The current marketing system for flood insurance is broken and is costing Consumers approximately $800,000,000 per year!!
The NFIP, a federal program offered through FEMA, offers flood insurance, through 83 separate distribution companies known as, “WYO’s”. Currently, approximately 95% of the entire flood market is controlled by the WYO’s as part of an extensive network of more than 2500 marketing companies which include, every major insurance company in the US. Some of the larger companies on the list include, State Farm, Farmers, American Family, Allstate, Geico, Hartford, Travelers, Progressive, USAA, Liberty Mutual, just to name a few. The estimated revenues that are paid out to this collective group to market the NFIP is in excess of ONE TRILLION DOLLARS!!! Because of this huge financial monopoly of the flood insurance market, it is very clear why, when a consumer is needs to obtain flood insurance, regardless of whether they contact their local insurance agent or, one of the large national insurance agencies, almost without exception, they are only offered the NFIP option for flood insurance. Because the consumer, in most cases, is not aware that they could be eligible for other private options for their flood insurance, it is estimated that as many as 3,000,000 consumers could be saving 30% to 50% or even more on the cost of their flood insurance.
Also, due to FEMA'S current flood mapping changes that are occurring throughout the US, there are many cases where the private flood insurance option could potentially reduce their premium for flood insurance by as much as 90%! When these flood mapping changes occur, the difference in the annual flood insurance expense between the NFIP and the private option could add up to several thousand dollars! Without any knowledge of a private option, this puts the consumer in a desperate situation because they can no longer afford pay the increased costs for flood insurance expense as required by their lender. In most cases they also don't have the option to sell their home because the increased cost of the flood insurance has devalued the home below what they actually owed. Unless you have been a victim yourself, it may be difficult to believe that this could actually happen. To help substantiate this claim, we would like to site an actual case that aired on a major TV news network just a few months ago in Colorado....
"The homeowner lived in a modest home in a suburb of Denver and the home was currently valued at approximately $200,000. When they purchased the home just a few years ago they obtained a loan for $150,000 which the lender required flood insurance for because the home was located in a special flood hazard. So they obtained coverage with the NFIP through their local insurance agent for the required amount of $150,000 to cover the building up to their loan amount. Their initial premium was $1350 per year. Prior to their renewal in February of 2014, FEMA had adjusted the flood mapping in this area and raised the baseline flood elevation by 6 feet. When they received their renewal in February they found out that because of the change in the baseline flood elevation their rate would be increasing from $1350 to $6200 or increase of more than $400 per month!! There was absolutely no way that they were going to be able to afford the required increase and had decided that they had no choice but to let the home go into foreclosure. They also didn’t have the option to sell their home because with the new $400 monthly increase for flood insurance, their home has now dropped in value from $200,000 to $100,000, which was well below what they currently owe! Fortunately, one of their neighbors had heard that there was an option for private flood insurance that may help them and gave them our number. The good news was that we were able to provide them a private flood policy for only $650 per year which was approximately 50% below their original premium and, almost 90% below the new required premium which came to a savings of $5550 per year!! Not only were we able to help them keep their home but, also preserve the equity in their home!
It is estimated that approximately 10,000 will be faced with foreclosure each year due to excessive rates for their flood insurance coverage with the NFIP and, unless they are able to find lower cost alternative, they will be lose their home.
We have also found that a certain percentage of the properties that are currently required to pay for flood insurance with the NFIP could be eligible to eliminate any requirement for flood insurance by correcting present mapping errors with the FEMA. Quick Flood Quote offers a process that will help determine if your property is eligible to possibly remove the requirement for flood insurance.
If we determine that your property is eligible, you could not only receive a refund for the previous year’s entire premium but also eliminate the requirement to pay any future premiums for flood insurance! Since there are only a few companies that offer this service, it is not likely you will ever hear about this through your local agent.
Please help QFQ with our goal to reach every consumer that could benefit from a lower cost flood insurance alternative by sharing this information with anyone you know that could be impacted by this.
Thank you!
QuickFloodQuote.com
