Home Insurance Breaking News

New Jersey Citizen Action study shows that many of those living in New Jersey's poorest cities are not able to get homeowners insurance

Property insurers State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, Allstate and Farmers Group file appeal of June Texas state order reducing homeowner rates by 16 percent

Prudential Financial Inc sells its auto and homeowners' insurance businesses to Liberty Mutual Insurance Group and Palisades Safety and Insurance Assocition for $673 million; Palisades is buying Prudential's New Jersey business for $260 million; Liberty Mutual is buying operations in 47 other states and District of Columbia for $413 million in notes

Texas officials and Farmers Insurance Group, which had threatened to drop 700,000 homeowner policies, reach settlement to end lawsuit charging company with deceptive practices; insurer will pay $100 million in restitution, refunds and rate reductions

Insurance premiums for apartment building owners and tenants are up 30 percent nationwide and some 66 percent for many New York City buildings as insurers, facing some $50 billion in claims from World Trade Center terrorism, seek to rebuild reserves; industry analysts say owners of private homes, particularly in suburbs, will not be as hard hit, although other factors will also push up premiums; photos

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Consumer groups report increasing number of homeowners are being dropped by insurance companies after filing even minor claims; companies, which point to huge losses from Hurricane Andrew in 1992, often refuse to renew policies after several claims have been made, based on studies showing that people who file repeat claims are more likely to do so in future

As more insurance companies cut back or even abandon their homeowners business in California because of earthquake risks, the state's officials are groping for solutions to prevent an insurance crisis that could derail California's economic recovery. Gov. Pete Wilson and his insurance adviser, Marjorie Burke, have scheduled a meeting on Monday with executives from 18 insurance companies to discuss the problem and the state's role in keeping earthquake insurance available to homeowners.

INSURANCE agents sell many homeowner policies as "replacement" policies, with the promise that they will pay for the replacement of a severely damaged home. But a close read shows that many of these policies are more limited than the term implies. To the insurer, replacement cost excludes any expenses for complying with building standards that did not exist when a home was built. This exclusion, embedded deep in the fine print of policies that are often 30 pages long, is called the "ordinance o...

Home insurance policies are probably not adequate to cover the loss or theft of jewelry.

After years of taking losses on home insurance, insurers are increasingly making homeowners responsible for repairs and reconstruction.

The California wildfires are going to cost only a fraction of the $41.1 billion that insurance companies paid out for Hurricane Katrina.

Allstate Insurance Group mails notices to policyholders in parts of New York City and Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties, telling them it plans to reduce its business in coastal areas vulnerable to what company sees as increased danger of devastating hurricane; says it will not write new policies or renew some old policies about to expire; Allstate Group is state's largest provider of homeowners' insurance

Edward Liddy, Allstate Corporation chmn, says company stopped selling new homeowner insurance in most Florida counties because it had $1.1 billion in hurricane-related costs this year and state is discussing laws that might increase expenses after future storms

When Lisa Fremer, a business manager for the music industry, and her son, Ross, regained their composure after the Los Angeles earthquake, they discovered that they were rather lucky. They were both unhurt. Their 1,500-square-foot Sherman Oaks home, in the San Fernando Valley, was still standing, while other houses within blocks had collapsed. But the house and its contents were damaged, and the financial impact was serious. Even though Ms. Fremer has carried earthquake insurance since 1984, at...

New Jersey Citizen Action study shows that many of those living in New Jersey's poorest cities are not able to get homeowners insurance

The largest home insurers in Texas, are appealing a state order to cut homeowner rates an average of 16 percent.

Prudential Financial Inc sells its auto and homeowners' insurance businesses to Liberty Mutual Insurance Group and Palisades Safety and Insurance Assocition for $673 million; Palisades is buying Prudential's New Jersey business for $260 million; Liberty Mutual is buying operations in 47 other states and District of Columbia for $413 million in notes

State officials and the Farmers Insurance Group, which had threatened to drop its 700,000 homeowners policies in Texas, reached a settlement.

Building owners and residents have seen insurance premiums that have jumped sharply even, in a few cases, doubling.