Hurricane Florence Aftermath: The Best Financial Options for Repairing Your Home
Hurricane Florence Aftermath: The Best Financial Options for Repairing Your Home

More than two weeks after Hurricane Florence’s devastating crawl across the Carolinas and Virginia, many homeowners are assessing the damage and beginning to make repairs. According to real estate data provider CoreLogic, the storm affected 624,000 homes, the vast majority unprotected by flood insurance. Standard…
Get your papers in order
Get your papers in order

Part of getting ready for a disaster means getting your financial house in order. Thousands of people who lost homes in the 2017 California wildfires discovered too late that their insurance coverage had not kept up with the rising cost of lumber, labor and other…
Trim Your Home Insurance Premium
Trim Your Home Insurance Premium

Whether you stay with your current insurer or switch, you can lower your rate without sacrificing coverage. Car insurance companies are falling all over themselves to grab your attention with clever TV ads, giving the impression that lowering your premium is as easy as picking…
North Bay fire victims should be aware of deadlines to sue their homeowner insurers
North Bay fire victims should be aware of deadlines to sue their homeowner insurers

As the first anniversary of the North Bay wildfires approaches, people who lost their homes in the natural disasters should take steps to ensure they do not lose the ability to sue their homeowner insurers if they think they have been treated unfairly, according to…
Sonoma County Medical Association holds fires-recovery workshop
Sonoma County Medical Association holds fires-recovery workshop

Like anyone who has been affected by October 2017’s wildfires, physicians need ongoing support and assistance in rebuilding their lives. And they continue to receive it. On Wednesday the Sonoma County Medical Association held the third in its ongoing series of fire-recovery programs and workshops…
How claims SHOULD be handled
How claims SHOULD be handled

Although this is an insurance company advertisement, and the policyholder is clearly reading from a script presumably written by the insurance company, it highlights how claims should be handled, and how they shouldn’t.  We at UP fully recognize that catastrophe claims put strains on insurance company resources, and…
What happens when you buy a house in a disaster zone – and no one told you?
What happens when you buy a house in a disaster zone – and no one told you?

In many states, laws don’t require sellers to disclose that a property is in a flood or wildfire area, leaving homeowners with unexpected damage and losses The house on Weber Hill Road is almost a year gone, but it still haunts Emilie Hayes. Thirteen years…
Bummer about your medical emergency, but your claim is denied because you didn’t call in advance
Bummer about your medical emergency, but your claim is denied because you didn’t call in advance

Of the many dubious reasons insurers use for denying claims, one of the most bizarre is telling a patient they neglected to obtain prior approval for treatment in the midst of a medical emergency. Because, of course, the first thing most people think of in…
Private firefighters and five-star hotels: how the rich sit out wildfires
Private firefighters and five-star hotels: how the rich sit out wildfires

With record-breaking wildfires carving up the American west this summer, firefighters have become the rarest of civil servants: the kind almost universally lauded as heroes. Reinforcements dropped into California’s firefight from as far away as Australia and American Samoa to bolster strained state and federal…
Carr Fire debris removal service limitations
Carr Fire debris removal service limitations

REDDING, Calif. — Debris removal from the Carr Fire is under way in Shasta County, but before the crews clear your land, there’s some last-minute information you should know. Janelle Galbraith Management Assistant to the City Manager, with the Redding city planner’s office says once…
Green Mountain Falls homes hit with mudslides, little help available
Green Mountain Falls homes hit with mudslides, little help available

Cascading hail accumulated on Lamar Mathews’ windshield as she made her way up the back road to Green Mountain Falls, through Chipita Park. She’d been stuck in traffic on U.S. 24 going west from Colorado Springs for quite some time before managing to get on…
Hurricane Florence’s next challenge: Dealing with insurers
Hurricane Florence’s next challenge: Dealing with insurers

Soon after the still-rising flood waters from Hurricane Florence begin to recede, the rebuilding process in devastated parts of North and South Carolina will get underway. Insurers will have to write an estimated $10 billion check for that, said the Consumer Federation of America CFA).…
No flood insurance? You can still get help
No flood insurance? You can still get help

More than a million people in North and South Carolina have suffered from the flood waters driven ashore by Hurricane Florence. Nearly 750,000 of them were forced to evacuate, while others were trapped by a deluge of more than 30 inches of rain. Even when…
Hurricane Florence storm surge damage may not be covered
Hurricane Florence storm surge damage may not be covered

As Hurricane Florence makes landfall, homeowners along the North and South Carolina coasts could face up to 14 feet of storm surge — tidal water driven by high winds. But many of them could discover that their insurance doesn’t cover damage from that common hurricane…
Homeowner Advocate Seeks Wildfire Victims for Insurance Survey
Homeowner Advocate Seeks Wildfire Victims for Insurance Survey

As the anniversary of the October 2017 North Bay wildfires approaches, a San Francisco group is interested in hearing from Californians whose homes were damaged or destroyed. United Policyholders, a non-profit that has held several workshops to help fire victims tackle insurance issues, is conducting…
Press Release: Wildfire-impacted households face emotions, decisions at the one-year mark: Help is available, survey underway
Press Release: Wildfire-impacted households face emotions, decisions at the one-year mark: Help is available, survey underway

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – September 6, 2018 – United Policyholders (UP), a nonprofit insurance consumer organization, will offer guidance to wildfire-impacted households on navigating deadlines, decisions and emotions at the one-year anniversary of their devastating losses at a free workshop. UP is also asking all…
Is Your Financial Plan Future-Proof? 4 Quick Ways To Plan For The Unexpected
Is Your Financial Plan Future-Proof? 4 Quick Ways To Plan For The Unexpected

September is National Preparedness Month, making now the perfect time to update your disaster-preparedness kit and family plan or visit Ready.gov to learn how to put one together. It’s also a great time to revisit your financial plan, with special consideration to how prepared you…
California Wine Country Fires Leave Homeowners Struggling
California Wine Country Fires Leave Homeowners Struggling

SANTA ROSA, Calif. AP) – Nearly a year after California’s most destructive set of blazes in state history, only a fraction of nearly 2,700 single-family homes lost in Santa Rosa- the hardest-hit city – have been rebuilt. Santa Rosa City permitting data indicate only nine…