I contacted Senator Menendezs office this morning and I was told to put everything that has happened to me in an email form...Here it is! Good Morning Zachary, As per our conversation I am writing to you with the hope of getting some help with our homes issues with Flood Insurance and the Grant Program. The following is the best account that I can give you and I have tried to keep it short but there a number of issues that are complicated. We had our home insured for $250,000 building and $14,000 content and I opened the file with the insurance company on Oct. 30th, 2012 since hearing all the devastation in our neighborhood. On Dec. 10, 2012 we received the insurance settlement of $44,726.71 well below what it would take to put our home back together again. I then sent them a letter asking them to revisit what they were paying us since they neglected a number of items from our home, such as the square footage of our home among other things. They sent us another settlement check dated May 5, 2013 for $19,141.32 total of $63,868.03 to put our 1,309 square foot ranch home back together, never would that be enough to put together our home. On April 9, 2013 our flood insurance policy was due for the amount about $100.00 more then is was the previous year and checked to see if our mortgage company paid it like they normally do, and they did. June 5, 2013, we received an extortion letter telling us that our coverages changed to $10,300.00 for building and $1,500.00 for content unless we sent them $4,492.00 within 30 days. Naturally, we didnt pay it since were would we pull that money from. I called our insurance agent who informed us to have an Elevation Certificate done, money out of our pocket that we didnt have. This would be one of FOUR that they would ask for to try to correct this issue with the flood insurance increase. The last thing that we were told was that since we had a basement, which we dont, it would have to be filled in! 6 of sand was pulled out from under our home from the waves with Sandy...so again, out of our pockets we had sand put back. Again, we needed and elevation certificate! WE HAVE BEEN JUMPING THROUGH HOOPS TO TRY TO GET THIS STRAIGHTENED OUT! And still nothing! We received our flood insurance deck sheet saying that this year 2014 we will have to pay $5,188.00 and I went and made more phone calls to the agency to find out what was going on and I was told every excuse from basement, to elevation, to pay to have more vents put in, everything but the truth! And thousands of dollars out of our pockets for nothing. We have our Stafford Township Letter of Substantial damaged dated Aug. 9, 2013. I have been in contact with the insurance company and they told us that is all they will do for us. Contacted FEMA for monetary help and was denied twice. I contacted the Governors office for help. No one followed up. I filed a complaint with the New Jersey Department of Insurance and Banking...all they did was forward it on to the insurance company and told them to deal with it. Nothing. I went to the town hall meeting in Toms River and received the brush off by putting my name on a list that no one followed up with me on. I have been writing letters and calling to see about help with this since we couldnt do this on our own. NO ONE WOULD HELP! I was fighting two battles...one for the money that was due us and the second the extortion of money for flood insurance increase. I was also in contact with our Wells Fargo insurance department and explained to them that something was wrong and not to pay the bill. I was working on getting an estimate from Lloyds of London and they quoted me $1,800.00 which is a big difference from $5,188.00 for the same coverages. In the interim apparently someone from Wells Fargo called my insurance agent and they OKED paying the bill! REALLY??? Without me??? It is my money! I then found out that the Flood Insurance managing company is owned by WELLS FARGO!! I find that a total conflict of interest and why are they allowed to pay anything without my knowledge even when I told them that I was working on the issue and I had time before the insurance was due. No one seems to care, but I do! I find this entire thing just wrong and has to be illegal! Senator Menendezs office tried by putting me in touch with a gentleman from FEMA/NFIP and he couldnt do anything as well. I also, July 27, 2013, applied for ALL the so called Grants that were offered and my on line application would not be accepted so I called the DCA and a very nice woman told me not to even bother with the application since there are 8,000 people ahead of me that wont see any money, so dont waste your time. For us this has been nothing short of a nightmare!!! And it keeps getting worse. Last week while speaking to friends of mine with the group called Stop Fema Now and we were discussing the insurance payouts/settlements when I realized that I was paid out for being a secondary homeowner!!! I AM A PRIMARY!!! No one seemed to mention this for the past 20 1/2 months!!! I contacted my insurance agent and was told to supply them with my voters registration card and my car insurance deck sheet. I informed her that they were in a land fill somewhere, but I fought on. I ran up to Toms River and got a letter stating that I have been a registered voter since 2008 with my address being 1091 Walter Blvd......OUR HOME! And I being neurotic with paperwork and I keep all the insurance cards and past registration cards in my car!!! So I dropped them off at the insurance agency here and was told that an underwriter decided that this was a secondary home and not my primary and changed it!!! Now my agent is going over her head and sent all my information to FEMA/NFIP. Seriously sounds like a money grab to me!!! And for all this time fighting for something that I knew was wrong because ONE person made an ignorant call!!! WE ARE OUT THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS!!! Thousands of dollars with the insurance payout. Thousands of dollars with all the Grants! Thousands of dollars from FEMA! WE NEED HELP!!! Not later when things are figured out and lets see how we are going to justify the mistake...NOW!!! I am out of my own funds, retirement funds, in debt up to our eyeballs and still have to raise the house. Now my husband and myself dealing with health issues because of all this stress and exhaustion I maybe out on the street!!! Because someone didnt ask any questions and didnt find out the truth. MONEY GRAB is what I see!!! Every agency made out on the money they took away from us with their cut of the money. All we ask is what is due us, no more, no less! I would expect to get the money the insurance company was supposed to have paid us for being primary homeowners, the money that was taken for the over payment of our flood insurance for being listed incorrectly as a secondary homeowner returned to us and I would hope to see that someone allows us to at least receive a check for the resettlement grant that was due us! I feel as if this entire system was put into place against the homeowners and this homeowner is asking for some justice. I have had and have gone through enough! If you are willing to help and can help please feel free to contact me at 201-248-7285 as soon as possible please. I would like some peace of mind and to be able to breath, which I havent done now in 20 1/2 months! Many of my friends at Stop Fema Now would like to know that our government isnt trying to steal from us or just beat us down so that we just give up and walk away. We arent going away...even if I am living in a card board box I/we will push on. Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing some good news that I can bank on. Sincerely, Diane Mazzacca
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 16:38:47 +0000
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