Is this legal?

By federal law each county is required to maintain a set of maps delineating what properties would flood in a 100 year flood. This is a flood that would occur statistically once within a 100 year period. Check with you county zoning or emergency management office to see if your property falls within that designated flood zone.

Thanks, Acquiunk. Of course, everything is closed on the weekend, but I was reassured that my call was important to them.

My property has never been so designated, why now?

Letty--

Why now?

Katrina was a very expensive experience and it's getting to be That Time Of Year again.

I was never touched by katrina, Noddy. The greatest damage to my house, was by Frances. So, Insurance companies can get away with anything, can't they, be they federal or state.

Letty--

I can't cite any particular article, but insurance companies are getting much pickier. Katrina cost a lot of money.

The chances are about 7% that NYC will be hit with a Katrina-type storm--but the insurance companies are crunching possible numbers, saving money and cutting risks whereever they can.

Here in the Pocono's we had two "100-year-storms" with floods in less than a year. Properties halfway up mountains are being double-checked for flooding potential.

Don't you find it maddening when dismal, inconvenient paperwork comes on a weekend?

I know, Noddy. Oft times I just sit and look at the paper and wonder where it all comes from. I just know in my heart that some corporate giant plans these things to fall on the weekend, right?

Letty--

Corporate giant?


Maybe you have a Corporate Giant with a grudge. I have a fiend from Hell personally assigned to confound my paperwork in every possible way.

Hee! Hee! Hey, Noddy. We need to see a corporate lawyer, methinks.

I loved what our drummer once said:

The doctors make all the money and the lawyers take it all away from them. I guess he didn't know about the other arms of the octopi

Letty, Contact your State Attorney General to inquire about insurance policies and terminations. Good luck.

Thanks, C.I. I plan on having a chat with the insurance commissioner as well, but I don't think it will help. Next stop, Gov. Bush? Sure....

This general topic came up in a course I'm taking right now.

As a result of the heavy hurricane-related costs from last year, a number of reinsurers (they insure the insurers against the impact of catastrophic losses) are cutting back on the coverage they are offering to insurers - and are being pickier about what they're allowing insurers to cover. Sometimes in terms of territory - i.e. allowing insurers to cover total risks in a specific are, sometimes based on other criteria.

It's not helpful information, other than a bit of a note that it's targeted at a whole region, not any particular people.

Beth, you read my mind. I was just discussing this topic with someone here.

I understand about the "cutting back" because of the hurricane season, but to me, a checked that has been cashed and gone through my bank, and of which I have a copy, is like a contract. If it is broken, it is NOT legal and the flood insurance people are liable.

Letty, part of an insurance contract is the insurer's right to return the premium to you and cancel the policy ab initio (as if it never existed). You'll find it in the infamous small print.

Each jurisdiction has specific laws about the amount of notice they must give you to find other coverages.

Interesting news story. Hurricanes are very destructive to Insurance Agencies:

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/36628/story.htm

Thanks, Noddy. I finally got my home owner's policy, but where I live is not in a flood prone area, and that is why I am perplexed. Often I wonder if mortgage companies and insurance agencies here are in collusion. Nationwide has farmed my insurance out to so many different companies, that I am never sure who they are nor what my policy is.

Letty, you live in Florida.

That is enough for some carriers to decline providing coverage, as they will be limited in the number of properties they will be allowed to insure in the entire territory. It is not related to your particular property, and its pros and cons.

from the article Noddy linked

I know, Beth. I have heard nothing yet about the flood insurance, but a man from my new agency came by and did an inspection of my house. He couldn't tell me anything. There are so many people involved and none of them seem to know what the other is doing. That's what makes it so difficult to keep up.