The majority of people who commit insurance fraud don’t think they’re hurting anybody directly. In fact, they think they’re hurting major corporations who have enough money that they don’t care anyway. This is not the case. In the United States, insurance scams cost an estimated $875 per person annually. It adds up to approx. $80 billion per year, and with the rapid growth of technology, it’s getting harder and harder to catch.
There are different types of insurance fraud.
One of the leading forms of insurance fraud is in our health care system. Health care fraud results in over $30 billion per year in the United States. There are two kinds of health insurance fraud: member fraud and provider fraud. An example of member fraud is when you deceive your insurance company by purposely not declaring something, where an example of provider fraud is if you were to bill for a service that was never rendered.
One fast-gorwing form of insurance fraud is automobile insurance fraud. Staged rear-end car accidents are a common form of this type of fraud. This is when a scam driver will stop suddenly in front of a car deliberately so they other car rear-ends them. Another popular scam is when there’s already an accident, you add damage purposely in the hopes to collect more money. Often times, this works, which is why it’s important to take photographs of the damage.
Another form of insurance fraud is when the beneficiary tries to collect the benefits while the insured is still alive. This is called life insurance fraud. The best thing you can do in this scenario is to know your insurance broker. When you go in to pay your premium on the insurance, don’t pay in cash. make sure you understand your policy, and if you don’t, bring it to someone who does.
And last but not least, I want to talk about fire insurance fraud. This form of fraud is very common because it’s hard to prove. If you lose your house to a fire, who’s stopping you from declaring stuff you didn’t have in the first place? There is no real way to prevent this kind of fraud. This will haunt you in your taxes and that’s about it. The best thing you can do is report it if you hear of anyone making false claims.
As I mentioned previously, the best thing you can do if you’re a victim of fraud or if you hear of any sort of fraud taking place, is to report it. You can report fraud to the National Fraud Information Center at 1-800-876-7060. I hope this article has opened everyone’s eyes a little bit to how this serious crime is affecting each and every one of us.
Posts Tagged ‘ Types Of Insurance ’
Insurance. What would we do without it? Though it seems impossible, there was a time when insurance on anything didn’t even exist. Unfortunately, the early beginnings of insurance are unclear. Over the centuries there have been key writings uncovered that give us some ideas of it’s beginning s. But as to an actual moment in time when the first item was insured, no one really knows.
There are theories that insurance goes back to the early days of the Babylonian traders at around the 2nd millennium BCE. They created a system which was recorded in the famous Code of Hammurabi around 1750 BC. This system was practiced by early Mediterranean sailing merchants. If a merchant received a loan to fund his shipment he would pay the lender an additional sum in exchange for the lender’s guarantee to cancel the loan should the shipment be stolen.
As a business itself, the first recognizable form of insurance started in Great Britain in 1666. This was in reaction to the “Great Fire Of London.” Because of this incident fire became a growing concern in England. Another major concern in England during the time was marine insurance because of England’s position in the world of sea trade. Some of the early insurance companies of the time were The Sun Fire Office, Royal Exchange Assurance and Hand In Hand.
As was stated above, there were some early writings that point to the first insurance companies and types of insurance. Below are a number of these writings.
From 1680 the following memo was found. “Mr. Newbold, London’s Improvement and the Builders’ Security Asserted, by the apparent advantages that will attend their easie charge, in raising such a joint-stock as may assure a Re-Building of those Houses which shall hereafter be Destroyed by the Casualties of Fire.” This memo appears to point to the beginnings of fire insurance. There were many other memos found during that same time period from 1680 to 1700 all related to fire insurance companies.
In 1697 writings were found to show the beginnings of an insurance company created to insure the welfare of widows and orphans. This appears to be the early beginnings of life insurance. During the period of 1697 to 1762 many other memos were found relating to the establishment of life insurance. Some of the early known companies are The Society For Equitable Insurances, The Perpetual Assurance Office and The Hampshire Society. It wasn’t however until about 1850 that the first evidence of life expectancy actuary tables were found.
The first evidence of insurance for businessmen was memos found going back to the year 1601. Many different kinds of businesses were mentioned in these memos such as small businessmen, mining companies and ship building companies. Evidence also shows that the British took out insurance on their enemies’ ships for the purpose of collecting on them after they were destroyed by the British Navy.
In the next article we’ll go over the various types of insurance that one can purchase today.
Starting with excessive rates to buying a separate policy for your teen driver, dealing with auto coverage is often confusing, complicated and it also involves a lot of money to be spent. Still, you can’t go around it, as it a legal requirement in most states and a helpful tool to give you a peace of mind when dealing with traffic accidents. Sure, it may seem like a dirty job and you don’t want to waste your time on it. But what if there’s an easier way to get your auto insured without all the hassle you fear of dealing with? If you are interested, read the frequently asked questions below as answered by insurance experts, who know how to get the right policy no matter what’s your situation.
Q: Am I obliged to carry insurance coverage when driving my car?
A: Nearly all states have it as a legal requirement for drivers to carry liability auto coverage as a guarantee that the damages you deliver in a car accidents are paid for. Each state has a minimum amount of liability coverage that a driver must carry with his policy. And even the states that don’t have vehicle insurance as a legal requirement oblige the driver to show proof that he has enough financial resources to pay for the caused damage. Any other types of insurance coverage, outside liability coverage are purely optional and can be purchased with respect to your personal insurance needs.
Q: Is insurance required before buying a new vehicle?
A: If that’s your first vehicle, you will be required to have insurance coverage before even taking it from the dealer. Moreover, if you’re using an auto loan to finance the purchase, you may be required to buy additional types of coverage besides liability. If you already have a car and are changing it to a new one or buying an additional vehicle, you have 14-30 days to report the changes to your insurance company.
