Megapolis Insurance

1. sugarpalm flood image by Adrian Hillman from Fotolia.com  Flooding is excluded under standard homeowners’ insurance. Florida faces severe windstorms, hurricanes and flooding on a regular basis, but many homeowners find themselves improperly insured after a loss because of ambiguous laws and lack of understanding about coverage available under standard homeowners’ insurance policies. Even if flood insurance exists there may be difficulty when filing a claim since severe flooding and wind can happen simultaneously.

Flood Insurance

2. Flood insurance is offered by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), sold through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and underwritten by the federal government. Floridians who desire this insurance must contact FEMA directly, or find an insurance brokerage or agency that sells the policies on FEMA’s behalf.

NFIP Expiration Date

3. As of June 29, 2010, Florida homeowners are unable to purchase new flood insurance policies because H.R.

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1. home image by dinostock from Fotolia.com  Insurance covers you and your lender Lenders require homeowner’s insurance coverage to protect their interest in the collateral for your mortgage loan. This collateral is your home, and coverage is a requirement of your mortgage contract. If you lose your insurance for any reason, it is a violation of the contract, and the lender will place forced insurance on your property. This type of homeowner’s insurance coverage is very limited, expensive, and the homeowner always bears the cost.

Sufficient Coverage

2. Mortgage lenders require that you carry sufficient homeowner’s insurance (also called hazard insurance) to cover replacement cost of the home or the amount of the loan, whichever of the two is higher. Should the home burn to the ground or suffer damage in any other way (except by flooding), the lender’s interest is covered, and the loan will be paid off. A separate type of insurance covers flood damage.

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If the credit crunch, the ash cloud or BA strikes have affected your overseas holiday home rentals and it now stands empty for longish periods of time, you may wonder whether you you’ll need to make special arrangements for your overseas property insurance.

You may wonder whether you’ll need special insurance when your property is unoccupied and what your obligations may be as a policyholder (for example, will you need to drain down water systems).

These concerns may be particularly relevant in the current economic climate as the credit crunch may mean that many people are tightening their belts and your property is empty rather more frequently than usual.

Of course, if you are lucky and have a second home in this country, you may see an increase in lettings in the UK as people may opt for a self-catering holiday closer to home rather than travelling abroad. But

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WASHINGTON—The Government Accountability Office has made four proposals that would increase the U.S. government’s role in state natural catastrophe insurance programs.

In findings released Wednesday, the GAO proposed facilitating the transfer of risk, guaranteeing state pre- and post-event bonds, establishing a federal lending facility for qualified state natural catastrophe insurance programs, and establishing a federal reinsurance program.

The GAO, which began studying the issue last August, looked at states that already have natural catastrophe programs. It also analyzed how the proposed federal changes would affect those state programs and how natural catastrophe insurance and reinsurance is provided in selected countries outside the United States.

The GAO said Florida’s insurance and reinsurance programs have more than $2 trillion in combined exposures, which exceed that of all other state programs combined. It al Read more…