The Property Insurance Blog

There are different types and levels of property insurance coverage available in the market. Knowing how to properly protect your property from theft, fire and other perils will go a long way in securing your prized possessions. Property insurance can be specific to your needs as a business enterprise.

You need to determine what properties you need to insure for the protection and continued operation of your business. Common types of assets included in property insurance are:
Leased or owned structures
Equipments, supplies and furnishings
Leased machineries and equipments
Inventory (products and materials)
Money and securities
Accounting records
Improvements made on property
Machinery
Boilers
Computers and other electronic devices including appliances
Valuable documents including books
Mobile property
Satellite dishes
Properties not attached to the structure
Intangibles such as patents, trademarks, goodwill and the likes

For everyone’s awareness, let me emphasize that there is no law that requires homeowners to apply for an insurance policy program. In contrast to this, if a homeowner borrows money from a banking or loan company to buy a house, the lending company will need to take a particular deed of trust or mortgage to be able to protect its interests that will stretch up to the day where the loan has been fully repaid. This certain mortgage will require homeowners to have an adequate amount of insurance to cover the reconstruction or repair of the house that was bought.

In claiming an insurance, when your house was involved in a fire or whatever circumstances that your valuables were lost, your insurance company most certainly will require you to submit a list of all the lost or destroyed items. Your up-to-date personal property home inventory should come in handy at this point in time. Personal properties include furniture, appliances, electronic gadgets, jewelries, clothing, among others that you consider your own. If you have a list of these valuables, you will have an idea on how much you should get as coverage amount or if there is a need for an increased replacement cost coverage.

One of the best things you can do for your home is to outfit it with all kinds of security and safety devices like a security system, fireproofing and a sprinkler system, termite proofing, and so on.

Another big advantage which people usually don’t notice, is that homes with these kinds of devices and treatments usually get lower home insurance premiums because of the low-risk nature these homes have, meaning that their owners are less likely to file lots of claims or cash in on their insurance anytime soon. And while you may ask what’s the point then, of having home insurance in the first place, it’s simple a matter of having somewhere to fall back on when things don’t work out – which will happen sooner or later. The big difference is that you won’t be paying hefty premiums for it.

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Insurance fraud is any act committed with the intent to fraudulently obtain payment from an insurer.

Insurance fraud can be classified as either hard fraud or soft fraud.

Hard fraud occurs when someone deliberately plans or invents a loss, such as a collision, auto theft, or fire that is covered by their insurance policy in order to receive payment for damages. Criminal rings are sometimes involved in hard fraud schemes that can steal millions of dollars.

Soft fraud, which is far more common than hard fraud, is sometimes also referred to as opportunistic fraud. This type of fraud consists of policyholders exaggerating otherwise legitimate claims. For example, when involved in a collision an insured person might claim more damage than was really done to his or her car. Soft fraud can also occur when, while obtaining a new insurance policy, an individual misreports previous or existing conditions in order to obtain a lower premium on their insurance policy.

The 2008-2009 International Insurance Fact Book is now available from the Insurance Information Institute’s online store. The fact book contains statistics on the property insurance industries, as well as life insurance in 89 countries and provides the population, number of premiums, GDP and regulatory bodies of each country, as well as world rankings in terms of revenue and reinsurance. For more details of the insurance industry in the United States, the III store has the 2008 Insurance Fact Book, which details information across the states in handy almanac form, with updates on auto and home insurance claims and an added glossary.

The four higher financial security ratings merit the Security Circle icons, showing S&P’s confidence in the future performance of these companies.

An insurer with a BBB rating indicates Good financial security.

An A rating means the insurer has Strong financial security characteristics.

A rating of AA means that the insurer has Very Strong financial security characteristics.

The AAA rating, the highest issued by Standard & Poor’s, reflects the Extremely Strong financial security characteristics of the insurer.

A high rating does not always mean the the insurer will deliver the best service. It is still best to use the combinations of ratings and the experience of other users to decide which policies and companies to purchase.

Insure.com offers these explanations of insurer ratings to make it more accessible to the homeowner. A rating of NR means Not Rated, or there is no opinion given on the financial security of the insurer. A rating of R stands for Regulatory Supervision, at which time the regulators have a say what obligations must be paid over other obligations. We will go over the ratings in ascending order. In this post, we look at ratings considered vulnerable by Standard & Poor’s.

A CC rating signifies Extremely Weak financial security, suggesting that some financial commitments will probably not be attended to.

A CCC rating means the insurer has Very Weak financial security and may only be able to meet financial commitments depending on the business environment.

A rating of B indicates Weak financial security characteristics. If business conditions are not favorable, its ability to fulfill financial obligations will be hampered.

A rating of BB means the insurer has Marginal security characteristics. In case of adverse business conditions, there may be decreased ability to meet financial commitments.

In an industry that looks at the long-term, financial health is important. This is why Standard & Poor’s rates insurance companies. In this Internet age, making sound judgments is more important than ever, many now purchase insurance online. Note that S&P ratings are opinions, not specific to policies, and based only on information from other organizations. Ratings are not endorsements or guarantees.

Before we go into the letter grades, let us look at the ‘pi’ subscript. ‘Pi’ ratings are based on information available to the public and not as in-depth as ratings without it, which were analyzed through more comprehensive information from the management of the insurer.

Letter ratings may be followed by plus or minus signs to show their standing relative to others companies in that category.