USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

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tomd37
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USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by tomd37 »

Just received notification of a 25% increase by USAA for my $340,000 homeowner insurance policy here in middle Tennessee. :annoyed Have been with USAA for 52 years and have had homeowner insurance with them since buying my first home in 1975. Never had a homeowner insurance claim with them. Have only had two claims against any type of insurance and both were no-fault on my part. Annual homeowner bill increased from $865 to $1,081.

Time to shop around and call AMICA for a quote for all insurances currently with USAA (homeowner, auto, valuable personal property, and umbrella).
Tom D.
Sidney
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by Sidney »

Have there been a lot of "disasters" in your area (tornados, floods ...)?
I always wanted to be a procrastinator.
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tomd37
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by tomd37 »

Last major disaster in middle Tennessee was major flooding in parts of Nashville in May 2010.
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ProfessorX
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by ProfessorX »

Maybe your "insurance score" went up a lot?
jebmke
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by jebmke »

Ours (USAA) is up 10% but it had been steady for a couple of years or so.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
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tomd37
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by tomd37 »

My credit score (FICO) has been just above 800 for the past fifteen years. I believe ones credit score can affect various insurance rates.
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grabiner
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by grabiner »

ProfessorX wrote:Maybe your "insurance score" went up a lot?
You would be informed if that is the factor, as you would get an adverse action report notifying you that your insurance rate increased because of a credit-based insurance score, and the major negative factors were such things as "too few open accounts" and "too many inquiries" (maybe you just paid off your mortgage and car loan and opened a credit card).
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ProfessorX
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by ProfessorX »

If you have zero claims in such a long time, maybe you should increase your deductible to save some cash?
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Toons
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by Toons »

Did I hear Geico? :happy
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rotorhead
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by rotorhead »

I am 47+ year member of USAA; and have had home owners insurance continuously with them since 1986 (two houses from 1990 until 2010); with one claim for hail damage. Our hazard insurance for the next year has increased by 22.7%. In Florida they do not insure hurricane risk anymore - we do that separately now. There are additional FL state mandated levies that add to the cost; but this is a substantial increase for essentially fire risk.

I think USAA are losing their way as the preferred insurance carrier for former service members. In the last several years they have expanded their membership to try to be all things to all people, and I'm not sure it's working out all that well to the members' benefit. Their risk exposure has got to be substantially higher. I haven't done any serious shopping for other carriers yet; but am seriously considering starting to do that.

We moved all our investment accounts out of USAA some time ago; and presently only have auto and homeowners hazard coverage with them. Hate to see it happen, but might be time to start scouting alternatives.
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tomd37
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by tomd37 »

Whatever the future insurance company might be, I would want to have the same coverages and all my business would be with that company to ensure the best pricing. I do want it to be with a "quality" company though, with a good track record. Both USAA and AMICA are, or have been, rated the highest in recent years.
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jaxxmjd
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by jaxxmjd »

I tend to agree with rotorhead that USAA appears to be losing its way. I always recommended USAA to my Soldiers and felt proud to be a member, but the significant drop off in quality vs. price over the last few years has left me disheartened. My premiums went up 25% last year and an additional 18.6% this year. Between that and the terrible interest rates, it does indeed appear to be time to shop around. I enjoyed having my finances consolidated, but USAA simply does not seem to be competitive any longer. I can only forecast additional decline as longtime members choose to move their assets elsewhere.
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SnapShots
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by SnapShots »

tomd37 wrote:Just received notification of a 25% increase by USAA for my $340,000 homeowner insurance policy here in middle Tennessee. :annoyed Have been with USAA for 52 years and have had homeowner insurance with them since buying my first home in 1975. Never had a homeowner insurance claim with them. Have only had two claims against any type of insurance and both were no-fault on my part. Annual homeowner bill increased from $865 to $1,081.

Time to shop around and call AMICA for a quote for all insurances currently with USAA (homeowner, auto, valuable personal property, and umbrella).
Excuse me: You are upset over a $216 yearly increase with a total homeowner insurance cost of $1,081 for a $340,000 house? :confused

We've been with USAA for 47 years and have had a few claims. Baseball hail storm ruined our roof and no problems with a claim. Recently totaled our car and another. Both parties had a check from USAA in less than two weeks. USAA has accident forgiveness and our car insurance did not go up. Every year we have gotten a significant dividend rebate check back.

