The Top Reasons Why Your Homeowner’s Insurance Claim Could Be Denied

December 6, 2013

They paid us

 

(The following is a paid post from HBF Health. If you live in Western Australia, please patronise them. If you don’t, please move there and then buy a policy.)

Every homeowner needs to have homeowner’s insurance in order to protect their home and property in case a disaster was to occur, to replace any damaged or stolen property and to cover their personal liability. Homeowner’s insurance, though, doesn’t come without its own limitations.

If you are preparing to file a claim and are worried that it might be denied or if you made an insurance claim that was denied, you want to review your contract thoroughly to see why it may be denied or was denied. Here are some of the top reasons why a homeowner’s insurance claim could be denied.

Unpaid Premiums

If you did not pay your premiums or are currently late on paying your premium, your insurance claim will very likely be denied. If your claim was denied for this reason, you might be able to raise an appeal to try to overturn the denied claim, but it is obviously better to avoid this scenario by always paying your premiums on time. You can find out more about specific coverage at the HBF home insurance site, visit today to see how it can benefit you.

Lies on Your Application

Whenever you file a claim, your homeowner’s insurance company will check your application against all investigation results and documentation coming in regarding your claim. If the company notices that you lied, exaggerated or otherwise provided false information, your claim will be denied. You also will have your insurance policy revoked and be at risk for being sued by the company if they made any previous payouts to you.

The Exclusion Clause

In each homeowner’s insurance policy, there is an exclusion clause that dictates what the insurance company will not cover. Some of the most common exclusions to homeowner’s insurance are flood and earthquake damage, which are available as add-ons to your primary homeowner’s insurance policy that cost extra.

Negligent Claims

If you could be found negligent, your homeowner’s insurance claim could easily be denied. For example, if your house was damaged by a disaster when repairs your house needed could have been made preventing the damage, then the insurance company could deny your claim. Any negligent conditions that could have prevented the damage if the condition was fixed could cause your claim to be denied.

Allotted Coverage is Exceeded

There are limits of liability that your homeowner’s insurance policy provides you with. This means that your possessions you have in your house are insured only up to a certain amount. So, you are only allowed to claim the amount up to that which is covered under your policy. If you are in need of greater coverage for your possessions, you have to get an insurance rider in order to increase your coverage.

Too Many Claims

One of the most common reasons homeowner’s insurance claims get denied is too many claims being filed within a short time span. Insurance companies expect that losses are not supposed to happen often, if at all, as they will lose money if they have to pay out for too many claims too frequently.

If you’ve already made several claims, the chances of your claim being denied are much greater. To better the chances that every claim you make is covered, try not to file claims that you cannot pay for on your own, so you don’t get stuck struggling to pay for any major losses.

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They Gave Us Money

August 14, 2013

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This is a guest post from Logan Abbott, a personal finance expert and blogger. He’s also the editor of MyRatePlan Credit Cards, an authority site for comparing credit cards online.

 

5 Tips To Keep In Mind When You Apply For A New Credit Card

 

Almost every time I open my mailbox, there’s a few credit card offers stuffed in there from American Express, Chase, Discover, and other credit card companies. I’m sure your mailbox is no different. Well, when you decide you need a new credit card, I’m here to tell you that applying for the first offer that comes to you through snail mail is not the right way to go about getting the best card for you. Although many of the offers claim that you are “pre-approved,” this isn’t always the case, and can end up harming your credit score if you apply for too many cards and keep getting denied. In addition, you can find much better offers online that are tailored to your spending habits.

 

Here are five tips you should keep in mind when you’re looking for a new credit card:

 

