hazard insurance/home owners insurance - which company?

[christeen]

So if I've read this thread correctly, insurance companies will do a hard pull on your credit report when you're getting quotes? Aack, so how do we go about getting hazard/homeowner's insurance as required by the lenders without lowering our scores and thus jeopardizing our loan approvals? Is there no way around this? Can I just go with my current car insurance company or will they do a hard pull too since it's a different policy (I'm guessing the answer )?

Assuming the insurers do hard pulls, is it like applying for a mortgage where all inquiries within 30 days count as 1 inquiry? If not, should we just go with the first insurance company we contact, then get new quotes and possibly switch insurers after closing, when credit report inquiries won't hurt our mortgage approval?

Also, if you have to have proof of insurance in order to get final approval, does that mean you have to pay for a policy and are getting coverage for a house even before you own it? Or does the policy and it's first payment just not go into effect until the day of closing?

Thanks for an informative thread!

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by christeen

So if I've read this thread correctly, insurance companies will do a hard pull on your credit report when you're getting quotes? Aack, so how do we go about getting hazard/homeowner's insurance as required by the lenders without lowering our scores and thus jeopardizing our loan approvals? Is there no way around this? Can I just go with my current car insurance company or will they do a hard pull too since it's a different policy (I'm guessing the answer )?

Assuming the insurers do hard pulls, is it like applying for a mortgage where all inquiries within 30 days count as 1 inquiry? If not, should we just go with the first insurance company we contact, then get new quotes and possibly switch insurers after closing, when credit report inquiries won't hurt our mortgage approval?

Also, if you have to have proof of insurance in order to get final approval, does that mean you have to pay for a policy and are getting coverage for a house even before you own it? Or does the policy and it's first payment just not go into effect until the day of closing?

Thanks for an informative thread!

No, insurance companies do a soft hit on your credit--it does not effect your score. Even if it did it would be an inquiry that the mortgage company would expect to see and wouldn't hurt you anyway.

[christeen]

Thanks, golfgal. Now I just gotta make sure I find the best company/policy.

[lscalder]

The best company is Geico.

[texdav]

The best insurance companies I learned about after hurricane Rits was farmers and travelers. Allstate paid off after being taken to court by the attroney general. State farm was mixed but many sued them and won. Alot depended on the company that they use to adjust claims. Many of the lessor companies but seen on TV quite often were very bad and very late on even coming out. Most the major companies were the ones to have.If you had properety plus flood it was quite easy for them to decide who pays for waht without it could involve a suit.My advice is to make sure waht coverage EXACTLY you have and repalcement is definitely worth it.Always ask for the cadillac policy and then cut from there on what you judge is important to insure. Example:Have alot of trees? If the tree falls on insured property the insurance will pay to remove it . But if not you need specific insurance for this and I saw trees that were so big it cost 2100 dollars to remove . Multi ply that by a number of tree and it can get expensive. Remember that teh trees will have to be moved to a specified location or some where in a non-disaster.Make sure you insurance will pay to have emergency cleanup done and work to secure the home with no hassle.Look at your loss of use terms this can amount to thousands in cost later and prevent your have to have any FEMA trailer in a disaster.

[sonarrat]

Farmer's cancelled their insurance on my family's house out of the blue, so I dismissed them out of hand.

Allstate decided to stop writing new policies in California.

Amica is too expensive, twice as much as my eventual winner.

AIG says that my house is too small for them and won't insure it.

State Farm wouldn't insure me because of my apartment fire last year (not even my fault). Agent was very apologetic but could do nothing for me. Good way to ensure they'll never, ever get my business.

I did manage to get a few other quotes mostly from small-timers, but decided to go with Liberty Mutual because they had a very reasonable quote, robust coverage, and a policy that I was able to understand.

[christeen]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Any other sites that rank/rate the companies besides JD Power and the FBIC links above? These two are rather inconsistent (except re Amica and Chubb). Eg, State Farm got a good rating from JD Power, but is #1 worst on FBIC's bad faith claim denial list.

I've found my state's justified complaint survey, but the FBIC site notes they don't differentiate between different types of complaints. I'm mostly interested in a company's claims handling record, although of course price is important too. Wondering if there are other surveys out there in case I don't qualify for or can't afford Chubb or Amica? Thanks!

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by lscalder

The best company is Geico.

Yeah, Geico is great as long as you never have a claim--try getting them to pay out a claim once--HORRIBLE!!

Originally Posted by texdav

The best insurance companies I learned about after hurricane Rits was farmers and travelers. Allstate paid off after being taken to court by the attroney general. State farm was mixed but many sued them and won. Alot depended on the company that they use to adjust claims. Many of the lessor companies but seen on TV quite often were very bad and very late on even coming out. Most the major companies were the ones to have.If you had properety plus flood it was quite easy for them to decide who pays for waht without it could involve a suit.My advice is to make sure waht coverage EXACTLY you have and repalcement is definitely worth it.Always ask for the cadillac policy and then cut from there on what you judge is important to insure. Example:Have alot of trees? If the tree falls on insured property the insurance will pay to remove it . But if not you need specific insurance for this and I saw trees that were so big it cost 2100 dollars to remove . Multi ply that by a number of tree and it can get expensive. Remember that teh trees will have to be moved to a specified location or some where in a non-disaster.Make sure you insurance will pay to have emergency cleanup done and work to secure the home with no hassle.Look at your loss of use terms this can amount to thousands in cost later and prevent your have to have any FEMA trailer in a disaster.

Farmer's is AWFUL!!!! Again, same as Geiko, try getting them to pay out on a claim. We had some major hail storms last summer and everyone in our neighborhood has new roofs, except for the Farmer's customers. I can SEE hail damage, missing shingles, etc. on our neighbor's roof, they have had Farmer's out 3 times to get them to look at it, keep telling them their roof is fine.

[Sunnydee]

I have Amica and am very happy with them.

Our neighborhood was ground zero for a tornado in 1999 and that's when you really learn about insurance. The people who had Amica had their agents contacting them within hours to ask if they were okay, if they needed anything, if they sustained any damage, etc. It was amazing. Then they paid out the claims, some of which were total losses, quickly and without any hassles. All of the neighbors who didn't have Amica, us included, had a quite different and sometimes none too nice experience with their carriers. That's what convince me to switch to Amica. To this day I still marvel at how that company came to the aid of their clients during the days, weeks, and months that followed the tornado.

[Katzy]

Originally Posted by Sunnydee

I have Amica and am very happy with them.

Our neighborhood was ground zero for a tornado in 1999 and that's when you really learn about insurance. The people who had Amica had their agents contacting them within hours to ask if they were okay, if they needed anything, if they sustained any damage, etc. It was amazing. Then they paid out the claims, some of which were total losses, quickly and without any hassles. All of the neighbors who didn't have Amica, us included, had a quite different and sometimes none too nice experience with their carriers. That's what convince me to switch to Amica. To this day I still marvel at how that company came to the aid of their clients during the days, weeks, and months that followed the tornado.

I'm so sorry about what happened to your neighborhood on 1999. Though I am glad to read that Amica was so wonderful. Based on the comments on this thread as well as the JD Powers Site and other reviews we are going to choose Amica for our homeowners, and also switch our auto to Amica as well. Their rates were very competitive, and the person we are working with is fantastic.