Insurance World

Although it makes sense to get in touch with a life insurance company to cover your dependents in the eventuality of your untimely death, there are integrity issues surrounding the insurance companies and agents. Broadly there can be 3 ways your life insurance company is scamming you. We have enlisted them for your benefit.

Selling Coverage that you don’t need!
The insurance companies thrive on the fact that most people don’t understand their life insurance needs. With standard products, they try to sell you coverage that you might not need, but, which are lucrative for them. The insurance agents expedite the process so that you skip the fine print and sign up for a coverage that is ill-suited to your needs. The trick is to play on your fear factor and sell you heavy insurance, even if you don’t have dependents.

Coaxing you to pay ‘Cash’
We strongly suggest, do not pay your premium through cash to an agent. Further, do ensure that you get a receipt for the payment. There are numerous fraudulent entities posing as genuine insurance agencies that extract hard cash from you in lieu of insurance premium. They ask you to sign at blank spaces in a form, assuring you that it is just a formality. Once you have fallen for their trick, you are left without an insurance coverage. The worst part is that most victims only come to know of this scam, when they have met with some mishap and there is not insurance to cover them.

Luring you with benefits!
Insurance agencies and agents have a way of promising you unbelievable benefits out a life insurance policy. Life insurance agents might offer you plans, with a guarantee that the policy would run premium-free for a specific period. Some agents play it smart and offer you great discounts for signing you up for a new policy, while replacing an old policy. The trick is that the old coverage gets terminated and new coverage does not get initiated due to the cumbersome procedural bottlenecks. Thus, exposing you to risk without cover.

What do you like the most about your home - the bright, sun-filled kitchen, the shiny wood floors or the comfortable bedrooms?

Or is it the fact that your home probably makes up maybe the biggest part - of your total net worth?

Either way, you have to protect what you have, using homeowner’s insurance.

Although there were reports a few years ago of higher prices and limited availability for homeowners insurance, the market has opened up again, according to J. Robert Hunter, insurance director for the Consumer Federation of America. Premiums are expected to rise by no more than the inflation rate this year, he said.

“The market remains a competitive one where homeowners’ insurance shoppers can be selective,” said Marshall McKnight, a spokesman for the state Department of Banking and Insurance.

Here are several ways to save on home insurance:

Shop around. While many homeowners believe that all insurance companies charge the same, that’s an expensive mistake. Use a service such as ours to compare rate quotes from different companies if YOUR area. To get started, just use the form on the right.

“You can go from one company to another and pay twice as much,” said Hunter.

And don’t just call an agent and expect him to do the shopping for you, Hunter advised, because agents don’t represent all companies and might not get you the best deal.

Insure for “replacement cost” rather than “actual cash value.” After all, if your belongings are destroyed, do you want the insurance company to send you enough to buy a new couch - or do you want a $50 check for the actual value of your 11-year-old couch?

Make sure you are covered for at least 80 percent of the cost of replacing your home. If you’re not, it could hurt you even if your home does not need to be completely replaced.

Let’s say your home would cost $200,000 to replace and you’re insured for only $100,000, half of the replacement cost. If you have a $10,000 loss, you would get only half of that amount, or $5,000.

Of course, knowing how much it would cost to replace your home is not always easy. For example, I know how much I paid for my home, and how much I could probably sell it for, but I don’t have a clue how much it would cost to rebuild if it burned down.

The state Department of Banking and Insurance and the Insurance Council of New Jersey recommend that homeowners in this situation should consult their insurer, who will be able to estimate the cost of rebuilding based on the size and location of the home.

Think twice before calling your insurance company with small claims for minor home damage. There have been reports of homeowners facing much higher premiums after putting in only two claims. So if it’s a loss you can handle, take care of it yourself.

And, in that vein, consider a higher deductible.

“If you’re not going to file a small claim, it’s no use paying a premium to be covered for an amount you wouldn’t file for,” Hunter said.

“Every dollar you give to an insurance company, on average you only get back 60 cents,” Hunter said. The rest goes to the insurance company’s profit and overhead. So if you can self-insure for smaller losses, you should.

About 20 years ago, Hunter raised |the deductibles on both his car and |home policies, and banked the money he saved on premiums in a special account. Over the years, he used that account to pay for about $2,000 to $3,000 in losses, mostly auto-related. He still has $4,000 - money that the insurance company |could have had.

“Nowadays, most insurance companies recommend a deductible of at least $500. If you can afford to raise your deductible to $1,000, you may save as much as 25 percent,” according to the Insurance Information Institute, an industry group.

Make sure your home insurance policy includes enough liability insurance, in case someone is injured on your property.

Consider buying your home and auto insurance policies from the same insurer. Some companies will take 5 to 15 percent off your premium if you buy two or more policies from them.

You can get discounts if you install smoke detectors, deadbolt locks or burglar alarms.

Keep your credit history clean. Insurance companies are increasingly checking credit reports to set their rates.