I don’t think Citizens has lowered Personal Liability to $100k. $300k is still available. Also, they still offer sinkhole coverage at the AOP deductible.
I would think a few small changes would be an easy start. For example raise the rate differential for acceptability from 15% to 25%. Or how about requiring an RCE for condos?
I am trying to be kind here but common!!! You are an Agent and you probably write a lot of Citizens Policy’s. Why don’t you educate yourself on what Mr. Scott has done and what is proposed through the year 2012? Do you not read your bulletins? You should be on the frontline of this issue and educating your clients and yourself as to whats is going on, why and lastly look at the way they have sprung this on people!! Sneaky and Dirty. It never should have been.
Sneaky and dirty it is not. Citizens must depopulate and return to the insurer of last resort. So many times I’ll have a quote just slightly above Citizens go to Citizens with another agent for price alone. Forget the 15% rule. If you’re eligible for private coverage you mustn’t be allowed to go into Citizens.
I concur!!! I wrote a long comment addressing my personal feelings on this issues and others that plauge our state, but lets see if they publish it!!! But Thank you for pointing out the blantatly obvious!!!
Why is the 15% rule applied to admitted carriers only. Open the rule up to Surplus lines IF they have an AM Best rating of A VIII or better. Bump it to 25% like SWFL agent said and watch the condos depopulate fast
This is bogus, as I work in the industry and day after day, I find private market insurance “A” rated admitted carriers to insure homes that had NO business ever being insured with Citizens. How Convenient for State Farm to drop all of its clients (of whom they insured with little or no inspection of the property) and team up with Citizens to make them the largest insurer in the state of FL.
Day after day, I hear, my State Farm, Geico, Liberty Mutual agent said that Citizens is great and I should look no further. Little do people know that Citizens is broke and could not afford two catastrophic storms in one season. That it could very well have global impact. Hmmm… That every home owner who chooses to insure foots the bill for the cheap premium.
Rick Scott, our Governor, who started out small and got greedy, while defrauding I don’t know hundreds of millions of dollars in false medicare claims, but he had no idea right? This is so frustrating as people are so ill informed. I enjoy my job, because I am a broker and I am not loyal to one companies, but have many and work with the client, but at the end of the day. I understand why people are in an uproar. I agree with my clients. How dare State Farm to stop writing policy’s in FL and send nice little notes out to all of their policy holders; notifying them that hey we are so thank full for all of the money you have given us Mr. and Mrs Jones this past thirty years has been great, but we have to leave now that we actually have to pay. Or, how about, hey Mr. Jones, just to let you know your Bill has increased from $2000 dollars to $7500 dollars!! It’s outrageous and I feel personally that with Rick Scott getting dipping his expertise (j/k) into the pot that this is soon to hit all Citizens Policy holders. People who again never should have been insured with Citizens to begin with.
Here is some fact from Wiki – “In 2002, the Legislature merged FRPCJUA with the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association (FWUA) into one entity, forming the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.” also to be noted “Citizens Property Insurance Corporation was created in Florida in 2002 to provide property insurance for home-owners who could not obtain insurance elsewhere, an insurer of last resort. It is a government established, not-for-profit insurer in Florida. It is the largest insurer in the state”
Ok, there are many things that bother me with this, firstly it’s inception, was designed for people as the OPTION OF LAST RESORT!!! Know, how does the option of last resort go to being the largest insurer in the state in such a short time?
Propaganda and politics, High level CEO’s and people with vested interest, not going to throw names out there….. But folks the writing is on the wall. This is all about money, there have always been other choices, but people where lured and continue to be guided to Citizen’s. Now I am not hating on the people that work for the above named companies, we all have jobs and we have to do what we are told to do. God forbid, I lost my job, would Mr. Rick Scott lend a hand, if I got injured would his hospital’s allow me to be seen? Law states that no hospital is to turn down a patient in the E. R. but E. R. Docs do it every day with a nice little form stating that they do not feel it is am emergency.
Shame on you Mr. Scott, you have taken advantage of our people, you have allowed shady business, you are a criminal. Keep giving tax breaks to your friends and let the circus continue. You are the epitome of two faced politician.