Go ahead change companies. Good Luck when you do have a claim.
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ieee488
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by ieee488 »

SnapShots wrote:Excuse me: You are upset over a $216 yearly increase with a total homeowner insurance cost of $1,081 for a $340,000 house? :confused
Granted I am not in the same part of the country as the OP, but I paid about $500 for my homeowner + umbrella policy with Amica this year for more house.
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Texas hold em71
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by Texas hold em71 »

tomd37 wrote:Whatever the future insurance company might be, I would want to have the same coverages and all my business would be with that company to ensure the best pricing. I do want it to be with a "quality" company though, with a good track record. Both USAA and AMICA are, or have been, rated the highest in recent years.
We have been with USAA since 1997 (2 houses). We love their service. Last Spring we reluctantly had a friend in the business compare a comparison quote. She was not able to beat it. We were very surprised. It might be a good idea to get a quote from another solid company to see if it is just USAA or if it is all carriers in your area.
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tomd37
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by tomd37 »

In reply to a couple of the recent posts, my HO insurance for the last six years has increased from $468 to $1081 for the same coverages. That concerns me and I will seek a quotation from AMICA which is rated equally as high as USAA. Had a very good claim experience with them 20 years ago when two deer crossed in front of me, one successfully and the other was not at all successful. My two-car USAA auto insurance rates have remainder fairly constant for the past eight years as have the umbrella and valuable personal property rates.
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SnapShots
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by SnapShots »

State: Oklahoma
Value of house $440,000. Personal Property: $300,000. $1M umbrella.
USAA Insurance Cost: $2,680

Rental Property $176,000.
USAA Ins Cost: $1,070

Colorado
Condo Content Insurance. $70,000 $1M liability Insurance. Farmers Ins. $278

Would love to have Tennessee rates.

Insurance companies in Oklahoma can't beat USAA rates
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tomd37
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by tomd37 »

SnapShots,

USAA HO - Total premium after credits and discounts $1,081 per year

Dwelling Protection - $340K
Other Structures Protection - $34K
Personal Property Protection - $255K
Loss of Use Protection (up to 12 months) - $ UNLIMITED

Personal Liability Each Occurrence - $500K
Medical Payments to Others - $5K

Wind & Hail Deductible - $3,400 (1%)
All Other Perils Deductible - $1,000

Also have $2M Umbrella policy for $284 per year
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samsoes
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by samsoes »

tomd37 wrote:Whatever the future insurance company might be, I would want to have the same coverages and all my business would be with that company to ensure the best pricing. I do want it to be with a "quality" company though, with a good track record. Both USAA and AMICA are, or have been, rated the highest in recent years.

Not necessarily, as far as USAA is concerned.

Check this out: http://www.badfaithinsurance.org/indexdetaillist.html

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stan1
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by stan1 »

Southern California
Dwelling: $608K
Deductible: $2K

Premium (with discounts/savings excluding earthquake and personal liability): $1361

Sounds like OP should follow up and get a quote from a different company.

Will have to see if it goes up much in December when it renews.

Flooding: House is 500+ feet above flood level so should be OK for hundreds of years of global warming.
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tomd37
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by tomd37 »

rotorhead wrote:I think USAA are losing their way as the preferred insurance carrier for former service members. In the last several years they have expanded their membership to try to be all things to all people, and I'm not sure it's working out all that well to the members' benefit. Their risk exposure has got to be substantially higher. I haven't done any serious shopping for other carriers yet; but am seriously considering starting to do that.
I tend to agree somewhat with Rotorhead's comment above. USAA, like the Navy Federal CU, has grown considerably in the past several years and I begin to wonder if such growth is bringing much more risk with it and therefore the older members are paying more to cover that risk. :?:
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by Mudpuppy »

SnapShots wrote:
tomd37 wrote:Just received notification of a 25% increase by USAA for my $340,000 homeowner insurance policy here in middle Tennessee. :annoyed Have been with USAA for 52 years and have had homeowner insurance with them since buying my first home in 1975. Never had a homeowner insurance claim with them. Have only had two claims against any type of insurance and both were no-fault on my part. Annual homeowner bill increased from $865 to $1,081.

Time to shop around and call AMICA for a quote for all insurances currently with USAA (homeowner, auto, valuable personal property, and umbrella).
Excuse me: You are upset over a $216 yearly increase with a total homeowner insurance cost of $1,081 for a $340,000 house? :confused

We've been with USAA for 47 years and have had a few claims. Baseball hail storm ruined our roof and no problems with a claim. Recently totaled our car and another. Both parties had a check from USAA in less than two weeks. USAA has accident forgiveness and our car insurance did not go up. Every year we have gotten a significant dividend rebate check back.

Go ahead change companies. Good Luck when you do have a claim.
There's nothing wrong with the OP doing a little comparison shopping with similarly high-rated companies like Amica. Maybe they will have better rates, maybe they won't. But the OP won't know without asking. And it is fiscally prudent to consider the non-tangible factors like customer service into the comparison shopping, but from all reports, Amica has similar customer service to USAA, so there's no harm in looking.