Q: How can I get cheap car insurance?
A: Compare insurance quotes in order to see what other providers are offering, and if it turns out that you’re overpaying – switch the provider. If your current rates are quite competitive, compared to other companies, see if you’re taking advantage of all the discounts you can opt for.
When looking for a new car, always make sure that the make and model you are interested in provides cheap auto insurance options. Some cars are a lot cheaper to insure than the others, ask your insurance agent to learn what cars are the most cost-effective from the insurance perspective.
Another way to get cheap auto insurance, although a bit risky one, is to increase your deductibles. By raising the amount of out-of-pocket expenses you can afford before the policy kicks in you get lower premiums. And if you’re driving an older vehicle that has a low market value, you may want to drop collision and comprehensive coverage as it takes depreciation of the car value into account.
You can also adjust the amounts of coverage your policy carries, although experts do not recommend decreasing them to the level of state minimums as it is usually not enough to pay for a serious accident.
If given a chance to get affordable car insurance coverage, none of us would refuse it for sure. However, we are rarely given such chances and in most cases have to find them on our own. Still, it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to get what you want, especially in the world where everything you wish to get can be taken, you only have to know where to look. So if you want affordable car insurance, then this is what you will get! Learn how right here!
What’s in the word? Affordable.
When it comes to defining affordability each one of us has his own definition and numerical expression of that concept. Someone can afford to pay for auto insurance a price that the other will never be able to pay. That’s why affordability is strictly individual and is defined by how much money a person can pay for something without sacrificing other things or running short with the personal budget. And as there are different levels of income, the amounts of money that constitute affordable auto insurance also vary significantly from one car owner to another.
Looking for affordable insurance
You may think that affordable insurance comes only with minimal coverage amounts that will barely cover you if you have an accident. Fortunately, it isn’t so as there are many affordable policies with substantial coverage amounts out there. The only problem will be finding and getting them, because in order to make a policy affordable sometimes you should put in some serious effort and explore numerous options before getting exactly what you want.
First of all try to learn about all the discounts you can apply for with your current insurance company. Or if you are currently looking for an insurance carrier, try to learn such options before actually getting the policy. A good way to get a discount on auto insurance is getting it from the same company you already have other types of insurance with (health, homeowners, life, etc.). Most insurance companies provide customers with such an option but make sure to learn about it first. Other discounts most insurance companies will typically offer you include discounts on low mileage, safety improvements, defensive driving course, good driving record, good student, and many others. It never hurts to ask, maybe you can opt for a discount too.
Getting affordable rates
But before you start looking for good discounts you might want to shop around and see what different companies have to offer in terms of rates. The best way to do so is to use online auto insurance quotes. With so many sites giving you free quotes out there, finding a good deal takes only 10-15 minutes and you can apply for the insurance online too.
However, you have to make sure that you are getting accurate quotes and not estimates. Quotes are the exact rates you will be charged by your insurance company when you’ll get the policy, while estimates are only approximate rates that will definitely go up when you will actually buy the insurance. Shop around with accurate auto insurance quotes and find the affordable policy you’ve been looking for!
Term insurance: simple and affordable
When it comes to comparing different types of insurance policies for covering your life term insurance policies turn out to be the most simple and inexpensive. If your insurance needs don’t require sustaining a policy for your entire life, you may find it very appealing to get a term policy especially with the price tag being times smaller than of continuous policies.
Why term policies are the cheapest option for life coverage?
Term insurance policies will cover you only for a specific period of time. They also usually have pre-set premiums and fixed amounts of benefits to receive. Term policies can last from one to 30 years, but the most popular options are 10 and 20 year term policies. The vast majority of these policies cannot be renewed and the chances for the insurance company to pay out death benefits on term coverage policy are minimal. In fact, only about 1% of all term insurance policies actually give out a death benefit to their clients. That’s why the insurance company can place a significantly lower price tag on such a product.
Why taking term insurance coverage?
Term insurance policies are aimed at covering certain types of debts in case the policyholder is disabled or dies. Some debts that term insurance coverage may pay for include:
- Consumer credits
- Mortgage loans
- College education for children
- Funeral expenses
That’s why people who get 30-year mortgage deals are looking for 30-ear term life insurance policies. The most widespread options in terms of policy duration are those of 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years. Short-term policies are also available but they are rarely purchased.
Types of term insurance policies
Decreasing term insurance policies, also referred to as mortgage insurance policies, have a fixed premium over the entire term, however the death benefit is constantly decreasing with the time passing, being often connected to your mortgage debt. And as you pay out your mortgage, your insurance amount is decreased respectively. Insurance experts are not very enthusiastic about this type of policies although it’s a cheap life insurance option. But keeping in mind the low percentage of death benefit payout there’s not much sense in having such a policy.
Other types of term life coverage include:
- Burial insurance: such small insurance are aimed only for covering funeral costs.
- Group term insurance coverage: suitable for enterprises as it is designed to cover more people than standard policies.
- Specified age term insurance: such policies provide coverage only until the policyholder reaches a specified age.
- Return of premium: such policies will reimburse a part or all the premiums you have paid during the term if a claim is not filed. However, the premiums with such policies are usually higher.
Although, term life coverage is a relatively inexpensive compared to other types of insurance, your policy can still cost you much in premiums if you don’t take some time and shop around for a good policy. There are numerous insurance companies providing term insurance policies, and the rates can differ significantly for the same type and amount of coverage. That’s why it really pays off shopping around and getting as much life insurance quotes as you can, in order to find the perfect term insurance policy to purchase. Be smart, and don’t get the first policy you are offered with as there may be numerous offers way better than that.