Our country is in mass disarray and people continue to follow thy neighbor and turn a blind eye. When will this end, what’s next guys? How can a single parent afford there mortgage payment and car payment,food, and Insurance on the menial salary we are paid. I don’t care if you make $100k a year, the rich are boldly taking advantage of us and this is one means; of them doing so. This is like such a kick in the face to all people in their twenty’s and thirties. We are paying into Social Security that will not even exist if we actually where to reach the age 65. Mr. Scott, while I have only been paying taxes for 12 years, how much of my hard earned money has lined your pockets through the frauds that you have committed and continue to commit?
Let’s help out our friends over here at Citizens fix there boo boo and privatize a company that never had business doing business with 1.5 million Floridian’s. Does anyone question what fiduciary involvement Rick Scott with get out of this deal?
Well, Insurance is Insurance, we all pay into the pot, but this is the icing on the cake. We have all paid into the CAT fund and misc other funds, yeah the ones you see on the bottom of your Declarations page. This is black and white fraud, when there where plenty of other companies that where and still are readily available to insure Floridians, but Citizens lured them in with ridiculously low premium’s that where made available due to those funds paid for by every home owner in Florida that carries insurance.
I for one believe that Citizens should be dissolved and their are plenty of companies willing to step up and do it right. These people continue to defraud America and the working man, and gloss it over with Big Money P.R. Not all Insurance companies are created equally but, if people the good people of FL, of which there are many stepped up to the plate and took care of business, in the right way. We would not be dealing with this colossal disaster.
That Boca Raton based company FL Peninsula, is flexible, they thoroughly evaluate a risk before they write it and they do this for good reason. Just as not all insurance companies are created equal neither are all homes. There is a spot for everyone, and yes there is a price to pay. We live in a State that is prone to Hurricanes, we all live here to enjoy the weather and the ocean and all of the beautiful places that exist in FL. But there is a price to pay for living in this Paradise, it needs to be tiered out properly and if Rick Scott really cared he would be more focused on these types of issues.
I publish this comment with no hostility, but hope that someone steps up to the plate and starts doing things properly. The average American out numbers the 1-10%s and we need to take a stand for the future of our state and our children.
I realize this article that my writing is not just regarding Citizens, but also addresses problematic issues that plague our state and I could type for weeks, not that I would be the best person to do so, but I again resort back to we are a large population!! Yes we have a large number of transient residents, along with immigrants but we are all people and we all deserve the opportunity to be aware and educated of what our options truly are, this does not apply just to FL but the U.S. in general. There are too many intelligent people and like minded people that can stand up and make a difference but choose not to. While I don’t fully support the occupiers, I don’t fully support anything. Again my questioning is to every one out there who pays tax and pays for insurance. If everyone is so fed up then why are we not doing anything about it? Why are we not going to our local governments and taking a stance? How can we continue at this rate, look at our national debt!! It’s time for Corporate America to back the hell off and give people there ability to think and act freely with out the brainwashing and propaganda. We are soon to be the baby boomers and while statistics show that they had more opportunity and earned more money then the average 30 year old. We need to make changes now, this is a blatant example of Corporate America and Greed. There is enough to go around to everyone who puts in their fare share.
State Farm didn’t team up with Citizens but the state allows the agents to maintain a Citizens appointment. How this is possible I’m not sure. State Farm is not actively writing new business and therefore the State Farm agents don’t have an active appointment required to have a Citizens appointment. If State Farm agents didn’t have Citizens at their disposal my best guess is Citizens would be smaller by 400K policies.
Yes you are correct, Citizens would be where they should be if not for State Farm. Star Farm agent only have the capablilty of writing Citizens policy’s and reffering people to FMAP. But why would they write people who are not last resort risks into a medicaid of insurance type company. They definitely do write Citizens Policy’s but some refer the client to FMAP. Do you think that State Farm should be banned from writing home owners policys in FL. Or are we just going to allow them to step back in when the market has stabalized.
Going back thirty years people had a State Farm and Liberty Mutual Office on every corner. Just as CVS and Walgreens. They collected for many many years and then a series of storms hit and they back out. This is what people paid for. This defeats the purpose of insurace and gives people no faith in good companies like Tower Hill.
