Home or Medical insurance, the paper work and documentation are nerve-wrecking exercises, not just for people soliciting insurance policies, but also for insurance companies that prepare these policies. An insurance executive based in Philadelphia, spent six to seven hours at an average preparing documents for the company, leaving very little time for him to sell policies, for which the company actually hired him in the first place.
Another executive based in Milwaukee had to stay back two hours to complete the motor insurance documents of his clients. It was frustrating he said, to find everyone leaving the office when it closed, but he had little choice and had to stay back for completing the documents. Many executives work over-time to complete the documentary obligations, leaving them little time to spend on other important issues.
The Health Insurance documentation requires a lot of effort running into several pages, so also the auto insurance, business insurance, home insurance, and life insurance. The insurance claim documents mainly consists of checklists, crash reports, diagrams, forms, general reference notes, legal references, letters, maps, medical references and policy forms etc.
Many insurance companies now use online typing services; they hire offshore companies on the internet to provide documentation related to insurance claims. The insurance company executives use a digital voice recorder and record the dictations into them and through a USB cable transfer the recording to a computer, and through the email send the voice file to the off shore vendor for documenting the narrations. Some use the microphone on the computer for recording the dictations, instead of using a portable voice recorder.
This saves them valuable time from typing the documents themselves, besides saving them costs. The offshore companies most of which that are located in India provide the service at one third of the costs, because of the difference in time zones the insurance executives send the dictations to their Indian counterparts in the evening, just before closing time and the following morning the documents arrive into their email. The company executives are relieved now, no one stays back anymore to complete the insurance documentation, its all sent offshore.
Posts Tagged ‘ Insurance Claim ’
Insurance claim advance payments are not widely known by people who file claims. Often, when an insured has a loss of significant size, such as a flood, tornado, wildfire, hurricane loss or a big water damage loss, an advance payment of a portion of the anticipated settlement is issued by the insurance company. This situation also happens regularly when a business has a loss and needs money up front.
It is a customary and widely accepted practice for the insurance company to issue an advance payment in this type of instance. Be aware that there’s nothing in the standard property insurance policy that deals with advances. It is usually just a courtesy that the insurance company extends to their policyholder.
However, they don’t usually offer to do it. You have to request the advance.
Here’s an example. Joe Smith’s house is hit by lightning, and a fire damages most of the house. Joe’s policy has Building limits of $100,000, Contents limits of $50,000, ALE limits of $20,000. The house can be repaired for $70,000, which is less than the policy limits. However, the adjuster expects that the Contents loss will exceed the policy limits of $50,000, and the ALE loss will be $15,000. The adjuster sends in his first report to the insurance company, and tells them to expect the loss to be approximately $135,000 on these three parts of coverage.
The insurance company could easily issue an initial advance payment of $25,000 to $35,000 for Contents and ALE, and $40,000 to $50,000 for the Dwelling loss.
So, what do you do if your Contents are damaged and you need the most basic things, like a change of clothes and shoes? What if you need to have a contractor secure the building and put tarps on the roof to keep further rain out of the building? Most people do not have tens of thousands of dollars just lying in their bank accounts that could be used to begin repairs, or begin replacing personal property. That’s when the insurance company issues an advance.
It’s best to make your request in writing. Even if it’s just a hand-written letter, it’s best if it’s in writing. Write or type your request, keep a copy for your records, and give the copy to your adjuster. It’s also a good idea to send a duplicate copy to the claims department of your insurance company. Send it by overnight courier or certified mail. NEVER rely on the adjuster to ask for an advance on your behalf. He might get delayed with other work and it could be days before he asks. DO IT YOURSELF.
Take control of your claim, my friend! Make an EARLY request in the claims process for your advance payment!
So something has just happened to your home, and you need to file an insurance claim. It doesn’t matter what. It could be fire damage, it could be water damage, or a tornado could have ripped through your living room while you were watching reruns of Doctor Who. Regardless, you need to get it taken care of, but once you called in your claim, something happened that was comparable to the disaster that preceded your claim: a whirlwind of confusion.
