The escrow company didn’t pay Farmer’s Insurance this year so they cancelled me. I sent Farmer’s a check when I got the notice saying it wasn’t paid, but it was too late. (They might have decided to play hardball because a tree fell on my house last year and they had to payout a few $K…)
Since State Farm isn’t writing policies there any more, can someone suggest an insurance company or insurance broker in the Berkley, El Cerrito area that will give me coverage? This is for a single family dwelling in El Sobrante that I have rented out while I am up here in Portland, Oregon. Being deaf and not able to hear over the phone tends to complicate transactions a bit…
Thanks for any help,
Casey
Replies
Casey, perhaps the escrow company should help you out a little and find you an insurance company since they seemed to have neglected their duties by not paying the bill when due. I haven't had an escrow company in over 10 years, I do my own, so I am not sure what kind of contractual liability they have with respect to you. With that being said, I would do a web search and see what companies are doing business in that area. I have Erie Insurance and really like them. I don't know if they do business in your state.
I can't believe that you gave such bad advice on this forum.
"Casey, perhaps the escrow company should help you out a little and find you an insurance company since they seemed to have neglected their duties by not paying the bill when due."
No they should help him out ALOT. <G>
Casey;
This is a serious breach of the mortgage companies fiduciary (sp?) responsibility. You have been damaged. You might want to hire an attorney in the area. They need to make this right. Even if it includes them "insuring you" by posting a bond for the maximum amount of the property, liability converage, and legal expenses.
At least file a complaint with the California Corporation Commission.
http://www.corp.ca.gov/pub/mb.htm
http://www.corp.ca.gov/sitemap.html
As to your orginal question I had some ideas until I saw that this was an out of state rental.
My only suggestion is to go back to Farmers and ask them if they will cover it if you increase the deductable to $1000 or maybe 2 or 5,0000.
A Farmers agent suggested that to me when I had trouble getting a policy after my old company refused to renew and I went back to my orginal company and they wrote the policy with a $1000 deductable. Two years later I think went with the Farmers agent.
BTW, could you use TTD and a relay service to contact the insurance companies?
Actually, as with many such things in life, the situation is not so simple. I over simplified the situation to avoid posting a long treatise. The situation is that I refinanced and gave the broker arranging the loan the insurance information with the application. The bank faxed me just before the closing and said they needed the insurance information, so I faxed the information to them. When I got the notice that the insurance had lapsed, I contacted the bank and the escrow company. The bank said neither they nor the escrow company have the insurance information, the escrow company has not responded to my e-mails and faxes.
The bank originally said they would not do the closing without the insurance information. Since they sent the closing papers up to me Oregon to sign, I assumed they had received the insurance information, but they claim they don't have it. Since I faxed it, I don't really have any proof that they received it. Trying to do things long distance when you can't hear over the phone tends to rather problematic, it turns out.
I am already having to battle my previous mortgage company because they foreclosed when I didn't pay an extra $200 a month escrow charge that even they admitted that I didn't owe but they refused to correct. On this one, I would just as soon find another good insurance company and go on with life...
I had a TDD, but found that few places had one. Fax and e-mail worked much better, so when my TDD died, I didn't bother to replace it.
My Farmer's Insurance agent was a great lady, so I am trying to contact her to see if anything can be worked out, but I am somewhat doubtful. Thus I would like to have a "Plan B" in place for immediate deployment. I assume that getting new coverage may not be easy. However, even though Farmer's mentioned "cancellation" in the description of the refund check, it would seem that this is really a failure to renew on my part rather than a real cancellation, although that little distinction might not make any difference.
Thanks for the thoughts.
I don't know about where you live, but in Virginia it is illegal to deny someone coverage because they have been cancelled by another company. That being said, it is getting very difficult to find insurance here if you have even one or two claims on your history. My suggestion would be to contact your state's board of insurance to get a list of companies providing insurance in your area. Many will have web sites that allow you to request a quote on-line. Don't get discouraged if you get turned down by a few--they all have vastly different criteria for who they will insure so you're likely to find someone eventually.
Edited 8/8/2002 2:23:03 PM ET by GJANDER
Edited 8/8/2002 2:23:31 PM ET by GJANDER