Most Californians, especially those currently trying to recover from tragedies, would hope the insurance commissioner would be here helping them recover from tragedies, not off in Bermuda.
We've been fighting with state farm for months over this request, which it's basically a bailout for the financial mismanagement that that it and its parent company have engaged in.
Consumer Watchdog, applauds lara for calling on a public hearing and for requesting that state farm justifies its requests to ask consumers for more money.
Carmen Balber says this is about a pattern and practice of financial mismanagement by state farm that they that depleted their bank account, and now they want California consumers to step in and bolster it again.
After two years of watching State Farm and other insurance companies gradually withdraw from neighborhoods all over the state, telling people, we're not going to renew your policy and claiming that the reason was that they needed relief from regulation of their rates, now we see that what really was behind it was a move by the State Farm to pressure the insurance commissioner into giving them massive rate increases.
Harvey Rosenfield says the next step here should be that the attorney general of California investigate state farm for what it says it's doing here, because that's a violation of the antitrust laws.
Litigation Director, Will Pletcher, says we're concerned that we're not seeing the financial information that we need to see to fully evaluate the request.
Consumer Watchdog is also considering filing a lawsuit in response to the announcement, believing consumers are now on the hook for this additional funding for the fair plan.
Jamie Court says it's really like they're exploiting a moment to try to get more money from people who can't afford it because a lot of them just lost their homes. it's shocking.
Consumer Watchdog says they are glad the commissioner is asking for more information on this before moving forward with the request, but it does not limit the possibility of a rate hike down the line.
Consumer Watchdog's Carmen Balber says mudslides and flooding are often separate policies not covered under your standard homeowners' insurance, but it's a real burden for consumers to have to buy 5 different insurance policies, and that is what we recommend you do in order to protect against these risks.
Two things people should do is make sure that your insurance policy is up to date and that the cost of rebuilding or replacing is fully covered within the policy. Secondly, take a video of your every piece of part of your home, of the contents of the home, the interior and exterior so you can document it if you've had a loss.
Homeowners are stuck on the Fair plan because the home insurance industry abandoned their neighborhoods. That is why it should be on the insurance industry to pay those bills, not California consumers across the state.
Consumer Watchdog won't let insurers shift the burden without a legal fight and plans on taking action to stop insurance companies from passing costs on to consumers.
Consumer Watchdog is concerned this could set a dangerous precedent by letting insurers off the hook for their fair plan liabilities and will encourage them to dump even more Californians on the fair plan.
Consumer Watchdog says what's needed are statewide standards so that individual utilities aren't making up policy as they go along we should have a statewide governmental assessed.
State Farm says its surplus has gone down in California, and that's true, but the question is why the company's surplus went down. In fact, the company has profited on the homeowner's line of insurance in California, and at the same time has been sending billions of dollars out of state to its parent company.
State Farm is trying to take advantage of this tragedy to say they need an immediate emergency rate increase of 22%, which could be three quarters of a billion dollars.
It's outrageous for the company now to come to the department asking for an emergency rate hike and it's nothing less than blackmail. State Farm needs to tap its parent company's $134 billion reserve.
For those who are in the fire areas, the most important thing at this stage is just to document everything because it will be a long road going forward getting full compensation from insurance companies. Documenting every conversation you have with FEMA, with the city, with the insurance company is really crucial.
State Farm's latest urgent request to the state for a 22% rate hike comes six months after another request for a 30% rate increase, a request that is still pending.
Consumer Watchdog says State Farm has yet to provide adequate proof that it needs the emergency rate increase. In fact, they argue the numbers simply don't add up.
Carmen Balber says if State Farm in California is in financial distress they should be looking for the parent company to bail them out, not California homeowners.
Consumer Watchdog, argues records show state farm has plenty in the bank, reporting the company made $1.4 billion in homeowners insurance from 2020 to 2022.
Consumer Watchdog says it's no different than the tobacco companies. Tobacco companies hid the dangers of tobacco and they were ultimately held liable for billions of dollars in health care costs. It's the same theory.
If insurers have to make up the difference for this and future fires, Consumer Watchdog says the insurance commissioner wrote a memo saying it's okay to pass on that to all of the other policyholders.
Consumer Watchdog has been critical of the new regulations. If people are on the fair plan it's because the private insurance industry put them there by not renewing or canceling policies.
If the California fair plan goes bankrupt, what does that mean for the average consumer, and how likely is that to happen? Jamie Court says you can bet that if the Fair Plan goes bankrupt, and it's a good bet it will, the insurance companies will come after us to pay the debts that they owe.
Consumer Watchdog has been critical of the new regulations. From the beginning it was an attempt by companies to get all ratepayers to foot the bill for disaster losses.
Consumers should try and get a copy of their insurance policy and then start collecting receipts, start recording everything. Many consumers don't know that they have a right to get reimbursement from their insurance company for evacuation costs, and they can get a big portion of their policy limits up front. If you're in an evacuation area and especially if you already know you lost your home, contact your insurance company right away. You can get an advance on your policy limits.
Carmen Balber says it's pretty easy to understand that if you put all the risky people in one basket and something big happens, we start to run into financial troubles.
It's a long road, but there are a lot of protections in place in California to ensure that your insurance company does pay what they've promised. It's really important for those who are evacuated now, especially if they know already that they've lost their home, that they start documenting everything and that starts with receipts for their evacuation costs because one thing that some homeowners may not know is that their insurance company will generally cover additional expenses for leaving your home.
Consumer Watchdog says this new rule is not the answer. Companies have multiple loopholes they can use to not increase the amount of coverage they are offering in california.
Consumer Watchdog says the regulations are seriously flawed. There is no legally binding commitment in this document that they have to cover more people but we're all going to be paying more.
Safeco, a branch of liberty mutual, California's fourth largest home insurance company, has filed papers with the California department of insurance that it will stop selling condo policies. It comes just days after Farmers, the second largest California insurer, said it will start selling condo policies and renters policies again.
Carmen Balber says the insurance companies will make more money, but the crisis will remain. The commissioner has folded to the insurance companies' blackmail.