Why no mention of the pool cage/car port exclusion (wind storm) effective Jan 1?? Cutting coverages & raising rates always benefits the carrier!
I remember last round of massive depop, take out carriers went to town at renewal, two years later guess who’s books those risks were back on. Take out’s
need to be admitted carriers or else watch history repeat itself yet again, whether its 15 or 25%!!!!
Hillsborough, you are right on $300k; I “think” the aop / 10% sinkhole may be county specific (geo u/w)??
You are dead on and yes they are being selective as to where they will write sink hole coverage in some counties, they will not write at all. The reduction in coverage B, is something that will affect many people and these people are paying good money that can be spent elsewhere for better coverage with an admitted carrier. The whole point is that they have monpopolized the market and done the exact opposite of what they say they where desigend to do.
I, even write Citizens but only as a very last resort, but it is important that people stop being told that this is there only option. State Farm is what I consider to be the main offender in pushing Citizens policy’s but there are many. Also when and if I do write a Cit Policy it is usually Wind Only, and the AOP with Tower, ASI, United ECT…. This at least gives people good coverage on the inside and they only have to deal with Cit in the event of a storm. It also proves to be more cost effective ninety percent of the time.
Now many of the E&S lines are stepping up and taking more homes in coastal areas, that will no longer be covered by Cit. Also Private Market companies like United, Fed, Tower, FL Penn, GulfStream etc… are writing in the wind pool and at a reasonable rate.
Thank you for also aknowledging the bureacracy part of this. They have monopolized the market and are screwing everyone else, who pays for home owners with there CAT fund allowing them to give such cheap rates. The sink hole claims, they should have been smart enough with all of the people involved to make adjustments long ago. Again, this bill was footed by everyone in the state….
apparently the Personal Liability and sinkhole changes take effect May 1 from what I’ve been told. Apparently, they will max out at 25% on personal property as well.
It still seems to me that all of this is designed, not to depopulate, but to artificially lower premiums. They removed the screened enclosure coverage and premiums went down. Now they’re making these changes and the premiums will go down further.
Citizens has no interest in going out of business. They’ve become too big of a bureacracy and now they are in self-preservation mode. These changes will lead to more people switching to Citizens.
I think the design is to make them less attractive while cutting the horrific liability on the state Citizens will be if we get a major storm. Screen enclosures, aluminum carports, and tiki huts made up for a huge portion of my Wilma claims. By excluding these items you’re limiting loss while possibly getting the customer to consider private insurance that may not exclude these things.
I agree to an extent. However, so many customers are premium-driven at this point. It will serve to send more customers to Citizens. If they kept premiums the same and cut coverage, that would be helpful. Too many customers are willing to cut coverage options to get a lower premium. That doesn’t really help anybody. Customers are under-insured and Citizens still has too much exposure.
Just to add to this and the price driven comment (of which I completly agree with).
I find it very interesting that on the commercial side which is where I am spending all of my time these days. I can only laugh at the stupidity.
It’s in every policy I write and anytime I have anything to do with Citizens. There is always a problem. ALWAYS!! Not to say that this does not happen with other carriers but the ratio is far less then that of dealing with Citizens.
None the less, I find it interesting that they are allowed a 10% increase annualy. So clients expect this. What they do not expect is that there valuations are being adjusted as well and this adds another 3%-5%. So most clients are seeing a 14% increase. Just a very clever trick!
But, this can be overcome if you get a current appraisal (12 months or less)to utilize real property valuations (rebuild cost/amount building is insured for).
If you do this you can utilize 100% Co-insurance and the price goes down.
Thank you Citizens! There just simply is no logic… But I will continue to take advantage of there loopholes and help my clients save money!
In a few years it will be something else it is just the nature of the business. If you can’t handle it then you could always get a job selling Kia’s!
I don’t think Citizens has lowered Personal Liability to $100k. $300k is still available. Also, they still offer sinkhole coverage at the AOP deductible.
I would think a few small changes would be an easy start. For example raise the rate differential for acceptability from 15% to 25%. Or how about requiring an RCE for condos?