One should not maintain a brand loyalty to the point one is paying far more for the service when one can get similar service for less elsewhere. That's all the OP wants to find out: is it cheaper with other highly rated insurance companies.
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tomd37
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by tomd37 »

Well stated Mudpuppy. You hit the nail square on the head. Consumer Reports has always rated USAA and AMICA in the top three or five. That other rating previously cited is not accurate IMO.
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Riprap
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by Riprap »

tomd37,

Better plan to get a quote on the total package (auto and umbrella) since it is unlikely you can continue to get umbrella coverage from USAA if your homeowner's policy is with a different insurer. At least that was my experience with USAA.

And don't forget to factor in the value of the subscriber savings account distributions.
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tomd37
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by tomd37 »

Riprap,

I plan to get a quote on the entire package; homeowners, auto, valuable personal property (if offered), and umbrella. That way an apples to apples comparison can be made and arrive at an appropriate decision. Also will consider the subscriber savings accound refund received annually from USAA as well as my 10% additional SSA account refund for being a 40+ year member.
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by nhdblfan »

Check your policy, there may be extra's on there you did not have before.They tried adding 75K for "other dwellings" ( I have none) on mine. Called and went through the list;
No sheds ? (No,That must be some shed you want to charge me for !)
No other garage then attached? ( NO !)
Maybe your driveway ? ( How is that a dwelling ?Mine is dirt BTW 350ft long)
They finally agreed to drop it to 25k with no explanation other then "that's the minimum"
I might call them back and fight it just on principle.
Been a member for over 39yrs,first banking went to the bad side ( tried to charge me interest on a CC when they should not have-fought them up to the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and won!) Now the Insurance is division is the same and will screw you if you don't watch them.

USAA is NOT what they used to be and getting worse !Buyer Beware
Saleen
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by Saleen »

I agree USAA is doing some interesting rate increases in certain areas making them non-competitive. When I moved to Nevada they offered me a rate 3x what I was paying for auto insurance in CA. Went with GEICO and get a similar rate to what I was paying in CA. I was dumbfounded USAA could even give such a quote with a straight face.
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burnsh
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by burnsh »

USAA Member since 1996. Had my first bad experience with them this year when I made a claim to my homeowners insurance after my wife’s wedding ring got stolen. Had to argue back and forward for a month and a half after their first offer to settle was extremely low, ending up with a settlement of three times their initial offer.

In banking, I tried in the past to get them to match interest rates for an auto loan compared to my local Credit Union. They would not do it. They even told me they never try to match other competitors. You either take their rate or go somewhere else, so I did. My Credit Union auto loan was 3.5% lower. What was also surprising is that I live in San Antonio, home of USAA, and San Antonio's two biggest credit unions, RBFCU and SSFCU, have billboards with their lower loan rates all over the city. Same with their better interest rates on CD's, credit cards, etc. So USAA is very well aware they are being beaten in their own backyard, and yet they would not budge. I am slowly shifting a lot of the banking products to those credit unions.

In investing, they are not competitive at all. The last mutual fund I had with them had a turnover of over 200% in a year. I just don’t understand, if they are a customer own organization, why they don’t adopt the Vanguard philosophy on their investment products.

I guess they are just trying too hard to grow the company. You can see commercials and advertisements for USAA everywhere now (TV, Internet, Radio, Billboards, you name it), and they now offer most of their services with few exceptions like auto insurance to the general population. In my opinion, instead of rewarding its members with better rates, they spend the money on advertisement.

On another point, USAA has once again paid their employees a bonus of 18.8% of their base pay, in a year where they raised their home insurance premiums by 15.7%.

See this article: http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/ar ... 232825.php

Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with employees receiving a bonus for good performance, but I do have a problem when a member owned organization not giving their owners the best possible rates and rewarding themselves for it.
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tomd37
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by tomd37 »

I am back with an update and an apples-to-apples current comparison of USAA to AMICA for all my insurance coverages.

In this comparison I take into account the current end of year dividends AMICA is sending and the annual USAA Subscriber's Account and Senior Bonus distributions. I am comparing the current auto, homeowners, umbrella, and valuable personal property insurances I now have with USAA to equivalent policies with AMICA. It turns out the after considering both the gross costs of the policies and their net costs after dividends from both firms, I would pay $383 more per year to move to AMICA. I guess I'll stay where I have been (USAA) for the past 52 years despite the 25% increase in homeowners insurance coming up next month.

