What'd you tell your insurance agent?

[Confused33]

What's the story for dropping your insurance? I'm a little embarassed to tell my agent/friend about what is going on so I thought I would ask.

I also learned today that cancelling a flood insurance policy is going to be an act of congress. Dammit man. Any thoughts on that?

[seth]

I was a little embarassed too. But my desire to move on and start really really fresh just made me blurt out the facts and my agent who has known me for 10 years just said " Oh man, I wish you and the family best of luck". *sigh..

[bulletproof77]

Mine figured it out when I just stopped paying him.... Nor did I care what he thought, he doesn't pay my bills..And why worry about flood insurance if you are walking away ?

[ccaplinger]

I couldn't cancel my insurance until I got a foreclosure notice of sale. As soon as I got that date I called the insurance company and told them to cancel the insurance on that date. I had already been in touch with them and that's what they told me to do.

[justasking]

Yeah, I agree ... let the ego go and do the best thing for your finances and your personal life.

Believe it or not, most people are more interested in their own lives than ours :-)

[Confused33]

It looks like I'm in the same boat as you guys and have to wait for a foreclosure sale date or whatever.

I can't get a straight answer out of anyone I talk to. Bank of America, insurance, lawyer.

I just want to know what to expect and how to handle this while I'm not living in the home.

[ccaplinger]

It looks like I'm in the same boat as you guys and have to wait for a foreclosure sale date or whatever.

I can't get a straight answer out of anyone I talk to. Bank of America, insurance, lawyer.

I just want to know what to expect and how to handle this while I'm not living in the home.

If you are not living in the home but the home is still in your name you need to carry insurance. If something happened to it the bank could come after you once they took possession. Just be careful and don't cancel the insurance until you are sure the bank has legal possession.

[bulletproof77]

Yeah, that's what they say..."carry insurance".....You know if you are going to give up the house, really, why do you care ? I had Skank of America, I went through foreclosure, and I never paid a dime after I decided to let it go back to the bank. No taxes, NO insurance, no nothing...People always say "mow the lawn, pay the insurance, homeowners association yadayada...." But in the end, it really doesn't belong to you anymore...So cut your losses and move on. It ain't yours anymore.....If you decide to walk and your SURE about it.....WALK...

[mynameainttracy]

When we decided to let the house go we had been talking to the paralegal at the attorney's office and she said that we could drop insurance whenever we wanted. When we moved out we started rental insurance on our new place and planned to carry insurance on the house for about 3 months. We told the insurance agency we were moving out and selling it.

WELL...the insurance people canceled our homeowners by mistake and soon we were getting letters from everybody...mortgage company, attorney's office. The attorney's letter said we were required to carry it (the paralegal obviously didn't know what she was talking about) and if we let it lapse we would likely get a judgment from the court (about $650) that we would have to pay. Then we got another letter from the mortgage company saying that they would buy a policy in our names and charge us $1500. So we immediately got on the phone and the insurance company reinstated it retro back to the date of their mistake. Luckily, in our state insurance on an unoccupied home is very cheap because I guess we will have to carry it until it is out of our name.

[seriously]

If you leave the house unoccupied and uninsured while you still technically own it (which you do until deed transferral/FC sale, no matter what the date of "walking away" is), you are responsible for anything that happens. I *completely* understand the "screw it, I am walking away" mentality, but think about it.... Do you really want a potential lawsuit carrying over to your new life? I will CERTAINLY resent having to pay prob $200 a month for abandoned property insurance, but I will resent it a helluva lot less than the possibility of having my wages garnished for the rest of my life if something happens to the house (or to someone being nosy and snooping around where they shouldn't be) while it's uninsured and still in my name.

Having said that, if anyone has a good way to get out of paying the property insurance (call the bank and tell them you can't afford it? Hey, I'm bankrupt!!) I'm all ears!