I am trying to be kind here but common!!! You are an Agent and you probably write a lot of Citizens Policy’s. Why don’t you educate yourself on what Mr. Scott has done and what is proposed through the year 2012? Do you not read your bulletins? You should be on the frontline of this issue and educating your clients and yourself as to whats is going on, why and lastly look at the way they have sprung this on people!! Sneaky and Dirty. It never should have been.
Sneaky and dirty it is not. Citizens must depopulate and return to the insurer of last resort. So many times I’ll have a quote just slightly above Citizens go to Citizens with another agent for price alone. Forget the 15% rule. If you’re eligible for private coverage you mustn’t be allowed to go into Citizens.
“Lawmakers Plot”, Really? LOL
I concur!!! I wrote a long comment addressing my personal feelings on this issues and others that plauge our state, but lets see if they publish it!!! But Thank you for pointing out the blantatly obvious!!!
Like SWFL agent said 1. raise the rate differencial and 2. allow surplus lines carriers with an adaquate AM Best rating be included in the 15% rule.
Why is the 15% rule applied to admitted carriers only. Open the rule up to Surplus lines IF they have an AM Best rating of A VIII or better. Bump it to 25% like SWFL agent said and watch the condos depopulate fast
This is bogus, as I work in the industry and day after day, I find private market insurance “A” rated admitted carriers to insure homes that had NO business ever being insured with Citizens. How Convenient for State Farm to drop all of its clients (of whom they insured with little or no inspection of the property) and team up with Citizens to make them the largest insurer in the state of FL.
Day after day, I hear, my State Farm, Geico, Liberty Mutual agent said that Citizens is great and I should look no further. Little do people know that Citizens is broke and could not afford two catastrophic storms in one season. That it could very well have global impact. Hmmm… That every home owner who chooses to insure foots the bill for the cheap premium.
Rick Scott, our Governor, who started out small and got greedy, while defrauding I don’t know hundreds of millions of dollars in false medicare claims, but he had no idea right? This is so frustrating as people are so ill informed. I enjoy my job, because I am a broker and I am not loyal to one companies, but have many and work with the client, but at the end of the day. I understand why people are in an uproar. I agree with my clients. How dare State Farm to stop writing policy’s in FL and send nice little notes out to all of their policy holders; notifying them that hey we are so thank full for all of the money you have given us Mr. and Mrs Jones this past thirty years has been great, but we have to leave now that we actually have to pay. Or, how about, hey Mr. Jones, just to let you know your Bill has increased from $2000 dollars to $7500 dollars!! It’s outrageous and I feel personally that with Rick Scott getting dipping his expertise (j/k) into the pot that this is soon to hit all Citizens Policy holders. People who again never should have been insured with Citizens to begin with.
Here is some fact from Wiki – “In 2002, the Legislature merged FRPCJUA with the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association (FWUA) into one entity, forming the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.” also to be noted “Citizens Property Insurance Corporation was created in Florida in 2002 to provide property insurance for home-owners who could not obtain insurance elsewhere, an insurer of last resort. It is a government established, not-for-profit insurer in Florida. It is the largest insurer in the state”
Ok, there are many things that bother me with this, firstly it’s inception, was designed for people as the OPTION OF LAST RESORT!!! Know, how does the option of last resort go to being the largest insurer in the state in such a short time?
Propaganda and politics, High level CEO’s and people with vested interest, not going to throw names out there….. But folks the writing is on the wall. This is all about money, there have always been other choices, but people where lured and continue to be guided to Citizen’s. Now I am not hating on the people that work for the above named companies, we all have jobs and we have to do what we are told to do. God forbid, I lost my job, would Mr. Rick Scott lend a hand, if I got injured would his hospital’s allow me to be seen? Law states that no hospital is to turn down a patient in the E. R. but E. R. Docs do it every day with a nice little form stating that they do not feel it is am emergency.
Shame on you Mr. Scott, you have taken advantage of our people, you have allowed shady business, you are a criminal. Keep giving tax breaks to your friends and let the circus continue. You are the epitome of two faced politician.
