In early October, Equifax announced another 2.5 million consumers’ data was stolen bringing the total to 145.5 million people. The data stolen includes names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, credit card numbers, and in some cases driver’s license numbers. Chances are, most adult Americans were victimized by this data theft. Let’s look at what’s changed, what to do, and how this relates to your home and car insurance.
A friend of mine who’s in the water, fire, and smoke damage servicing business asked me to talk with one of his client’s last week. The client was a first-time home buyer and needed some advice on how to deal with a home insurance claim for 6 leaks beneath his slab foundation. His homeowner’s insurance policy was woefully inadequate to deal with the claim as it didn’t have the right coverage added to it.
A client texted me early Monday morning letting me know his car was broken into overnight. The good news was his car wasn’t stolen. What was stolen, though, was his wallet, watch, possibly his passport, a ring, and a few other items. His question was, did his car insurance policy cover this? He has “full” coverage policy on his car which results in a yes and no answer. Let’s look at the reasoning behind the two answers.
The National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP, was already in deep debt, to the tune of $24.6 billion, before Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, and Tropical Storm Nate hit our shores. Further complicating matters, the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, is projecting a budgetary shortfall of $1.4 billion. Let’s examine what’s causing the budgetary shortfall and what the future implications are for the flood insurance program.
In July of this year, news agencies announced Wells Fargo forced unwanted car insurance on 500,000 to over 800,000 of its car loan customers, most of whom had valid car insurance. The type of insurance used is referred to as forced place or lenders insurance. The results of this practice were devastating; 274,000 of Wells Fargo’s customers were forced into delinquency and 25,000 vehicles were wrongfully repossessed. Wells Fargo reaped millions in revenue and fees from this practice.
There are several dog breeds home insurance carriers will decline to write a home or renter’s policy for. These breeds may also result in the insurance company canceling or not renewing the policy if they are acquired after the policy goes into effect.
