In tornado alley, building practices boost damage
In tornado alley, building practices boost damage

View PhotoReuters/Reuters – Memorial Day fireworks explode over a house damaged by the May 20 afternoon tornado in Moore, Oklahoma May 26, 2013. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson By Greg McCune(Reuters) – In a residential neighborhood near the center of a monster tornado that struck Moore,Oklahoma last month,…
Protecting the house: A movement to actual cash value in homeowners’ policies invites issues with roof claims.
Protecting the house: A movement to actual cash value in homeowners’ policies invites issues with roof claims.

By: Dean Jarvis The tragic Moore, Okla., tornado has jump-started what could be a very active tornado term that precedes the start of the Atlantic hurricane season. When these wind-related storms strike, it’s inevitable that roofing claims will follow.This reality comes amidst a trend over…
Allstate to get big test in Oklahoma
Allstate to get big test in Oklahoma

In tornado-ravaged Oklahoma, Allstate Corp. is about to get a first true test of how consumers respond to its new, less generous approach to insuring homes. About 18 months ago, Oklahoma became the first state in the country to get Allstate’s new House and Home…
Tornado May Cost Property-Casualty Insurers a Couple of Billion
Tornado May Cost Property-Casualty Insurers a Couple of Billion

Property-casualty insurance companies are expected to face at least a couple billion dollars of insured losses from the tornado near Moore, Okla., according to rough calculations by Wall Street analysts. Some consumer activists are already expressing concern about homeowners falling short of the needed money…
Most Americans uninformed about long-term care insurance
Most Americans uninformed about long-term care insurance
Superstorm spotlights home insurance
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…
Can mortgage lenders hold your insurance money hostage?
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…
Consumer Reports Rates Home Insurers
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…
Enough’ Insurance is Often Not Enough
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…
RentSafe: Is it a safe choice for renter’s insurance?
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…
Sharp Disagreement At NAIC Session On Readability Of Consumer Information
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…
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…
5 lies home insurance agents tell
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…
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…
Tornadoes: Extreme Weather Revs Up Insurance Costs
Tornadoes: Extreme Weather Revs Up Insurance Costs

In the wake of more than 245 tornadoes that slammed into parts of North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas and other southern states last weekend, leaving 45 people dead and leveling hundreds of homes, insurance companies have been flooded with thousands of claims, which ultimately could mean…
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…
Will Americans pay attention to earthquake insurance now?
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…
Apps for Taking Inventory at Home
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…