A little light reading this morning for you...... Florida, Louisiana and Massachusetts are all taking steps to help residents in coastal areas deal with potential huge increases in flood insurance premiums. In Florida, Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty says he will issue a “set of simple guidelines” aimed at making it easier for homeowners insurance carriers to underwrite primary flood insurance in the state. McCarty is acting because of concerns by city and state officials as well as Realtors that the rate hikes mandated under the Bigger-Waters act will undermine the nascent surge in home prices in Florida. “These outrageous rate increases are going to destroy communities across the state,” says State Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, in a story this weekend in the Tampa Tribune. “Tampa Bay is ground zero for this flood-insurance crisis,” he adds. McCarty tells PC360, “While there are a few companies writing primary flood coverage in Florida, these are generally specialty companies that write flood coverage only for high value homes.” He says the guidelines will not only provide a framework for the approval of rates and forms for flood coverage, but will also address financial requirements that must be met for insurers to write this new coverage. “These guidelines will be designed to facilitate the writing of primary flood coverage in Florida by insurers with the demonstrated financial capacity to do so,” he explains. Florida was hard hit during the housing bust of 2007-2010. According to plaintiff lawyers in the state, there were more homeowners hit with force-placed insurance during the bust than any other state. According to the Tampa Tribune article, only 20 percent of flood policies nationwide will see rates go up as part of the 2012 Biggert-Waters Act. But, the article says, Florida—and especially the Tampa Bay area— will be hit harder than most parts of the nation. Homes built before communities entered the flood program in the early 1970s have received artificially low rates for decades, and the federal government is eliminating those subsidies, the article explains, adding that Pinellas County has the highest number of those older properties in the country, while Hillsborough has nearly 22,000 single-family homes alone being affected. In Louisiana, the State Senate and House Insurance Committees have scheduled a hearing Wednesday to discuss measures to help property owners who will be hit by increases. State officials estimate that rate hikes could be as high as 4,000 percent on some Louisiana homes and businesses. There are nearly 500,000 flood-insurance policies in effect in the state, and an estimated 18,000 of them reportedly will see immediate increases, state officials contend. Among those scheduled to attend the hearing are Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon, coastal parish presidents, representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the NFIP, bankers and real estate and insurance agents. In Massachusetts, state attorney general Martha Coakley and the speaker of the state House have co-sponsored a bill that would cap the amount of flood insurance that mortgage lenders may require of homeowners. Specifically, the bill would bar creditors from requiring homeowners to buy flood insurance in amounts that exceed their outstanding mortgage balance. Tying the amount of coverage to the outstanding mortgage balance, instead of the replacement value of the home, would lower premiums for the homeowners impacted by the new change, Coakley says. Homeowners would still have the option of purchasing a greater amount of insurance. The legislation would also require banks to provide a notice to homeowners—before they pay for federally mandated flood insurance—explaining that insurance coverage tied to the outstanding mortgage amount will only protect the current mortgage interest, and may be insufficient to cover repairs or property loss after a flood. “These new flood-insurance changes are going to devastate many families and businesses in our coastal communities,” Coakley says. “We continue to urge the federal government to delay implementing these changes until they’ve followed all the steps required by law. In the meantime, this state legislation can help mitigate the impact of these costs on families and businesses,” Coakley continues. Early next month, Congress is expected to consider legislation clarifying the Biggert-Waters law in such a way as to delay the rate hikes. Additionally, a hearing is scheduled for Oct. 28 in Federal District Court in Gulfport, Miss. on an injunction sought by the Mississippi Insurance Department seeking delay in the rate increases until affordability studies mandated by the law are completed.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 09:12:34 +0000
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