  1. Apply for a credit card that you know your credit score will allow you to be approved for. Many times, people begin applying for credit cards willy-nilly without realizing that each time the credit card company checks your credit score, your score can actually be decreased. This means you want to apply for a card you know you will be approved for. To do this, I recommend ascertaining your credit score first using services such as Credit Karma or Equifax. Once you know your score, you can ensure that you apply for a card that you will be approved for.
  2. Figure out if you will be carrying a balance on your new credit card. Credit card companies make most of their profits by charging interest on unpaid credit card balances that their cardholders carry from month to month. The best way to avoid paying interest on your balance is to make sure you pay your balance in full each month. However, this isn’t always possible, so if you will be carrying a balance, you want to make sure that you have a credit card that offers as low of an interest rate as possible to keep interest charges low. In addition, many cards, such as the Discover it Card, offer a long introductory period where you can carry a balance for up to 18 months without being charged interest.
  3. Be wary of fees. Different credit cards have different fees associated with them. The main fee that people fail to take into consideration is the annual fee that the card requires. Even if the card offers great rewards, if the fee is several hundred dollars per year then chances are you will not earn enough rewards to offset the cost of owning the card. In addition, many cards charge balance transfer fees and foreign transaction fees, so if you are planning on transferring a balance or making a lot of purchases overseas, you should pay careful attention to the fine print when applying for a card.
  4. Know your spending habits to capitalize on rewards. Many credit cards offer rewards programs in the form of points, airline miles, and cash back for purchases. Some cards offer more rewards for purchases in certain categories, however. To this end, if you spend a lot of money on gas, for example, you want to make sure that you apply for a credit card that offers generous rewards for purchases at gas stations.
  5. Get a good overall idea of the card. Credit card companies are known for confusing customers when it comes to the fine print associated with a credit card. Before making a decision on which card to apply for, ensure that you’ve reviewed every facet of the credit card from the fine print, to the fees, to the rewards, to any other terms that may be unfavorable to you. There are great credit card offers to be had, but it takes a bit of homework in order to get the best one for you.
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It Matters Where You Put Your Money

June 1, 2012

 

(Guest post from Jon Robinson of debt.org)

While you may be able to control where you put your money – stocks and bonds, real estate, money market funds, etc. – you usually have less control as to how your money gets used.

For example, if you put your money into a commercial bank, the bank can do whatever it wants with
your dough in return for the small amount of interest you receive on your deposit. In the past, your bank
might have loaned some of your money to a promising local business venture with the intent of making
a profitable return on a new company’s creation of value to your community. Those were the good old
days.

Today, it’s just as likely that your money will be used to underwrite the lavish lifestyles of your bank’s
executives, or to help it acquire any number of complex and risky financial instruments. Remember, the
bank is in the business of making a profit – not for you, but for itself.

Your deposit is merely seed money the bank uses as investment fodder, just as it uses the paper assets
it creates when it makes a loan. And as we’ve seen, when the bank’s investments go bad, as many
did during the recent financial meltdown, we’re forced to bail them out with additional amounts of
our money. (And hey, it’s not like we’re going to force the banks into debt settlement. Better to be
proactive.)

Lots of folks finally got fed up when even after the banks got bailed out, they decided that they were
entitled to even more of our money by announcing they were planning to increase fees on our debit
card use. That’s when the collective outrage of the populace boiled over and people decided to exert
some control over their funds.

In 2010, more than half a million Americans fled their commercial banks and opened credit union
accounts. In 2011, it was another 1.3 million. Today there are more than 91 million credit union
members with $960 billion in the nation’s 7,400 credit unions.

Credit unions are non-profit financial institutions that offer services similar to banks, but exist to serve
their members, not to make money off your money for their own benefit. And because they are
owned by their members, credit unions’ savings accounts generally offer higher interest rates than banks, while credit unions’ loan and credit card rates are usually lower.

I switched all my family’s deposits into a credit union last year and haven’t looked back. When my local
banker asked me why I was moving my money, I gave her some history and some numbers: “You’ve
been making money on my money for 19 years, yet you needed $3.5 billion in bailout funds because
you failed to use my money wisely. Even so, last year you made a profit of $179 million while your CEO
walked away with a $10 million paycheck. Now, you want to charge me $5 per month to use my debit
card. I guess I’m just not feeling the love.”

Yes, I’m just a small time depositor and my bank won’t miss me. But the aggregate effect of the few
million teed-off consumers just like me who took the time to close our bank accounts and go down the
block with our deposits forced the big banks to reverse course on their proposed debit card fees.

The bottom line – I’ll save few bucks, but that’s not the biggest payoff. What really feels good is that I
took some control of my finances and sent at least one big bank a big message: “It’s my money you’re
playing with. But since you won’t play nice, I’m outta here.”

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