I sustained major damage in my home from Wilma. Then a main sewage pipe burst in my yard and flooded my home. (I still really believe that it was due to the lift station being down for a month with no power and backing up in my house, but I can\’t prove it)
My house is 50 years old, so my insurance company did have to spend a bit on code upgrades. But I spent the extra $50K or so to upgrade my home. I didn\’t hold my hand out to the company, I took out a loan against my home to do it. And now I\’m redoing the kitchen at my own expense. (and yes, I am putting in real wood cabinets) No, I couldn\’t have remodeled most of my home without insurance. But the damage was done, the rooms had to be repaired, so I went with what I wanted instead of what was there. So now I want my home insured for the value of all the upgrades I installed. But Citizens has their precious LCE and they are fighting me. Since I only had a certain amount for the last 7 years it appears on paper that I am trying to upgrade my house at their expense. I didn\’t. I\’m trying to insure my home for the upgrades I put in with my own money.
(and no, I have not upgraded beyond the market value of the home)
Dawn, had a situation pretty much the same as yours. We were told by an underwriter @ Citizens that if we gave them a new appraisal they would up the limits. We provided a new appraisal and the policy was endorsed to the higher limit.
Just to clear the air…Citizens is reporting an operating profit for 2006 of $2.7 billion. Yes, Billion. $1 billion was an \”underwriting\” profit and $1.7 was Assessment Income. The \”company\” has almost $1 billion in surplus (retained earnings in accounting lingo) an dover $8 billion in cash.
Their operating profit exceeded the estimated profit for the rest of the industry in Florida.
Shows what happens when the wind doesn\’t blow.
By the way the industry is still in the hole for $10 billion for the 2004-2006 period.
Well, I guess if you look at it in snapshots, anybody can make a profit. However, their surplus is not nearly enough to support their TIV. And, they have no reinsurance expense which can be as high as .60 on the dollar for private markets. And is the 8 billion cash in hand, or does it include all of their approved credit facilities? Big difference.
This company, which in most cases is allowed to charge higher premiums than it\’s competitors for the same exposure, is not profitable in any way when you look at the total picture. The reinsurance costs are a massive advantage, as is the right to pass on losses to the private market. This \”company\” is a sham, and needs to be shut down. But I doubt anyone in management is about to give up all of the sweet government jobs that have been created.
Don\’t forget the fact that they have to pay people to do the same job 3 or 4 times. That costs, too.
The rollback endorsements aren\’t right, the corrections aren\’t right, and basically have to be done 3 or 4 times PER POLICY.
I actually came across one so called Citizens CSR that told me I couldn\’t up the coverage on the Personal Property because the insured didn\’t have Personal Property coverage, only contents.
THAT\’S part of what the money goes to.
You are so right on Dawn. They have people working for them that have no insurance background and are not trained properly. I had several mortgagee changes and even though the insured is the payor they changed the payor to the new mortgagee. You can call them and ask 3 underwriters the same question and get 3 different answers. Maybe if they hired intelligent people in the first place they could save some money.
I told you so. I am the daddy of Anna Nicole\’s baby. People ask me how I intend to support little Dannielyn and I tell them that I am going to be the CEO of a big insurance company and pay myself millions and get millions in stock options and millions in bonuses. I will be able to take care of her very well until she gets her hundreds of millions and then can support me.
During special session earlier this year we confronted a Fl. Senator on the insurance committee and asked him why they were underfunding Citizens. At first he said they were not, but pressing further he finally admitted they are intentionally underfunding Citizens in hopes the Federal Government will bail out Florida in the event of a Cat or multiple CATS, because Citizens will not have the capacity to pay claims basing rates on a 50 year plan versus the mandatory 100 year projection for the private carriers. Today Citizens long term existance is based solely on the federal government bailing them out. And what happens when the feds don\’t bail out, we now have three assessable funds to assess the policyholders and taxpayers of Florida and we thought $400million was a lot. Just wait.
And wait until the Citizens board meets, they will also make further cuts to agents commissions, because they do not understand that writing over 40,000 policies a month means your acquisition costs will be high in the first year.
This whole thing can be a mess if we are hit with any hurricanes in 2007.
I noticed the article said that is Citizens price was within 15% of the standard carriers price. It is actually 25% lower than what the standard carrier charges for like coverages and deductible. Got that right from Citizens website.
