February 29, 2024 New images reveal more damage to historic Bisbee hotel than first reported The owner of the historic Letson Loft Hotel has shown News 4 Tucson new pictures to show how bad the damage was from the Valentine’s Day blaze. Before News 4 Tucson met up with Tom Firth on Feb. 15, his Letson Loft Hotel was nothing…
February 12, 2024 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…
March 15, 2023 Insurance consumer advocate group unveils state-by-state guide to insurance legal rights For Immediate Release: March 13, 2023 Contact: Amy Bach, Executive Director SAN FRANCISCO, March 9, 2023 – United Policyholders (UP), a national insurance consumer advocacy non-profit, today announced a major expansion of its services. Insurance company claim adjusters are required to know and follow the…
November 5, 2012 Superstorm spotlights home insurance People whose homes were damaged by superstorm Sandy will soon find out whether or not they have enough and the right kind of insurance to rebuild. In other recent disasters, one-half to two-thirds of homeowners discovered after the fact that they were underinsured, often by…
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…
August 8, 2012 Consumer Reports Rates Home Insurers Homeowners buy insurance to protect against disaster. But when disaster strikes, your insurer might not live up to your expectations, especially if you have a large claim, according to our survey of 11,250 subscribers who filed claims in the past few years. The greater the…
July 26, 2012 Enough’ Insurance is Often Not Enough In the past few weeks, the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history claimed two lives, burned nearly 30 square miles and totally destroyed more than 350 homes. Like almost all homeowners everywhere in the United States, nearly everyone who lost their house to this massive…
May 16, 2012 RentSafe: Is it a safe choice for renter’s insurance? About half of American renters don’t have insurance. Some of them probably don’t realize that it’s fairly cheap to buy coverage that’ll protect them if their place catches fire, their stuff gets stolen or even if the dog bites a neighbor. “Renter’s insurance is very…
November 7, 2011 Sharp Disagreement At NAIC Session On Readability Of Consumer Information Industry representatives sharply disagreed with two law professors who argued personal lines policies should be posted online where they would be readily available to consumers who wanted to look at them prior to signing onto them. Spokesmen for the American Insurance Association and the National…
June 30, 2011 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…
June 21, 2011 5 lies home insurance agents tell Sometimes insurance agents tell you what they think you want to hear in order to sell a home insurance policy and secure a commission. When misfortunes occur, homeowners who count on insurance to carry them through tough times sometimes get an unpleasant surprise: They don’t…
June 16, 2011 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…
June 13, 2011 Wallow Fire: Property owners facing insurance issues While consuming hundreds of thousands of acres of forest lands and meadows, the Wallow Fire has destroyed more than 50 structures in its path, with more than 5,000 still in danger. Whether the owners of destroyed or damaged buildings will be able to rebuild and…
April 18, 2011 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…
April 11, 2011 Will Americans pay attention to earthquake insurance now? The advice can’t get any simpler than this: “People who live near fault lines should have earthquake insurance,” says Amy Bach, executive director of the United Policyholders consumer organization. Will the disaster in Japan be the crisis that compels Americans in quake-prone areas to pay…
April 4, 2011 Apps for Taking Inventory at Home By FARHAD MANJOO, The New York TimesHONESTLY, I didn’t set out to be a hoarder. It’s just that I’m a tech reviewer, and sometimes that amounts to the same thing. Technology companies are always sending me gadgets to evaluate; it’s my job to catalog everything…
March 28, 2011 Are you insured for the Big One? Just 12% of homes in the state with fire insurance also have earthquake coverage, according to the California Earthquake Authority. Here’s what consumers shopping for coverage need to know. Reporting from Sacramento— The massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan will cost insurance companies billions…