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Today's topics:
* My house insurance rates jumped 45% this year! - 7 messages, 5 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/5b986a4c733f6493?hl=en
* Home heating oil price? - 4 messages, 3 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/25ab6d7a439ac7f1?hl=en
* One-time credit card numbers? - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/b77ead67078c8cf2?hl=en
* Questions About Stand Alone DSL - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/a4655242e06b438e?hl=en
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TOPIC: My house insurance rates jumped 45% this year!
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/5b986a4c733f6493?hl=en
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== 1 of 7 ==
Date: Fri, Aug 29 2008 3:14 pm
From: Ron Peterson
On Aug 29, 5:32 am, "OhioGuy" <n...@none.net> wrote:
> Thoughts anyone? What do you do when you get an unexpected, and seemingly
> unjustified increase on a big bill on the order of 45%? Have you been able
> to successfully fight it?
Talk to your insurance agent, there might be an error causing your
rates to increase.
I had an error on the address of my house causing the homeowners
insurance to be double.
--
Ron
== 2 of 7 ==
Date: Fri, Aug 29 2008 4:29 pm
From: Marsha
OhioGuy wrote:
> I just got our statement from Allstate for our home insurance annual
> renewal, and noticed the rates had gone up a LOT. 45% from last year, to be
> exact.
Check around. Do you use an independent agent, who routinely checks
your rates with other companies? How's your credit rating? My
insurance company uses that to base my rates. I have excellent credit.
House insurance is $409.00/yr - replacement coverage $125,000 home,
$12,000 garage, personal property $84,000, loss of use $24,000,
liability $300,000. Deductible is $500.00.
Marsha/Ohio
== 3 of 7 ==
Date: Fri, Aug 29 2008 4:43 pm
From: "Lou"
"OhioGuy" <none@none.net> wrote in message news:g98j7q$a2k$1@aioe.org...
> I just got our statement from Allstate for our home insurance annual
> renewal, and noticed the rates had gone up a LOT. 45% from last year, to
be
> exact.
>
> I haven't changed anything, but I did notice that they mentioned
something
> about adjusting coverages upwards to take inflation into account as the
> reason. Supposedly there is some Federal law that allows them to do that
as
> a "benefit" so that the insurance coverage isn't eaten into by inflation.
I don't know if there's a law covering this or not. When I bought my
homeowners insurance, this was offered as an option. I thought it was a
pretty good idea. I'd estimate that prices have gone up close to 20 times
what they were when I first became aware of the price of anything except
penny candy. Come to think of it, I don't think there is such a thing as
penny candy anymore - candy bars that cost a nickel or a dime way back when
are a buck or two now.
> I thought about this a bit, and then realized that while they presented
> this as a benefit for us, it of course really benefits them. Rather than
> your coverage and payment staying the same from year to year, and them
> agreeing not to mess with it without your say-so, they have an automatic
> reason to increase things on you every year, then mention inflation as an
> excuse.
>
> However, I've realized that inflation really isn't an excuse, especially
> this year. Over the past year, average home valuations in our area have
> dropped about 5% - not gone up as they allege. Besides, they increased
the
> coverage only 2%, yet raised my rates 45% at the same time, with no reason
> given.
Subject to the terms of your mortgage, it's up to you how much coverage you
buy. Whoever holds the mortgage probably wants to be assured that they'll
be paid what you owe if the place burns to the ground.
What you're covered for depends on your policy. Me, I'm covered for
replacement cost - if the place burns down, they'll pay to rebuild it.
Regardless of what's happened to the market value of my house in the last
couple of years, construction costs have gone up.
> Another aspect I've noticed is that we may be overinsured. Other
similar
> doubles in the area have been selling for about $60,000 over the past year
> and a half. (I just checked) However, they have our place insured for
> $92K - almost 50% more than we need. If this place burned down or
> something, we would just buy a similar place nearby, not rebuild. As
such,
> it seems rather silly to have insurance far above what we would need.
Well, I'd rather have a nice new house, with an up to date furnace and a new
roof. But if you'd rather an older place with appliances that need
updating, it's your choice.
> Under "other structures", they have gone ahead and insured a wooden shed
I
> got for free and paid $150 to have hauled here. It is insured for $9,200,
> with $1,000 deductible. Again, that seems silly, because the deductible
is
> more than I would pay for a replacement, if I even bothered.
Assuming you could find another one for free.
> They also have us down for $64K of personal property protection.
However,
> I'm pretty sure that the grand total of all of our possessions is more
like
> $4,000. Most of what we have we've gotten for free from friends or
family,
> or else gotten ridiculously cheap at estate sales, yard sales or thrift
> stores.
And how many years and how much effort did you spend finding that stuff?
Would your friends and family step up to the plate and refurnish your house?
And again, would you rather have an old couch in the living room or a new
one? But judging from the tone of your posting history, $64K is probably
high for your personal property, even if all the old stuff was replaced with
new.
> Anyway, to make a long story short, a 45% jump in my rate from one year
to
> the next is very unacceptable to me. My payment is due by Sept. 11, but
I'm
> wondering if instead of just paying it I should send them a letter
demanding
> a better rate if they want to keep my auto insurance and home insurance
> business?
If you think you're overinsured, then the sensible course of action would be
to call your agent and talk your coverage over. I don't see any advantage
to demanding something that you may be able to get by asking politely.
> If I do so, I think the letter would mention that the rate increase is
> unacceptable, especially since the excuse given was inflation, even though
> home values in the area have gone down in the past year.
>
> Do you think it would be fair, or successful, to tell them that if they
> want to keep my business, they need to send me a rate that is comparable
to
> last year's?
