Carnival for the Insurance Consumer - May 7, 2007

May 7, 2007 | By Guardian In Insurance, Consumer Tips, Carnival for the Insurance Consumer | Comments(0)

Welcome to the May 7, 2007 edition of Carnival for the Insurance Consumer.

We received over 35 submissions and narrowed it to the top ten articles offering great insurance tips for the consumer. We hope you enjoy:

Insurance Consumer Carnival

Life Insurance

Silicon Valley Blogger presents 10 Tips On Life and Disability Insurance: How And Why We’re Getting More posted at The Digerati Life. This is, by far, the best post of the bunch. I strongly encourage you to visit this blog. “Content is king,” they all say, and this site has some of the best content around.

Sam presents Life Insurance. Clear, Quick and Easy Info. $$$$$ posted at Surfer Sam and Friends.

Joe Stewart presents Five Tips That Will Get You Cheap Life Insurance Quotes

Auto Insurance

Matthew Paulson presents Ten Tips for Buying User Cars. posted at Getting Green.

Jan Davis presents Cheap Auto Insurance Quotes - Tips For Getting The Lowest Rate. posted at PHTimes.org.

Health Insurance

C. Steven Tucker presents Don’t Fall Victim To A Health Insurance Scam: 10 “Red Flags” You Should Look For posted at Vox, saying, “This article provides information on common health insurance scams that target small business and self-employed health consumers. The article describes how consumers fall prey to the fraudulent practices of bogus associations and unions offering guaranteed health insurance coverage and outlines the 10 “Red Flags” that may indicate insurance fraud.”

Dave Prouhet presents Low Cost Health Care Insurance posted at Business Advice Daily, saying, “According to a recent study, the rising cost of health care is the most burning issue for entrepreneurs. Not only are increased premiums cramping profits, they’re making business owners question their businesses’ ability to attract and retain prime employees. The good news is there are a few steps business owners can take to help ebb the rising tides.”

Big Cajun Man presents Cancer, now that I have your attention posted at Canadian Financial Stuff, saying, “Cancer on the rise in Canada”

Mortgage Insurance

Big Cajun Man presents Mortgage Protection Insurance posted at TipsAnswers.com

Small Business Insurance

Brooke Parker presents Taking Care of “Small” Business: LIFE Foundation Offers Five Insurance Tips to Help Small Business Owners Make Sure Their Businesses are Secure posted at The Insurance Word Blog

That concludes this edition. Please submit your blog article to the next edition of
carnival for the insurance consumer using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.


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Filed under: Insurance, Consumer Tips, Carnival for the Insurance Consumer

Top Tips for Buying Homeowners Insurance

May 7, 2007 | By Guardian In Insurance, Consumer Tips, Homeowners Insurance Tips | Comments(0)

Keys to Home Ownership - © Photographer: Visualfield
Friends and family members are always asking us for tips and tricks for buying home owners insurance. Here are some of the best tips we’ve come across (please check back for articles with a further explanation for each tip):

1. Insure your home for 100% of the replacement cost new.

2. Buy earthquake coverage if the risk exists in your area. Earthquake coverage can be expensive, but it is well worth the price if you life in earthquake prone areas like California or Hawaii.

3. Buy a Home Replacement Guarantee that will rebuild your home even if the cost exceeds your insurance amount. Buy the guarantee without a percentage cap.

4. Buy liability limits equal to your auto liability limits.

5. Choose the highest deductible that still gives you an adequate premium credit.

6. Don’t just accept the normal or “standard” coverages for detached structures and contents. Make sure that the amounts of those coverages will fully cover what you own, including everything stored in the detached structure.

7. We know it’s boring, but READ YOUR POLICY and ASK QUESTIONS. Discover the types of personal property excluded from coverage and the limits of your policy. Talk to your agent about buying the optional coverages that might be needed to make up for those limitations and exclusions.

8. If you bring work home with you, buy the optional business liability endorsement to cover any injuries that could be associated with work related activities. If you have business at home, don’t buy the home-business endorsement (it is very restrictive). Buy the businessowners’s policy to protect yourself.

9. Buy the optional sewer backup coverage. Also buy flood coverage if you live in an area with heavy rains or that are at risk for flooding.

10. Buy the “special perils” coverage, which covers accidental loss not caused by a small group of excluded causes.


Filed under: Insurance, Consumer Tips, Homeowners Insurance Tips

Fraud Alert - Bogus Pre-Paid Funeral Insurance Scam

April 29, 2007 | By Guardian In Insurance, Consumer Tips, Fraud Alert | Comments(0)

Insurance Tips
The California Insurance Commissioner is alerting senior citizens and their families to make certain they are not victims of a pre-paid funeral scam targeting the elderly in Southern California.

A California Department of Insurance (CDI) investigation found that the former owner of Valley Funeral Home in Murrieta sold “pre-need” burial insurance plans to senior citizens, including residents of area nursing homes, then pocketed the premiums and left her elderly clients without funeral coverage.

Lee Ann Wyskiver, 55, was arrested at her home on April 5, 2007, by CDI investigators and the Escondido, Calif., Police Department. Wyskiver is charged with six felony counts including grand theft and financial elder abuse. She was booked into the Escondido jail, and bail was set at $50,000.

Wyskiver pleaded not guilty at her arraignment April 11 and is set for a preliminary hearing Tuesday at the Murrieta Courthouse. The Riverside County District Attorney’s office is prosecuting the case.

Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner called Wyskiver’s actions “despicable.”

“The suspect specifically targeted senior citizens who were in nursing homes, swindling them out of hard-earned funds earmarked for a funeral with dignity and respect which wouldn’t burden their families,” said Poizner. “We don’t know how many other victims may still be out there. Therefore, I urge families who have loved ones that dealt with Ms. Wyskiver to contact the Department of Insurance.”

According to investigators, Wyskiver collected nearly $20,000 from several elderly clients who thought they were purchasing a pre-need burial insurance policy. Pre-need or pre-paid burial insurance is a specialized form of life insurance or annuity used to fund the predetermined expenses of a funeral, cremation or burial. In some instances, the consumer was charged an additional fee to add an offered travel benefits.

Wyskiver allegedly had her elderly clients complete life insurance applications for the requested coverage and collected the quoted insurance premium. She then led each client to believe that their policies had been placed with either Forethought Life Insurance Co. or Homesteader Life Insurance Co.

After receiving numerous complaints against Wyskiver’s funeral home, the California Department of Consumers Affairs, Cemetery and Funeral Bureau initiated an investigation in 2005 and concluded that Wyskiver had committed gross acts of negligence and fraud, and revoked her license to operate a funeral home. Valley Funeral Home went out of business but failed to notify the clients.

Russ Heimerich, with the California Department of Consumer Affairs, told news agencies that complaints to his office about Wyskiver’s business included not having a body ready for a funeral, not returning a pacemaker, not providing death certificates and not handing over cremated remains to a family.

According to documents made public by consumer affairs, there were complaints of decomposition of bodies because they were not turned over to other funeral homes in a timely manner when family members decided against using Valley Funeral Home.

In Nov. 2005, the same establishment opened as Murrieta Valley Funeral and currently operates under new ownership and management. It was through the new owner that the clients discovered they actually did not have the insurance policy they thought they’d purchased.

Potential victims are being urged to call CDI.

Filed under: Insurance, Consumer Tips, Fraud Alert

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