Why Poor Credit Can Triple Your Homeowners Insurance
Why Poor Credit Can Triple Your Homeowners Insurance

It’s no secret that credit scores play an increasingly important role in our financial lives, determining everything from whether we qualify for a mortgage to what interest rate we’ll get on a new credit card. What still may surprise some, however, is how significant credit…
Gardening and Hardening
Gardening and Hardening

We think your insurance company should help and reward you for taking steps to make your property less likely to be damaged or destroyed in a wildfire. We are working hard to make that happen. This is the official start of wildfire season, and now…
Senate Bill Would Extend National Flood Insurance Program for 10 Years
Senate Bill Would Extend National Flood Insurance Program for 10 Years

U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have released draft legislation to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for 10 years. The NFIP is currently set to expire on Sept. 30, 2017. The legislation, the Flood Insurance Affordability & Sustainability Act of…
2017 Advocacy & Action UPdate
2017 Advocacy & Action UPdate

Insurance impacts every American in some way. Not a day goes by when UP doesn’t hear from a person, business, public official or community with an insurance problem. With 25 years of pro-consumer engagement in sales, claims and dispute resolution scenarios, we have a solid…
Ruling puts California insurers on notice that their policies are unlawful
Ruling puts California insurers on notice that their policies are unlawful

In an a recent order, Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl of the Los Angeles Superior Court ruled that Travelers’ California home insurance policies contain an unlawful notice provision related to smoke damage. Travelers is one of a handful of insurance companies that have begun to include…
Essential Property Insurance Coverage Information Withheld from Consumers
Essential Property Insurance Coverage Information Withheld from Consumers

An April 2017 report by United Policyholders reveals the state rankings of homeowner insurance protections that impact buying insurance. The research revealed that many major insurance companies and many states withhold coverage and policy provisions from consumers during the purchase. These same companies and states…
Delaware Ranks High Among States for Homeowners’ Insurance Protections
Delaware Ranks High Among States for Homeowners’ Insurance Protections

Dover, DE – Delaware homeowners are among the most protected in the nation against having their homeowners insurance non-renewed or rates raised due to filing or even inquiring about a claim. This is according to a recent study by the Rutgers Center for Risk and…
How your selfie could affect your life insurance
How your selfie could affect your life insurance

A selfie reveals more than whether it’s a good hair day. Facial lines and contours, droops and dark spots could indicate how well you’re aging, and, when paired with other data, could someday help determine whether you qualify for life insurance. “Your face is something…
Rutgers Law School’s Essential Protections for Policyholders report recommends improvements by states to help homeowners buy insurance
Rutgers Law School’s Essential Protections for Policyholders report recommends improvements by states to help homeowners buy insurance

Coverage, quality, and price are the top issues consumers need to consider when buying or renewing a homeowners insurance policy, but a report by the Rutgers Law School in Camden finds that most states do not require insurance companies to provide adequate information to consumers…
Top 10 states for homeowners’ insurance protections
Top 10 states for homeowners’ insurance protections

Agents are well-aware of how state insurance regulations can affect themselves and the insurance industry as a whole. It’s also important to also know how they affect policyholders, especially homeowners. According to a report by the Rutgers Center for Risk and Responsibility at Rutgers Law…
Flood insurance premiums need to rise by 25% per year
Flood insurance premiums need to rise by 25% per year

The National Flood Insurance Program NFIP) is buckling under the weight of a $25 billion debt, so something’s got to give. For some policyholders, this could mean as much as 25% increases in the rate they pay for coverage every year. In Mississippi, anecdotal evidence…
America’s flood insurance system is sinking
America’s flood insurance system is sinking

Here’s some bad news for the 5 million Americans who have flood insurance policies: Premiums will rise an average 6.3 percent this year, according to the National Flood Insurance Program NFIP). But this could be followed by even worse news when rates rise as much…
Flood Insurance: Pricier This Year, and May Go Higher The New York Times)
Flood Insurance: Pricier This Year, and May Go Higher The New York Times)

New York Times – Many homeowners who have flood insurance — or are seeking to buy it — will face higher premiums this year, because of increases that took effect April 1. Premiums under the National Flood Insurance Program rose an average of about 6…
Pa. High Court Set To Weigh Insurer Bad Faith Standard
Pa. High Court Set To Weigh Insurer Bad Faith Standard

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear arguments on Tuesday over the proper standard to impose bad faith penalties against insurance companies, in a case over a cancer insurance claim that has garnered intense attention from insurers and policyholders alike. Here, Law360 breaks down the history…
Policyholders Group Backs D&O Coverage Denial Appeal
Policyholders Group Backs D&O Coverage Denial Appeal

A nonprofit insurance policyholders advocacy group asked the Ninth Circuit on Thursday to overturn a California federal judge’s decision that an educational technology company isn’t covered for a suit alleging an incentive program for its recruiters broke federal law, saying the lower court rendered the…
Texas Senate Bill 10 Would Adversely Affect All Insureds
Texas Senate Bill 10 Would Adversely Affect All Insureds

All Texas businesses should be concerned about the potential passage of Senate Bill 10 (SB 10). While several lawmakers tout SB 10 as tailored legislation to curb “hailstorm lawsuit abuse,” SB 10 is much broader and impacts all policyholders. Indeed, SB 10 fails to reference…
A Flood of (tightening the) Belt(way) Attention
A Flood of (tightening the) Belt(way) Attention

Reforming and/or re-authorizing the ​National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has moved front and center in our nation’s Capitol in the past month, and was mentioned prominently in the budget proposal recently issued by the White House. The NFIP is basically a privatized government program created by Congress through which insurance companies and vendors…
The “Catch UP” webinar series: Making appraisal work for your client
The “Catch UP” webinar series: Making appraisal work for your client

Catch UP on how to use the appraisal process to settle an insurance dispute from the comfort of your home or office.  Lawyers can earn continuing ed credit for registering for the webinar.  And best of all, your registration fee supports our non-profit’s important work…