Foreclosure help may be available

Foreclosure help may be available from Mortgage News...
"A lot of people are getting nervous about their mortgages, and some have real reason to worry as they approach the reset dates on their adjustable rate, interest only, or option payment loans.
We have talked before about avoiding foreclosure but it is probably time to do so again. Fortunately, there are a few new options out there for homeowners who are in trouble or fear they soon may be.
KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING IN TO
Not knowing what may happen is a sure reason to panic. Get as much information as you can while you are still in control of the situation, i.e. before you ever miss a mortgage payment. The more you know the calmer and more responsive you can be; the sooner you know it, the more options you have. ...." learn more from Mortgage News

Foreclosure help may be available

Foreclosure help may be available from Mortgage News...
"A lot of people are getting nervous about their mortgages, and some have real reason to worry as they approach the reset dates on their adjustable rate, interest only, or option payment loans.
We have talked before about avoiding foreclosure but it is probably time to do so again. Fortunately, there are a few new options out there for homeowners who are in trouble or fear they soon may be.
KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING IN TO
Not knowing what may happen is a sure reason to panic. Get as much information as you can while you are still in control of the situation, i.e. before you ever miss a mortgage payment. The more you know the calmer and more responsive you can be; the sooner you know it, the more options you have. ...." learn more from Mortgage News

Another Hurricane Season

Welcome back. I have not had time to post in a while but today as I was doing some "homework" I found that I needed to change the look of the blog, because with Google's new system, they had new template designs, and I had to choose one. I hope you like the look, though I know I don't have that many 'regular' readers. After all, not many people choose to while away their hours reading about insurance. I do have some regular readers of my other blog, www.aroundbabylon.com, but that's because I write about local happenings in our Village.

But while I'm here, I will write a short post. The market for homeowners insurance on Long Island is continuing to change. This past week we had our first call from someone who's being canceled by State Farm. They were told that State Farm is canceling people within a half mile of the water. I had heard that they stopped writing new business within a half-mile of the South Shore of Long Island but not that they were canceling anybody.

I say this not to pick on State Farm in any way. I happen to think they are pretty good company, and they are the biggest in auto and home insurance. Unfortunately, I just point it out to show what is happening in the Suffolk County and overall Long Island insurance marketplace. Even the largest insurance carriers do not have the capacity to absorb the business being shed by their competitors.

We need a lot of changes in not only the insurance business but also in the codes for new home construction and in other government regulations. But in the meantime, what we need most is a number of new carriers to come in the market and each take a small percentage of the business.

A big part of my job these days is keeping my eyes and ears open all the time for these new players. We wrote our first policy with one such insurance program this week. Our agents Association works hard on this issue all the time but Independent Insurance Agents only represent about 35% of the personal insurance market (meaning car and house insurance). And so we are not the "big players."

That would be Allstate, State Farm, Farmers and a few others. The problem is that, as I pointed out above, size is not an advantage here, because of the massive damage that would be possible in a Katrina size hurricane. Allstate is in favor of a government 'backstop', which is the only thing that would help them because of the sheer volume of business they wrote in coastal areas. But that idea has not caught on with most of the other companies, who would rather see a competitive market with risk-based pricing.

And while the public may debate about global warming, and whether it's caused by humans or not, the fact remains that sea levels are rising and temperatures are going up. And so the insurance companies simply don't know what's going to happen. Even if there is no such thing as global warming (and I personally think there is such a thing), we are at the very least in a period of rising temperatures and increased storm activity, even if it's just a natural cycle that will go away at some point. That point may still be 20 or 50 years away during which time we may or may not have some pretty strong storms. When you add that in to the amount of property value there is here on Long Island it's a pretty scary scenario.

Meanwhile, there are also a number of major insurance companies, who need no introduction here, who are chasing just the automobile insurance market without taking any share of the risk 0f catastrophic loss that mainly affects the property market. As these companies suck dollars from the insurance buying public, the effect is to weaken the financial positions of those companies who also take their fair share of the property insurance market.

We live in interesting times. As always, more information is available by visiting our web sites at www.NYInsuranceWithService.com and www.FloodInsuranceNY.com.

Free Credit Report

You can get a free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com

""You can get a free credit report three times a year -- one from each of the three major credit reporting agencies. One of the newest FACTA provisions allows you to go online to AnnualCreditReport.com, the ONLY federally sanctioned service, and obtain a free credit report from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

If you obtain the free report from one company, say in January, another report from another company in May, and another from the remaining company in September, you've set up your own free monitoring system to keep tabs on what's doing on your credit report.

Don't be fooled by other websites with similar names. AnnualCreditReport.com is the ONLY federally approved website to get your free credit reports. Others will give you a free report, but only after you buy their services....." from RealtyTimes

Free Credit Report

You can get a free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com

""You can get a free credit report three times a year -- one from each of the three major credit reporting agencies. One of the newest FACTA provisions allows you to go online to AnnualCreditReport.com, the ONLY federally sanctioned service, and obtain a free credit report from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

If you obtain the free report from one company, say in January, another report from another company in May, and another from the remaining company in September, you've set up your own free monitoring system to keep tabs on what's doing on your credit report.

Don't be fooled by other websites with similar names. AnnualCreditReport.com is the ONLY federally approved website to get your free credit reports. Others will give you a free report, but only after you buy their services....." from RealtyTimes