Florida Homeowners Insurance Crisis

Florida Homeowners Insurance Problems

Florida homeowner's insurance is in crisis. Over the past few years, the Sunshine State has been afflicted with many home insurance claims due to hurricanes, tropical storms, flooding and sinkholes. This site has news and consumer advice about homeowner's insurance.

Allstate Insurance says "Thanks for all the home owners insurance policy premiums. See you later"

A reader by the name of Kathie sent us this recently:

My 90 year old mother's homeowners insurance with Allstate was recently cancelled.  All they are insuring is contents only and minimal at that.  She has had her auto, property and jewelry policies with Allstate since 1969.   Several other tenants in her condo have Allstate and they were not cancelled.  She was offered Univeral, but with no policy form or pricing as to what to expect.  She is on fixed income as is most of the elderly people in Florida.  Please advise what I can do to ensure my mother can keep Allstate as her insurance carrier.

See our Allstate Homeowners Insurance page for more information on this company's behavior. Kathie's mother's story is the sort of thing that the media would lap up, Big Insurance Company Causes Distress For 90 Year Old Woman.

Citizens Insurance Policy Canceled For Paying Too Much Premium

My friend sent me, and about a hundred other people, the following email on August 10, 2007:

Can anyone recommend the steps I should take getting an answer to this???

I had my homeowners insurance policy with Citizens. I got a check yesterday in the mail for close to the amount of the premium I had paid.

I called my agent and asked what this check was for...who informed me that citizens STATES that they sent a notification it was going to cancel...but they DIDN'T, nor did my insurance agent.

But here's the BEST part....Do you know WHY they cancelled my policy? BECAUSE I OVER PAID!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's right..I gave them TOO much money so they cancelled my policy.

Now - they said they refuse to reinstate my policy, but that they would write me another one...not for the 2700.00 that I Pay Now. BUT FOR 3700.00. only additional 1000.00...well, let me bend over and the FLORIDA INSURANCE COMPANY CAN JUST PULL IT OUT MY A$$.

I GUESS THEY ARE TRYING TO GET ALL THAT THEY CAN BEFORE THE TAX CUTS COME DOWN......
I would appreciate any ideas or suggestions of who i should contact about this....CITIZENS CAN NOT DO THIS!!!!

She can be one squeaky wheel when she chooses to be. Citizens may have bitten off more than they can chew this time.

Citizens Insurance To Reduce Premiums

See the full report in the Tampa Tribune. Highlights include that:

" Citizens Property Insurance Corp. will reduce premiums on its 1.2 million customers - on average, 14.5 percent for high-risk policy holders and 6.7 percent for others.

"Citizens' announcement of rate reductions comes a day after private insurers filed their proposals for cutting homeowners insurance rates."

Note that the rate reductions are substantially less than those foreshadowed by regulators following the special legislative session in January. The Tampa Tribune continues:

"The top five private companies in the Tampa Bay area proposed statewide average decreases of 3.1 percent to 14.2 percent. At the same time, some also have announced thousands of cancellations."

The St Petersburg Times says: "Many of the reductions, which apply only to the wind portion of a policy, are on top of far larger overall rate hikes that were approved last year. In many cases, the reductions merely lower the size of the increase."

Florida Insurance Policy Holders Speak Up

"got canceled , got screwed , got citizens , another citizen leaving the great state of Florida how sad."

So said Lance Raedle in an email to us. Let's hope he comes back.

Anthony F Granda said: That "Citizens Insur Co" screwed me up big time this year. My home insurance was skyrocketed from a roughly $2000 to $6000 what meant my morgage monthly payment also increased from $1100 to 1950, Simply put since I can't afford that "extorsion" I began looking for another job out of Florida where I've been a resident for 14 years.

If you have anything to say, please contact us.

Florida Legislature addresses Homeowner's Insurance

See our summary of what happened from the Florida Government's Special Session on Homeowner's Insurance. The good news according to the pundits is that insurance rates may go down 10 to 25%. The bad news is if a big hurricane slams the state, then the taxpayers may be on the hook for bailing out the states catastrophe fund.

Are Florida Insurance Brokers Making Money From The Florida Homeowner's Insurance Crisis? See our report here.

Other Companies Doing Home Insurance in Florida

However there are insurance companies in Florida other than Citizens who are doing homeowner's insurance policies. You can see our Citizens Insurance Takeout page for example. This site also has ads from insurance companies willing to do property insurance quotes. They wouldn't be advertising if they weren't writing home insurance and condo insurance!

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation

See the Citizens Property Insurance page.

Homeowners Against Citizens (Having Affordable Coverage Florida)

Homeowners Against Citizens, or HAC, is now known as Having Affordable Coverage Florida

Other Community Groups

FIRM, PIRG, ACORN, Coalition of Florida Condominium Associations, Cyber Citizens for Justice, Floridians In Action, Property Owners Association

Small insurers takeout Citizens Insurance Policies

List of Takeout Florida Homeowner's Insurance Companies

They may be able to provide homeowner's insurance quotes as well.