Our country is in mass disarray and people continue to follow thy neighbor and turn a blind eye. When will this end, what’s next guys? How can a single parent afford there mortgage payment and car payment,food, and Insurance on the menial salary we are paid. I don’t care if you make $100k a year, the rich are boldly taking advantage of us and this is one means; of them doing so. This is like such a kick in the face to all people in their twenty’s and thirties. We are paying into Social Security that will not even exist if we actually where to reach the age 65. Mr. Scott, while I have only been paying taxes for 12 years, how much of my hard earned money has lined your pockets through the frauds that you have committed and continue to commit?
Let’s help out our friends over here at Citizens fix there boo boo and privatize a company that never had business doing business with 1.5 million Floridian’s. Does anyone question what fiduciary involvement Rick Scott with get out of this deal?
Well, Insurance is Insurance, we all pay into the pot, but this is the icing on the cake. We have all paid into the CAT fund and misc other funds, yeah the ones you see on the bottom of your Declarations page. This is black and white fraud, when there where plenty of other companies that where and still are readily available to insure Floridians, but Citizens lured them in with ridiculously low premium’s that where made available due to those funds paid for by every home owner in Florida that carries insurance.
I for one believe that Citizens should be dissolved and their are plenty of companies willing to step up and do it right. These people continue to defraud America and the working man, and gloss it over with Big Money P.R. Not all Insurance companies are created equally but, if people the good people of FL, of which there are many stepped up to the plate and took care of business, in the right way. We would not be dealing with this colossal disaster.
That Boca Raton based company FL Peninsula, is flexible, they thoroughly evaluate a risk before they write it and they do this for good reason. Just as not all insurance companies are created equal neither are all homes. There is a spot for everyone, and yes there is a price to pay. We live in a State that is prone to Hurricanes, we all live here to enjoy the weather and the ocean and all of the beautiful places that exist in FL. But there is a price to pay for living in this Paradise, it needs to be tiered out properly and if Rick Scott really cared he would be more focused on these types of issues.
I publish this comment with no hostility, but hope that someone steps up to the plate and starts doing things properly. The average American out numbers the 1-10%s and we need to take a stand for the future of our state and our children.
I realize this article that my writing is not just regarding Citizens, but also addresses problematic issues that plague our state and I could type for weeks, not that I would be the best person to do so, but I again resort back to we are a large population!! Yes we have a large number of transient residents, along with immigrants but we are all people and we all deserve the opportunity to be aware and educated of what our options truly are, this does not apply just to FL but the U.S. in general. There are too many intelligent people and like minded people that can stand up and make a difference but choose not to. While I don’t fully support the occupiers, I don’t fully support anything. Again my questioning is to every one out there who pays tax and pays for insurance. If everyone is so fed up then why are we not doing anything about it? Why are we not going to our local governments and taking a stance? How can we continue at this rate, look at our national debt!! It’s time for Corporate America to back the hell off and give people there ability to think and act freely with out the brainwashing and propaganda. We are soon to be the baby boomers and while statistics show that they had more opportunity and earned more money then the average 30 year old. We need to make changes now, this is a blatant example of Corporate America and Greed. There is enough to go around to everyone who puts in their fare share.
Sincerely,
Frustrated and bewildered
State Farm didn’t team up with Citizens but the state allows the agents to maintain a Citizens appointment. How this is possible I’m not sure. State Farm is not actively writing new business and therefore the State Farm agents don’t have an active appointment required to have a Citizens appointment. If State Farm agents didn’t have Citizens at their disposal my best guess is Citizens would be smaller by 400K policies.
Yes you are correct, Citizens would be where they should be if not for State Farm. Star Farm agent only have the capablilty of writing Citizens policy’s and reffering people to FMAP. But why would they write people who are not last resort risks into a medicaid of insurance type company. They definitely do write Citizens Policy’s but some refer the client to FMAP. Do you think that State Farm should be banned from writing home owners policys in FL. Or are we just going to allow them to step back in when the market has stabalized.
Going back thirty years people had a State Farm and Liberty Mutual Office on every corner. Just as CVS and Walgreens. They collected for many many years and then a series of storms hit and they back out. This is what people paid for. This defeats the purpose of insurace and gives people no faith in good companies like Tower Hill.
