State Farm cancelling our homeowners policy b/c we are in foreclosure

[AbbeyA]

I got a call from our insurance agent today -- we have State Farm insurance policies -- life, auto and homeowners. They somehow found out about the foreclosure and are planning on dropping us from our homeowners policy, even though we are current and up to date on payments. I am so pissed! Our home is scheduled for Sherrif sale on October 12th ... we planned to continue the policy through November 1st, when we will move to a rental.

I can't believe they are allowed to do this, how can they just decide to drop us like this? Obviously the lender would have to place a force insurance plan in place to cover the dwelling, but it wouldn't cover any liability for us as the current homeowners with our name on the deed until it is sold/not to mention our personal belongings should something happen.

Can they legally do this? We have no intention of trashing the home or making any claims, it's just offensive to imagine what they must think of us.

[StartingOver08]

Is that a letter from your agent or from "corporate"?

Contact your State Farm agent directly.

[LoadedGuns]

Yes they can do that.

[ryan]

That is crappy. I am in FC and have Allstate. I've heard nothing from them like that.

[AbbeyA]

Is that a letter from your agent or from "corporate"?

Contact your State Farm agent directly.

It was my agent that called yesterday b/c he saw that the letter was coming out from corporate. He was going to call the underwriter and talk to him/her and get back to me about it. He actually said he has not see them do this before and doesn't know how they found out about the f/c.

I'm hoping he gets back to me today ... I can only imagine what is to follow -- increased life insurance rates, increased car insurance rates, higher renters insurance rates.

[Flamingo]

Well if you haven't been paying your mortgage payment and your insurance company pulled your credit report to review prior to renewing a policy, it's right there in black and white to them. If you pull out your homeowner's policy and read all the clauses and paragraphs therein, you will see that they can cancel your policy for certain reasons. You agreed to those terms and conditions when you signed for the policy and to be insured.

If your state allows insurance credit profiling, you will see an increase in insurance rates when they pull your reports to renew a policy or if you apply for a new policy with a new insurance company. You can find out if your state allows that practice by eithier calling your Department of Insurance in your state or visiting the insurance section on your state website. Many states still allow the practice.

[CanBreathe]

I depends what state you live in. Here in CA. the banks notify State Farm. There is a clause in the policy that states that they will not insure a vacant house or one that is owned by the bank. You can get renters insurance to protect your personal belongings and liability and that should keep your multi-line discount in tact. Also, depending on the state, your insurance is not based on your credit score. In CA it is based on your driving record and claim history. The agents are receiving notices every week about vacant homes and foreclosures so I find it interesting that your agent never heard of it before. Usually they will cancel at the renewal date and not mid term. Be sure of that because it may get you to 11/1/10 like you want.

[AbbeyA]

I depends what state you live in. Here in CA. the banks notify State Farm. There is a clause in the policy that states that they will not insure a vacant house or one that is owned by the bank. You can get renters insurance to protect your personal belongings and liability and that should keep your multi-line discount in tact. Also, depending on the state, your insurance is not based on your credit score. In CA it is based on your driving record and claim history. The agents are receiving notices every week about vacant homes and foreclosures so I find it interesting that your agent never heard of it before. Usually they will cancel at the renewal date and not mid term. Be sure of that because it may get you to 11/1/10 like you want.

We've been paying the premiums on a quarterly basis since we weren't sure when we would need to leave the home. The next quarterly payment is due on August 24th, which might explain how they plan to drop us and not continue it anymore. I didn't hear back from our agent today, I'll await his call and go from there. I'll also ask him about a renters policy for the last 3 months in the home, even though we are currently the "homeowners" of record at this time.

We are in Illinois, I will need to do some research about insurance profiling etc. for this state.

Thanks everyone for your responses, much appreciated.

[tmielke1]

Allstate dropped me too!! and now the mortgage company which was chase but now is ibm wants insurance on the property, I have not lived their in over a year and no one wants to sell me insurance, it really sucks I surrendered the home but still stuck with it it seem and dont even live there, im also in Illinois

[scsurfer]

My home in Ohio was foreclosed on last fall, it's now a REO. We walked away from the house in June 09'. In May 09' I went to my State Farm agent and told him we were walking from our home and that I would need to add a vacant home endorsement to my HO policy. Cost under $100. Was no big deal and if you are vacating the home before foreclosure it is very important you do this. Late June 09' after we had walked and house was vacant, my agent called me and said "hey you wanna cancel the whole policy?", so I did and let the bank pick up a policy on their dime (which I got a bill for but that amount ended up included in the foreclosure). Since State Farm let the bank know the policy was going to end there was never any lapse in coverage on the home and I saved a bunch more money. This is just my experience with State Farm, as you know, experiences differ...