The first thing that you might have noticed is all the people that are involved in your claim. First of all, you have the insurance agent who sold you the policy in the first place. This will be the person who represents the company. You also have the insurance adjuster, which is the person who has been assigned to review and approve repairs according to the coverage that you have.
If you have a mortgage, then your mortgage company will more than likely be there to make sure that your property is restored, as they have a vested interested in its future stability. There is also a restoration contractor, and this person is extremely important. Basically, the restoration contractor exists to make sure that your home is restored, and that it is restored within the insurance company’s guidelines. There are certain contractors that you should hire for this, as not every single contractor is well versed in insurance related repairs.
There are some insurance companies that might require you to get multiple estimates for your property damage. Why exactly? If your policy states that you need to, it’s simply so both you and the insurance company can get the best price. Many insurance companies however already know the best price and they probably have a contractor in mind for you. With some companies, you luck out in this area and can simply make one call to take care of the entire claim.
One thing that you may have to deal with in your claim is property depreciation. This is a rather unfortunate fact of life, and it happens because property values can decrease over time. Whether it is because of use, or because the facilities within the house aren’t up to date. This can adversely affect the payout you receive from your insurance companies in some cases. That’s not to say that this is always the case, and you may in fact find that your home is at its full value at the time of the incident.
It’s not easy, having to deal with an insurance claim. In fact, it can get very confusing for someone who is not ‘in the know’. If you have any complex questions however, you can always speak to your insurance provider and they will more than likely be quite happy to provide you with the information that you need. Failing that, and if your claim is likely to be quite large, you might want to approach a claims assessor. They will ensure that you receive every penny that you deserve, not allowing insurance companies to hide behind small print – plus they are often useful for impartial advice and information on your claim.
So learn all you can, and make sure you’re up with the latest real estate terms. In the end, it should all work out for you.
An insurance settlement represents the settlement of an insurance claim made on an insurance company. This could be a claim by an insured person under his own insurance policy, or a third party claim.
Insurance companies could make the settlement payments in different ways. One of these is to defer the payments as when the company promises to make annuity payments over a number of future years.
A life insurance settlement, or life settlement, is something different. It involves selling your life policy for immediate cash to a life insurance settlement company. If you are aged over 65, and have a life insurance policy, you could sell the policy. Life insurance policies are like any other asset that you own, and you are free to sell it.
Insurance Settlements Can be Cashed Out
Life Settlements are cash outs by their very nature. You could also cash out any deferred payments you are receiving under an insurance settlement. We look at both below.
Selling Life Insurance Policies
There are a number of reasons why you might want to sell your life insurance policy.
* Paying the premium has become a heavy financial burden
* You need cash for a prolonged medical treatment
* There are life policies in the market that are more cost effective
* There are investment options that you consider better
* Your business or personal situation have changed and a life insurance policy might not be the best
option under the changed situation
Factors like those mentioned above could make it better to cash out your life policy. In extreme cases, you might even have to let the policy lapse before you are able to make any claim.
The common alternative in such a case was to surrender the policy to the insurance company and get the surrender value. This was a poor alternative as the surrender value could be zero or a very low sum compared to the premium you have been paying for years.
If you are aged above 65, you now have the alternative to sell your policy and get a sum significantly higher than the surrender value. The amount depends on such factors as your present medical condition, statistical life expectation, smoking or tobacco use habit and the policy type.
Selling Other Insurance Settlements Involving Deferred Payments
Where your insurance settlement involves annuity payments, you might wish to cash it out for a lump sum. A lump sum of cash now could help you invest your money better or meet the expenses of a prolonged medical treatment.
In such cases you are allowed to accelerate your insurance settlement payments. A court process is involved to determine that cashing out the annuity payments is in your best interests. If the court approves the acceleration, you could sell your annuities in whole or in part and get a lump sum of cash.