What To Do If My Home Insurance Provider Is Not Responding To My Claim?

If you are a homeowner or a renter whose insurance provider is not responding to a claim, there is, unfortunately, no particular federal law that mandates a payout timeframe for insurers. It can take several weeks for an insurance company to issue payout or it can take several months after you file a claim based on where you live and your state’s law. There are some areas where the state law requirement is that insurers are to pay claims in a reasonable timeframe. Other states allow 10 to 30 days for acknowledgment of receipt and 40 days for acceptance or denial.

How To Expedite Home Insurance Claim Payout

In order to get your claim paid in a timely manner, you want to be prepared prior to filing, document everything that has to do with the loss, and report the loss as soon as possible.

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• Inventory. You should have a home inventory of all of your possessions including pictures, receipts, and what you anticipate the value to be.
• Claim. Claims should be reported as promptly as possible and be sure that all of your contact information is up-to-date with the insurance carrier.
• Rights. Thoroughly read through your policy and file according to the guidelines. You should know what the state law requires as well, in order to comply with their regulations.
• Document. It’s crucial to document the loss by taking pictures of the damage before anyone has had an opportunity to do any type of repairs or cleanup of the area. Keep notes of conversations with anyone regarding the incident as far as repair, insurance, government, or any other professionals.
• Proactive. Give the insurer proof of the loss and ask for the dollar amount that may be coming to you. There’s no need to wait on them to tell you what is owed to you.
• Report. If there are specific instances of impropriety on the part of the adjuster, report those to the insurer as leverage in order to negotiate a proper settlement. This paper trail will be useful.
• Friend. The arrangement that you have with the adjuster is strictly professional. Don’t misinterpret their friendliness.
• Vent. Keep you’re venting or frustrations away from the insurance carrier as they will be documenting the process as well as you and this can appear as uncooperative, the reason for delay or issues with the claim process being slow.
• Attorney. Don’t sign a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement without first talking with a lawyer. Doing so with what can be a very non-specific, generalized agreement and one given too early in the process could greatly reduce leverage along with your chance to get full benefits.
• Attitude. Your attitude will mean everything in prompt claim handling. You need to be polite with your filing as well as prompt and continue to be persistent throughout the progression.

When you are having a concern with the response time on your claim, contact the adjuster first and then move on to the higher authorities. Going to superiors is what will motivate an insurer to solve a problem. The higher that a policyholder goes within the claim department, the greater the likelihood that the complaint will become resolved. 

If you raise an issue over the way that your claim is being taken care of or lack of, write a short, polite note to the adjuster and send a copy to the supervisor via certified mail requesting that a written response be returned within a set period of time. Follow with a phone call verifying receipt. Any mention pertaining to a problem with coverage or procedure, ask to have that pointed out within the policy for you.

If you aren’t getting anywhere, it may end up where you need to get help by filing a complaint with the state insurance regulator.

At the worst, difficulties in getting an insurance company to respond can be extremely annoying and time consuming. A multitude of cases are basically straightforward, and many claims or disputes are generally taken care of ethically and accurately by carriers. But when a challenge comes along, you need to stay on top of it with the insurer by often following up and using thorough documentation. It pays to be prepared.