home owner's insurance Consent to Rate form

Just received this Consent to Rate form from State Farm for my home owner's policy. Basically if I don't sign this form giving State Farm the right to charge me a rate higher (up to 250% even though they make it look like a dollar) than NC law allows, they will drop my coverage. They are taking advantage of a loop hole in the law and I feel like I am being blackmailed to sign it. Been with them for 20 years without a claim. I know many people in the state have been getting these letters. Can anyone suggest a good insurance company that does not require this form to be signed. Thanks!

 

Sorry to hear that. I have been with State Farm for over 30 years. I got my Consent to Rate form about a month ago. Yes, it is their way around the regulated rates. The North Carolina Rate Bureau has filed an appeal to the Insurance Commissioner's decree that there would be a 0% overall increase in rates. His decree goes into effect June 1st. BTW, the NC Rate Bureau works for the insurance companies, not you and me.

State Farm and other insurance companies sending the Consent to Rate forms are hoping that there are enough fools out there to agree to pay more than the law allows. I signed mine and sent it back to them just to see what my final quote would be. It was just what they said it would be, another 17% increase over last year. Signing the form does not commit you to renewing with them. This is no way for a company to do business. I feel that I have become just another number with State Farm. I told my agent that I would be shopping around if they sent me the projected quote. It didn't do any good.

In the meantime, I have been obtaining quotes from other companies for homeowner's and auto. Allstate is less than State Farm for homeowner's and auto. Combined would save me about $200.00/year. The Allstate rep said that there would be no Consent to Rate form. But, I don't trust any of them. Amica has quoted me a rate on homeowner's that beats State Farm and Allstate. But, they are a lot more on their auto. I am likely to go with Amica on homeowner's and go with Progressive or Geico on auto. Progressive and Geico beats State Farm by about $300.00/year on auto, even without a multi-discount. But, I have 4 autos, 3 with full coverage. With Amica and Progressive, this will save me about $450.00/year over State Farm. You can get quotes on-line from most companies.

Good luck to you. I hope that anyone who gets one of these forms will switch companies and not agree to their legal extortion. If enough fools fall for this, then they don't have to worry about what the Insurance Commissioner decrees. I am done with State Farm.

Sorry for the lengthy reply.

 

at least it appears to be rather informative

 

I have allstate and i got the form last year also

 

Unfortunately this is happening to a lot of people. The problem is that we become "comfortable" with our ins companies and fail to shop for better rates until they do something really stupid like raise our rates dramatically. Hurricane Sandy started the latest rounds of increases.

We were with USAA for over 35 years before we got a consent to Rate form. That's when we started checking things more carefully. For years we knew we had the lowest cost policies around! We knew that because a couple of times we thought about getting quotes from others and as soon as they heard we were currently with USAA they said we were with a great company and they couldn't match or beat their rates. Then after reading this http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-loyal-insurance-customers-can-pay-higher-rates/ I realized this was in fact happening to us.

To make a long story shorter, we switched to Liberty Mutual and are saving over $200 a year on our HO ins with better coverage. They are minimally better than USAA on auto se we switched both to them.

I will not sign a Consent to Rate form for anyone again and will keep a very close eye on being "PO'd" again. There's just too many companies out there that want your business. The only loyalty I have is to my family. At my age it seems funny to be talking about switching insurance companies every year or two but I will not hesitate to do exactly that in the future.

 

Every insurance company sends out these forms nowadays. I can assure you there is nothing inherently underhanded about the "consent to rate" form. It's big business doing what they can under the law of the state.

Now, can, have, and DO, some insurance companies abuse(d) the ability to use this form to screw their customers? Absolutely. But just because you sign the form, doesn't mean you're automatically screwing yourself into taking a rate-rocket up the rear end next renewal. Not gonna happen, in all extreme likelihood.

Don't believe everything you see on Steve Daniel's "Local Geraldo here to save the day" I-Team segments, nor what the Paranoia Army is telling you. Contrary to what they, and "investigative journalists" with big egos and the need for fame and ratings would have you believe, we are not going to be taken over by the Illegal Alien Militia, Obama is not sending out General Franco's henchmen to take away your guns, convicted sex offenders are not hanging out at your child's but stop waiting to snatch your kids, and signing a consent-to-rate form does not mean you've set out an irrevocable auto-draft of your life savings for the next 20 years from your insurance company.

What's the worst you have to do if they jack your rates? Compare rates and switch to another in 5 years? ***!

 

I thought I read somewhere last year that every company would be sending these out sooner or later.

I got mine from SF last year. Switching to another company won't help, as they will make you sign the form when you sign up.

 

False. Farm Bureau only uses consent to rate for doublewides on a regular homeowners policy. We do require auto though.

 

I have a rental property and my home to insure. Liberty Mutual told me that they would not insure my rental property without also insuring my home. Their rates for both and the autos were actually a little higher than State Farm. So, it's a no go with Liberty Mutual.

Well, it happened to me after I signed the form and my telling them that they would lose me as a customer if they fired that rate-rocket up my arse.

Well, you shop around when they jack-up your rates 35% in just two years. And I have never filed a claim with State Farm. 35% in two years is more than "incremental" rate increases.

I have shopped around and will be going with another company.

 

We have Farm Bureau, and we have not received this type of form.

 

We have FB for home and autos too, haven't seen this form. Trust in PRM! :hurray:

 

Thanks Tassy Girl!

 

We left out last insurance company over this form...had been with them myself for over 20 yrs and my parents were with them a good 15 before that...sad.

 

I was told by an insurance agent that the insurance companies generally don't make money on the property insurance, but that they make their money on the auto insurance. I was also told that the auto rates are higher in Johnston County than Wake County. Go figure.

Apparently, State Farm is sending these Consent To Rate forms to all of their customers. Allstate has been sending some too. I guess that the insurance companies want to pad their bank accounts. You would think that the big insurance companies have enough money considering that most of them even have their own banks now.

 

Just never have a large claim with those big guys or in some cases any size claim.

 

This is a state issue. Our insurance department is and has been a mess for years. Look into the NC state risk pool if you want to learn more. Consent to rate is the new standard operating procedure for HO insurers.

If you want the best HO policy for NC I strongly recommend looking into ERIE. It won't be the cheapest option, just fyi.

 

I second Erie...however, they have always been the cheapest for me. By a long shot.

 

"Consent to Rate" forms are from an old rule that gives insurance companies a loop hole to exceed the maximum rates mandated by the states insurance commission.

Pretty much, if I ask you to consent to pay more than what's legally allowed, and you agree, the state will turn a blind eye to insurance blackmail. This has been ongoing since 2009 and not one representative in NC has ever addressed this loop hole. It's SSDD for your corporate collusion buddy's in the house.

The "Beach Plan" isn't doing the costs any favor either. Insurance companies use to buy insurance against their liability in the state mandated plan but they lost that ability 5 years ago. So guess who's paying the insurance companies liability for the rich mans house at the beach?

 

Yep. No one could touch them on the policies we have (with two young male drivers). And I wouldn't go with another office in JoCo either...PRM and his peeps have the BEST customer service. We keep 'em hoppin' with buying and selling cars and they never miss a beat. Wouldn't switch again after finding them.

 

Thanks doll. Hope y'all are doing well.