Homeowners Insurance fustration. How do I switch? (mortgage, brokers)

[JustTess]

I bought my first home last August so I'm not quite sure if this is how homeowners insurance works. I went with State Farm and everything seemed okay for the first three months. Since then, my car insurance rates have gone up twice which has nothing to do with my driving record or type of vehicle. My original agent disappeard after 5 months and forgot to draft my account for car insurance payments so I had to pay back about 2 months. Then, 7 months later, a new agent asks to come to the property to take pictures of the roofline. I send her pictures and a month later, last week, she left a message on my phone asking me to ignore the cancellation notice I will be recieving from State Farm through the mail because the previous agent forgot to present a complete package.

I almost want to go back to my old auto insurance carrier Geico, because I've never experienced such confusion before from them. I think they offer homeowners through Travellers.

If I switch homeowners insurance, does the new insurance contact the mortgage company and get it worked out? Does my monthly mortgage change? How do you find a good insurance company?

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by JustTess

I bought my first home last August so I'm not quite sure if this is how homeowners insurance works. I went with State Farm and everything seemed okay for the first three months. Since then, my car insurance rates have gone up twice which has nothing to do with my driving record or type of vehicle. My original agent disappeard after 5 months and forgot to draft my account for car insurance payments so I had to pay back about 2 months. Then, 7 months later, a new agent asks to come to the property to take pictures of the roofline. I send her pictures and a month later, last week, she left a message on my phone asking me to ignore the cancellation notice I will be recieving from State Farm through the mail because the previous agent forgot to present a complete package.

I almost want to go back to my old auto insurance carrier Geico, because I've never experienced such confusion before from them. I think they offer homeowners through Travellers.

If I switch homeowners insurance, does the new insurance contact the mortgage company and get it worked out? Does my monthly mortgage change? How do you find a good insurance company?

You can start at The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) WEB site, consumer pages, which has a large amount of information, rate guide and comparison charts, etc. Their WEB site is Consumers from the Texas Department of Insurance. These are very good charts, guides and selection tools for both home and auto insurance. They also have an Agent locate function on their site as Agents must be licensed by the State.

It sounds as if you are escrowing your homeowner insurance payments. Usually the insurance company you choose will perform all of the necessary paperwork and have the information for the mortgage holder. But make sure they understand payments are escrowed, if they are.

If you are escrowing your insurance payments then yes, there is a potential that your monthly payments can go up, or down, depending on your insurance premium costs. This is also an item the insurance carrier can help you understand, the amount of change that is.

If I can make a suggestion that could potentially save you a lot of money on your premiums. The large insurance companies, i.e. Allstate, State Farm, etc., all have many levels that handle your policy. Each level is adding their fees to the premium that the final underwriter is charging them. Use the TDI policy comparison and rate charge tools first. When you find the policy that is right for you then call a few of the big agents and also a few of the independent insurance brokers. I've had great luck using independent Agents to the tune of 60% reduction in policy premiums and even increased coverage over some of the large insurance carriers.

You said that your Agent disappeared and you were stuck making payments he/she should have made. If these were extra payments that the Agent collected money for but did not apply to your policy then you might want to file a report with TDI regarding the incident. Agents are licensed here in Texas and he/she could face disciplinary action for doing that. TDI are a great bunch of people and you might even here back from the Agent along with any money you lost.

Good luck on the insurance needs.

[Debsi]

If you switch companies, the company you cancel will most likely send a refund check to you for the unused portion of the canceled policy. Your mortgage company will pay the premium on the new policy to the new insurance company. They have already paid a full year's premium to the original company. so it is important you write a check to your Mortgage escrow account for the amount of the refund, or you will have a shortage at the end of the year and your payment will go up when they reaudit your account.

[tyrevor]

i live in Georgia and need to find out who holds mortgage on my house

[jimithing78]

Edit, didn't see this was an old thread.

tyrevor, are you serious? How can you not know?

[Rakin]

Pull up online your counties tax records. It should say.

[loves2read]

if you live in GA, post in GA