Thanks for all the comments you provided in response to my initial post. :beer
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Riprap
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by Riprap »

Thanks for the follow up post. Good information.
the.fluffy.bunny
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by the.fluffy.bunny »

You have to decide what you are insuring. I get annoyed with USAA because the do not offer very flexible policy terms nor high enough deductibles. I am not going to file a claim for 2k or 5k all I really want is catastrophic coverage. Every other year they jack my rate and I fight them to get it reasonable again. I think now I have a 2% policy deductible or some such thing, that trimmed 700 off the premium. Before that I had a 5K deductible.

My point in mentioning this is, you need to get knowledgeable agent and tell them what you want to pay and let them play around and see what the premium can come in at and what coverages you still have left.

And I never could get the to write an umbrella policy. AL they woudl do is increase my liability limits. I think the reason is my state is litigious and they did not want the liability. One good thin with their auto policies is the allow for manufacturers original equipment. If you keep your cars for a long time that is an important consideration. My point is they have always retained me, though they annoy me an make me work for it, by allowing me to get my premium where I want it to be.
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Sconie
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by Sconie »

I had my auto, home and umbrella coverage with USAA for approximately 8 years. When I "went to market" to check on their pricing-coverage 3 years ago, I ended up switching over to AARP Hartford----just my experience, and just FWIW. Sconie
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THY4373
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by THY4373 »

the.fluffy.bunny wrote:You have to decide what you are insuring. I get annoyed with USAA because the do not offer very flexible policy terms nor high enough deductibles. I am not going to file a claim for 2k or 5k all I really want is catastrophic coverage. Every other year they jack my rate and I fight them to get it reasonable again. I think now I have a 2% policy deductible or some such thing, that trimmed 700 off the premium. Before that I had a 5K deductible.

My point in mentioning this is, you need to get knowledgeable agent and tell them what you want to pay and let them play around and see what the premium can come in at and what coverages you still have left.

And I never could get the to write an umbrella policy. AL they woudl do is increase my liability limits. I think the reason is my state is litigious and they did not want the liability. One good thin with their auto policies is the allow for manufacturers original equipment. If you keep your cars for a long time that is an important consideration. My point is they have always retained me, though they annoy me an make me work for it, by allowing me to get my premium where I want it to be.
I have had a similar experience to you on homeowners though I have only had work with them a couple of times and the rates have stayed more or less flat since (I think I am at a 5k deductible). As for umbrella they seem to be fairly uncompetitive in that space. I had umbrella with them for like 7 years and they were more expensive than going with one of the few companies that will provide a policy without underwriting the underlying home/car insurance policies. Then I got into a at fault fender bender. Nothing out of the ordinary though it was my fault clearly. My car insurance didn't budge a penny (this was over two years ago now). USAA dropped my umbrella policy like a hot potato. I went with a separate company and even with the accident my cost fell. I am giving some thought to shopping around in another year or two when my accident has fallen out of consideration. I feel loyalty to USAA since they were more than fair with my car insurance/accident but I don't really like having a separate umbrella provider.
Oilburner
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by Oilburner »

jaxxmjd wrote:I tend to agree with rotorhead that USAA appears to be losing its way. I always recommended USAA to my Soldiers and felt proud to be a member, but the significant drop off in quality vs. price over the last few years has left me disheartened. My premiums went up 25% last year and an additional 18.6% this year. Between that and the terrible interest rates, it does indeed appear to be time to shop around. I enjoyed having my finances consolidated, but USAA simply does not seem to be competitive any longer. I can only forecast additional decline as longtime members choose to move their assets elsewhere.
The other thing I noticed about USAA (I am a 30-year member) is they have gotten fairly aggressive about marketing their services, and they have a lot of them. A lot are financial services.

I looked at their rates when refinancing and they could not match Amerisav. Also looked at LTC insurance and Genworth came in with better rates better than USAA (USAA sells Genworth policies).
whomever
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by whomever »

"one of the few companies that will provide a(n umbrella) policy without underwriting the underlying home/car insurance policies."

I didn't know any would do that - do happen to remember what some of the companies who would are?
THY4373
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Re: USAA Homeowner Insurance Increase

Post by THY4373 »

whomever wrote:"one of the few companies that will provide a(n umbrella) policy without underwriting the underlying home/car insurance policies."

I didn't know any would do that - do happen to remember what some of the companies who would are?
Google stand-alone umbrella and you should get a number of hits. But I found the following two links very useful. I am currently with USLI:
http://www.irmi.com/expert/articles/201 ... ement.aspx
http://www.irmi.com/expert/articles/201 ... hanges.pdf

Also if you are with USAA even if they won't sell you umbrella directly they will sometimes sell you somebody else's insurance via USAA General Insurance Co. They tried to do sell me on that but at the time I was annoyed with them dropping me so I shopped on my own (with an agent).
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