Fire. According to United Policyholders, key deadlines include the expiration of additional living expenses/loss of use benefits, a firm deadline for…
The auto gap insurance dilemma at the dealership: Take the coverage or leave it?
The auto gap insurance dilemma at the dealership: Take the coverage or leave it?

While you’re signing a stack of paperwork in the dealer’s office and eyeing the set of keys to your brand-new ride, your salesman asks if you’d like to add another $500 to your final tab for something you’ve never heard of called “auto gap insurance.”…
Waldo Canyon, Black Forest fire victims see dissimilar outcomes
Waldo Canyon, Black Forest fire victims see dissimilar outcomes

It was the worst of fires – and then came another one even worse. It was a fire in a subdivision and then it was one in a wooded, rural community. It was a fire of quick rebuilding and then it was one where the…
Insurance deadline looms for victims of 2013 Black Forest fire
Insurance deadline looms for victims of 2013 Black Forest fire

The second anniversary of the Black Forest fire on Thursday brings a deadline for many fire victims: it will be their last chance to sue their insurance companies and their last chance to seek to collect the full amount of money they are owed to…
After Texas Floods, A New Test for FEMA’s Beleaguered National Flood Insurance Program
After Texas Floods, A New Test for FEMA’s Beleaguered National Flood Insurance Program

Less than 48 hours after torrential rains flooded parts of Houston in late May, AJ Culembourg found herself ripping up floor boards inside the rental property she and her husband remodeled 18 months ago. Flood waters had reached as high as 18 inches inside the…