Insuring your home – Make sure your coverage stands up in a worst-case scenario
Insuring your home – Make sure your coverage stands up in a worst-case scenario

The first six months of 2011 were a tough time to be a homeowner: wildfires in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas; damaging snow in the Midwest; floods in the Midwest and Plains; and tornadoes, hail, wind, or lightning almost everywhere east of the Rockies. Thank…
Lloyd’s of London Settles Class Action Lawsuit
Lloyd’s of London Settles Class Action Lawsuit
Tenacious P(olicyholder)
Tenacious P(olicyholder)

Listing and valuing damaged or stolen property and negotiating a settlement with your insurer can cost you a lot of time and money. But unless it’s a business loss, you’ll have to be tenacious to get your insurer to reimburse you for expenses related to…
Unusual Earthquakes Leave Many Wondering: Is My Home Covered?
Unusual Earthquakes Leave Many Wondering: Is My Home Covered?

Debbie Saathoff, 62, of Bowie, Md., says she heard a giant cracking sound first. Then the pictures flew off the walls and vases on shelves came tumbling down and smashed as her home moved back and forth. “It was the scariest thing I have been…
Top insurance cop?
Top insurance cop?

Every state has a top insurance cop (regulator) whose job includes protecting consumers and making sure the insurance companies doing business in their state are financially strong enough to pay claims. Each has his/her own view on what “protecting consumers” means and how far they…
Low-cost car insurance proposed in Michigan
Low-cost car insurance proposed in Michigan

Not being able to afford car insurance so you can legally drive to job interviews is a burden for unemployed residents of most states. And without a job, it’s hard to come up with the money for car insurance. In Michigan, state Sen. Virgil Smith…
Insurance Commissioner: Time to prepare for wildfires
Insurance Commissioner: Time to prepare for wildfires

With the advent of fire season, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones visited Rancho Bernardo Thursday to remind locals that they should prepare a home inventory list now. The list, along with doing an annual update of property insurance policies to reflect current rebuilding prices and…
Insurance Commissioner Jones Announces New Regulations to Protect Homeowners From Being Underinsured
Insurance Commissioner Jones Announces New Regulations to Protect Homeowners From Being Underinsured

Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, joined by Amy Bach, Executive Director of United Policyholders, announced today a series of new homeowners regulations aimed at enhancing the standards and training for estimating the replacement value on homeowners’ insurance in the event of a disaster. These new regulations…
Vanishing Act: Your Home Insurance Coverage is Disappearing
Vanishing Act: Your Home Insurance Coverage is Disappearing

There’s a disturbing nationwide trend of insurance companies chipping away at coverage for homeowners, says Amy Bach, executive director of the nonprofit United Policyholders consumer group. She says she’s disturbed by what she sees as policies becoming less adequate. “We have been working on a…
Nine tips for buying auto insurance online
Nine tips for buying auto insurance online

Just as more consumers are gravitating toward shopping sites like Amazon.com and Zappos.com, more auto insurance consumers are shopping online than ever before. According to a 2011 study by J.D. Power and Associates, 54 percent of auto insurance shoppers are getting quotes online. That’s up…
No dental insurance? Here are 3 options
No dental insurance? Here are 3 options

Can’t get dental insurance coverage through your employer? If not, you may be tempted to skip dental cleanings and other treatments. But good basic care lowers your risk of suffering a major, expensive problem in the future. There are three ways to approach dental care…
Are home warranty policies worth the cost?
Are home warranty policies worth the cost?

A home warranty can protect your home’s heating, electrical, cooling and other systems from expensive problems that regular home insurance doesn’t cover. That means if your water heater fails, a home warranty – legally known as a service contract –could save you hundreds of dollars…
Umbrella Insurance?
Umbrella Insurance?

Q: What is an umbrella insurance policy, and under what circumstances should I have one? — Matthew M., Smithfield, N.Y. A: An umbrella policy is extra liability insurance that protects you if you are sued. Homeowners and auto policies offer personal liability coverage, but most…
inCREDITable
inCREDITable

It may surprise you to learn that your credit rating is probably impacting the amount you’re paying for insurance more than your driving record or the condition of your home. This is called “credit-based insurance scoring.” The worse your score, the higher your premium. There…
Property owners in the path of Mississippi River flooding are taking out mortgages to beat the 30-day waiting period on insurance
Property owners in the path of Mississippi River flooding are taking out mortgages to beat the 30-day waiting period on insurance

Cliff Merritt has taken applications for 300 loans in the past two weeks at his small Louisiana bank.It’s not that the economy or housing market in Vidalia has suddenly picked up. Rather, people worried about levees failing along the swollen Mississippi River have found a…
Shaken Awake Conference
Shaken Awake Conference

With the recent Japan and New Zealand earthquakes as a backdrop, we are mindful of the risk we face in the Bay Area from earthquakes. The close proximity of faults, coupled with a large population of older houses, puts a huge percentage of our housing…
Under My Umbrella
Under My Umbrella

No one wants to pay for insurance they don’t need. Most people go a lifetime without being sued, so the idea of buying more than basic insurance against lawsuits (“Liability Insurance”) may seem unnecessary. But the legal expenses you’ll incur if you ever are sued…
Got Insurance? Enough? You Sure?
Got Insurance? Enough? You Sure?

Many U.S. homeowners haven’t insured their homes against earthquakes and other disasters, but the devastating losses in the wake of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan may cause people to give their insurance policies another look. As well they should. Earthquakes have occurred in…