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I sustained major damage in my home from Wilma. Then a main sewage pipe burst in my yard and flooded my home. (I still really believe that it was due to the lift station being down for a month with no power and backing up in my house, but I can\’t prove it)
My house is 50 years old, so my insurance company did have to spend a bit on code upgrades. But I spent the extra $50K or so to upgrade my home. I didn\’t hold my hand out to the company, I took out a loan against my home to do it. And now I\’m redoing the kitchen at my own expense. (and yes, I am putting in real wood cabinets) No, I couldn\’t have remodeled most of my home without insurance. But the damage was done, the rooms had to be repaired, so I went with what I wanted instead of what was there. So now I want my home insured for the value of all the upgrades I installed. But Citizens has their precious LCE and they are fighting me. Since I only had a certain amount for the last 7 years it appears on paper that I am trying to upgrade my house at their expense. I didn\’t. I\’m trying to insure my home for the upgrades I put in with my own money.
(and no, I have not upgraded beyond the market value of the home)
Dawn, had a situation pretty much the same as yours. We were told by an underwriter @ Citizens that if we gave them a new appraisal they would up the limits. We provided a new appraisal and the policy was endorsed to the higher limit.
Just to clear the air…Citizens is reporting an operating profit for 2006 of $2.7 billion. Yes, Billion. $1 billion was an \”underwriting\” profit and $1.7 was Assessment Income. The \”company\” has almost $1 billion in surplus (retained earnings in accounting lingo) an dover $8 billion in cash.
Their operating profit exceeded the estimated profit for the rest of the industry in Florida.
Shows what happens when the wind doesn\’t blow.
By the way the industry is still in the hole for $10 billion for the 2004-2006 period.
Well, I guess if you look at it in snapshots, anybody can make a profit. However, their surplus is not nearly enough to support their TIV. And, they have no reinsurance expense which can be as high as .60 on the dollar for private markets. And is the 8 billion cash in hand, or does it include all of their approved credit facilities? Big difference.
This company, which in most cases is allowed to charge higher premiums than it\’s competitors for the same exposure, is not profitable in any way when you look at the total picture. The reinsurance costs are a massive advantage, as is the right to pass on losses to the private market. This \”company\” is a sham, and needs to be shut down. But I doubt anyone in management is about to give up all of the sweet government jobs that have been created.
Don\’t forget the fact that they have to pay people to do the same job 3 or 4 times. That costs, too.
The rollback endorsements aren\’t right, the corrections aren\’t right, and basically have to be done 3 or 4 times PER POLICY.
I actually came across one so called Citizens CSR that told me I couldn\’t up the coverage on the Personal Property because the insured didn\’t have Personal Property coverage, only contents.
THAT\’S part of what the money goes to.
You are so right on Dawn. They have people working for them that have no insurance background and are not trained properly. I had several mortgagee changes and even though the insured is the payor they changed the payor to the new mortgagee. You can call them and ask 3 underwriters the same question and get 3 different answers. Maybe if they hired intelligent people in the first place they could save some money.
I told you so. I am the daddy of Anna Nicole\’s baby. People ask me how I intend to support little Dannielyn and I tell them that I am going to be the CEO of a big insurance company and pay myself millions and get millions in stock options and millions in bonuses. I will be able to take care of her very well until she gets her hundreds of millions and then can support me.
I think you\’re an imposter. Surely, the REAL Larry Birkhead would know how to spell his own name.
Guess you will need to devise a new plan now.
During special session earlier this year we confronted a Fl. Senator on the insurance committee and asked him why they were underfunding Citizens. At first he said they were not, but pressing further he finally admitted they are intentionally underfunding Citizens in hopes the Federal Government will bail out Florida in the event of a Cat or multiple CATS, because Citizens will not have the capacity to pay claims basing rates on a 50 year plan versus the mandatory 100 year projection for the private carriers. Today Citizens long term existance is based solely on the federal government bailing them out. And what happens when the feds don\’t bail out, we now have three assessable funds to assess the policyholders and taxpayers of Florida and we thought $400million was a lot. Just wait.
And wait until the Citizens board meets, they will also make further cuts to agents commissions, because they do not understand that writing over 40,000 policies a month means your acquisition costs will be high in the first year.
This whole thing can be a mess if we are hit with any hurricanes in 2007.
I noticed the article said that is Citizens price was within 15% of the standard carriers price. It is actually 25% lower than what the standard carrier charges for like coverages and deductible. Got that right from Citizens website.