Help! I’m Having Trouble Settling My Home Insurance Claim

If you are a filing a home insurance claim you need to make sure everybody involved gets the claim correct. You need to make sure you fill out and turn in all the paperwork on time. The home insurance company needs to make sure they process all of the paperwork in a timely manner. You and the company then need to make sure you settle the home insurance claim in a fair manner. Now, just because it sounds this simple does not mean that it actually is. There are times when settling a home insurance claimcan be a difficult process. The following are some tips on what you need to do if the claim is not going properly. This is your insurance policy, your money, and your home. You should have some say.

Talk to Your Agent and the Claims Manager

The agent who sold you the policy should be involved in this process. They are the one who you have been in contact with the most so they will also know where both sides stand. They can inform you where you might have gone wrong, or they could put the pressure on the claims side to make sure it is all going through correctly. You can also contact the claims manager of the home insurance company. You can give them a written explanation of what the problem is, and then provide them with copies of the documentation of the claim. If you stay in contact with them, and show them that you will fight to get things going, the claims process is more likely to speed up. Do not be shy about talking to people within the home coverage company.

Your State’s Insurance Department

If this process is going longer than you thought it would, and there seems to be no end in sight, you should contact the state insurance department. Every state has an insurance department because insurance is a regulated industry. Let them know what your complaint is, because they will know whether or not this complaint has popped up with your home insurance company before. A phone call from the state department will hold a lot of weight when trying to fight through a bad claims process. The state department could also have some tips for you on which home insurance companies have the best reputations, and how claim filing can go easier. It is their job to help you through any insurance troubles.

Should You Consult an Attorney?

It is probably best that you exhaust every option you might have first. If you still cannot resolve your claim then you might want to talk to an attorney. Make sure you have all your documents in order, and this not only includes the claim papers, but all the home insurance papers. Sometimes just the threat of an attorney will help you get the claim process going. Attorneys can also make sure that things are going properly and you are not being taken advantage of. Hiring an attorney is not a bad option, it should probably just be the last option that you take. You will have to pay a fee to the attorney so make sure you keep that in mind when going through all of this.