Florida Insurance Commissioner Orders State Farm to Refund $120 Million to Policyholders for Unpaid Mitigation Discounts
As Florida state regulators began looking into State Farm's handling of its mitigation discount program in which homeowners were supposed to be given credits for installing wind mitigation devices like hurricane shutters, State farms own internal audit identified about 98,000 current and former policyholders to whow it will now provide credits or refunds.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty today announced that he has ordered State Farm Florida (State Farm) to issue credits or refunds totaling $120 million to current and former policyholders who did not apply for or who did not receive the Windstorm Loss Reduction Rating Plan discount for making their homes more resistant to wind damage.
In addition, State Farm must pay a $1 million penalty to the Florida Insurance Regulatory Trust Fund.
State Farm will be send notices to policyholders which include home & condo owners as well as renters and association policies of both apartments and condominiums.
Additionally, State regulators began investigating State Farm's discount program in July. Last month, McCarty struck an agreement with Allstate requiring the company to pay a $5 million fine, reduce homeowner insurance premiums statewide by 5.6 percent, add 100,000 new homeowner policies within three years and forgive a $175 million loan to its Florida subsidiaries.
Florida law requires insurers to provide discounts for home features that fortify homes against hurricanes and to notify customers about the discounts when a policy is purchased or renewed.
Additionally, state regulators are not finished investigating discount programs from insureers. Last month, McCarty struck an agreement with Allstate requiring the company to pay a $5 million fine, reduce homeowner insurance premiums statewide by 5.6 percent, add 100,000 new homeowner policies within three years and forgive a $175 million loan to its Florida subsidiaries.
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Garren Grup, REALTOR
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Garren,
Thanks for sharing this article.
It is amazing that State Farm Florida homeowners insurance company is refunding money on this kind of a scale at a time when they are claiming that large mitigation discounts are causing them to lose money.
I wanted to let you know about a site I read about in the Naples News that helps homeowners to find, screen, and contact Florida homeowners insurance companies still writing new business:
www.homeinsurancebuyers.org
It is something that homeowners can use if they lose their Florida homeowners insurance with State Farm Florida or if they don't want to hang around for the next increase from State Farm.
Anyway, thanks for sharing the article.