Sink Hole Fraud

Fraud Dog says don’t fall prey to the unscrupulous field adjuster or attorney promising you big dollars for simple cracks in the walls of your home. Sink Hole Fraud in Florida is big dollars for the fraudster.

The number of sinkhole insurance claims have tripled over the last five year in Florida. Citizens Property Insurance, the largest homeowners insurance company in Florida, states that it took in $32 million in premiums in 2010 and incurred $245 million in sinkhole losses. This mean larger premiums for all homeowners even those not in “sinkhole prone” areas. Filing sinkhole claims can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars to the homeowner and doesn’t require the homeowner to even fix the problem. The state of Florida is seeing a number of homeowners with huge insurance payouts that fail to fix their home; instead they pay off their mortgage and move, leaving the problem for someone else. This is causing decimating property values and is draining millions of dollars in tax revenue from local governments.

The problem lies with aggressive marketing by attorneys, contractors, and public insurance adjusters who encourage homeowners even with minor cracks to file claims and in many cases sue. The public adjuster gets 10 percent of the settlement and the lawyer can walk away with as much as 40 percent.

Reference:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/sinkholes-become-floridas-latest-insurance-disaster/1208473

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