LTTE: State Farm request for a 47-91% homeowners increase.

[Dr.Phool]

Subject: State Farm Increase

First of all, I'd like to commend Rep. Dennis Ross for putting the "idiot" back in ideologue.

The insurance catastrophe in Florida is not due to lack of competition, but to a lack of regulation. Florida could pass regulations to guarantee insurance companies a small profit at affordable rates, and prevent companies from buying re-insurance from their parent companies. The re-insurance business is a shell game to transfer profits upstairs, and keep rates high at the state level.

This rate increase could be the final nail in the coffin for residential real estate in Florida. What are the banks going to do when overstretched homeowners can no longer afford insurance? What if they refuse to buy insurance? Many homeowners, who a couple of years ago, had a nice equity in their homes, find themselves near upside down on their mortgages. This could be the tipping point.

In the mean time, if we don't run every Republican out of the Statehouse, we can look for another session of debating the virtues of creationism and Truck Nutz.


Here's the story. Right now my rates are over 5 times the rate for the same value house I had in Cleveland.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/banking/article703117.ece

[Missy Vixen]

1. Ahh, State Farm

We dropped our State Farm coverage almost fifteen years ago, but for those who have no other alternative, it sucks that they believe they can jack rates into the stratosphere.

Julie

[flashl]

2. There is always Citizens or the Crist-Buffet thingy. Right?

:sarcasm:

[Dr.Phool]

3. When I posted the LBN article last night,

One poster suggested checking out the Florida Farm Bureau. I'm going to.

[AndyA]

4. State Farm is bad.

I once had a premium applied to an expired policy, instead of the renewal policy that I cancelled when my agent finally admitted I wasn't getting the protections I specified I needed.

In my state, applying a premium to an expired policy is ILLEGAL, but they did it anyway.

No more State Farm for me.