The way I see it there are 3 viable options for State Farm.
1) No longer allow agents to write fire policies with any carrier, Citizens included. They can keep their State Farm renewals.
2) Allow agents to contract with other carriers who are willing to write in the private market.
3) Open State Farm up to new business either with existing State Farm Florida or with new capital to allow for another State Farm carrier.
Why no mention of the pool cage/car port exclusion (wind storm) effective Jan 1?? Cutting coverages & raising rates always benefits the carrier!
I remember last round of massive depop, take out carriers went to town at renewal, two years later guess who’s books those risks were back on. Take out’s
need to be admitted carriers or else watch history repeat itself yet again, whether its 15 or 25%!!!!
Hillsborough, you are right on $300k; I “think” the aop / 10% sinkhole may be county specific (geo u/w)??
You are dead on and yes they are being selective as to where they will write sink hole coverage in some counties, they will not write at all. The reduction in coverage B, is something that will affect many people and these people are paying good money that can be spent elsewhere for better coverage with an admitted carrier. The whole point is that they have monpopolized the market and done the exact opposite of what they say they where desigend to do.
I, even write Citizens but only as a very last resort, but it is important that people stop being told that this is there only option. State Farm is what I consider to be the main offender in pushing Citizens policy’s but there are many. Also when and if I do write a Cit Policy it is usually Wind Only, and the AOP with Tower, ASI, United ECT…. This at least gives people good coverage on the inside and they only have to deal with Cit in the event of a storm. It also proves to be more cost effective ninety percent of the time.
Now many of the E&S lines are stepping up and taking more homes in coastal areas, that will no longer be covered by Cit. Also Private Market companies like United, Fed, Tower, FL Penn, GulfStream etc… are writing in the wind pool and at a reasonable rate.
Thank you for also aknowledging the bureacracy part of this. They have monopolized the market and are screwing everyone else, who pays for home owners with there CAT fund allowing them to give such cheap rates. The sink hole claims, they should have been smart enough with all of the people involved to make adjustments long ago. Again, this bill was footed by everyone in the state….
apparently the Personal Liability and sinkhole changes take effect May 1 from what I’ve been told. Apparently, they will max out at 25% on personal property as well.
It still seems to me that all of this is designed, not to depopulate, but to artificially lower premiums. They removed the screened enclosure coverage and premiums went down. Now they’re making these changes and the premiums will go down further.
Citizens has no interest in going out of business. They’ve become too big of a bureacracy and now they are in self-preservation mode. These changes will lead to more people switching to Citizens.
I think the design is to make them less attractive while cutting the horrific liability on the state Citizens will be if we get a major storm. Screen enclosures, aluminum carports, and tiki huts made up for a huge portion of my Wilma claims. By excluding these items you’re limiting loss while possibly getting the customer to consider private insurance that may not exclude these things.
I agree to an extent. However, so many customers are premium-driven at this point. It will serve to send more customers to Citizens. If they kept premiums the same and cut coverage, that would be helpful. Too many customers are willing to cut coverage options to get a lower premium. That doesn’t really help anybody. Customers are under-insured and Citizens still has too much exposure.
Just to add to this and the price driven comment (of which I completly agree with).
I find it very interesting that on the commercial side which is where I am spending all of my time these days. I can only laugh at the stupidity.
It’s in every policy I write and anytime I have anything to do with Citizens. There is always a problem. ALWAYS!! Not to say that this does not happen with other carriers but the ratio is far less then that of dealing with Citizens.
None the less, I find it interesting that they are allowed a 10% increase annualy. So clients expect this. What they do not expect is that there valuations are being adjusted as well and this adds another 3%-5%. So most clients are seeing a 14% increase. Just a very clever trick!
But, this can be overcome if you get a current appraisal (12 months or less)to utilize real property valuations (rebuild cost/amount building is insured for).
If you do this you can utilize 100% Co-insurance and the price goes down.
Thank you Citizens! There just simply is no logic… But I will continue to take advantage of there loopholes and help my clients save money!
In a few years it will be something else it is just the nature of the business. If you can’t handle it then you could always get a job selling Kia’s!