Why would you back yourself into a corner? What will you do if they say
sorry pal, that's what it costs this year? Have you shopped for insurance
with other companies to see if you can get a better price? For all you've
posted here, it may be that you're with the lowest rate company in your
area.
> I know that they make very little $ on the home insurance, but
> perhaps if I threaten to take my car insurance elsewhere, they might be
> willing. (they make the majority of their profits on car insurance)
I don't know anything of the kind - I've always heard that they make most of
their money on investing the premiums, and pay claims on those profits. I
don't know if that's accurate or not, but financial investments haven't been
stellar performers lately, and the poor market performance of their
investments could explain the increase if it is.
== 4 of 7 ==
Date: Fri, Aug 29 2008 4:47 pm
From: "Lou"
"Samantha Hill - remove TRASH to reply" <samhill@TRASHsonic.net> wrote in
message news:48b7ec7b$0$17153$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
> OhioGuy wrote:
> > I just got our statement from Allstate for our home insurance annual
> > renewal, and noticed the rates had gone up a LOT. 45% from last year,
to be
> > exact.
>
>
> Before fielding the question here, you should talk to your agent and
> find out what's going on from them, because they are really the only
> person who can give you the whole story.
<<snipped>>
> Go Google for articles on how to keep homeowner's insurance down, take
> notes, and confront your insurance agent and tell them that you want
> your coverage modified as much as possible so that your costs are as low
> as possible. That should solve things.
I'd agree with just about everything you've said here, except the word
"confront". This doesn't have to be an adversarial situation.
== 5 of 7 ==
Date: Fri, Aug 29 2008 4:53 pm
From: "Lou"
"OhioGuy" <none@none.net> wrote in message news:g98sdf$jbn$1@aioe.org...
> Well, I was more focused on the 45% increase, and the fact that somebody
> increased the insurance coverage amounts without my say so. I want things
> set in stone until/unless I give then notice in writing that I want to
> change something.
Take a look at your policy - it's likely you did give them permission to do
this by signing a policy with a provision for automatic adjustments.
I remeber back in the '90's it went the other way - insurance company
investments were doing so well that coverage increased without cost
increases. I even have a fuzzy memory of some poeple getting cost decreases
but wouldn't swear to it. If times were good and things were swinging that
way, would you still be so insistent on no changes allowed without your
written permission?
> Anyway, last year was the first year I added the home insurance. The
cost
> went from $272 last year to $395 this year, an overall increase of $123.
I
> was expecting the amount to stay fairly level for at least a few years.
> There was nothing in the print about the price last year being an
> "introductory rate", or anything like that.
>
> Especially this year, with food and gas costs having gone up, I've been
> focused on holding repeat costs down.
Food and gas aren't repeat costs?
> There are 2 things that sort of bug me about this:
>
> 1) It is just short of $400 by $5. It is almost like they did a study to
> see how high they could raise the rates, yet still be under $400, because
> some study told them that people would go hunting if it was $400 or more.
>
> 2) They just sent us a rebate check of about $15 for being "safe drivers",
> only 4 days before we got the bill for the rate increase. It seems like
the
> satisfaction from getting a small, unexpected check was supposed to
somehow
> counteract the unhappiness of the large rate increase on our other
> insurance. HELLOOO! We just want the lowest possible rates, not
gimmicks.
So send the check back.
== 6 of 7 ==
Date: Fri, Aug 29 2008 8:40 pm
From: Samantha Hill - remove TRASH to reply
Lou wrote:
>
>> Go Google for articles on how to keep homeowner's insurance down, take
>> notes, and confront your insurance agent and tell them that you want
>> your coverage modified as much as possible so that your costs are as low
>> as possible. That should solve things.
>
> I'd agree with just about everything you've said here, except the word
> "confront". This doesn't have to be an adversarial situation.
No, it doesn't have to be adversarial, and I wasn't thinking of it that
way when I used that word.
== 7 of 7 ==
Date: Fri, Aug 29 2008 9:13 pm
From: James
On Aug 29, 6:32 am, "OhioGuy" <n...@none.net> wrote:
> I just got our statement from Allstate for our home insurance annual
> renewal, and noticed the rates had gone up a LOT. 45% from last year, to be
> exact.
Coverage is usually a percentage of the house so your shack is
automatically given a limit. It does not mean they'll pay you that
amount. They will just pay you what it cost to replace the shack.
You don't save anything by lowing that limit. You can cut cost by
increasing your deductable. I raised it from $250 to $2000. I figure
if the house burned down $2000 less isn't going to make much
difference.
You might want to take your renewal to several companies and ask them
to give you a quote. You can then ask your agent to match the low
bid.
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Home heating oil price?
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/25ab6d7a439ac7f1?hl=en
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== 1 of 4 ==
Date: Fri, Aug 29 2008 4:15 pm
From: "Lou"
"Ann" <nntpmail@epix.net> wrote in message
news:pan.2008.08.29.18.13.23.240252@epix.net...
> >> > In article <pan.2008.08.25.16.42.47.313...@epix.net>, Ann
> >> > <nntpm...@epix.net> wrote:
> >>
> >> > > What's the current home heating oil price in your area? It's 3.75
in
> >> > > north PA. Glad I didn't panic and prepay; that's 4.70. Undecided
> >> whether
> >> > > I should buy now or bet on it dropping some more.
> >>
> > ???Your pre-pay plan doesn't include an automatic reduction if the price
> > drops? Wow, that sucks. My plan requires an annual, up-front payment to
> > lock in a lower rate than pay-as-you-go. However, if the price of oil
> > drops below the originally reduced price, all future deliveries are
> > calculated on the lower rate, so my money goes further (I have money
left
> > over to be applied to the following year). This is with a mom and pop
> > company in upstate NY.
>
> The company does also have some sort of plan like that, but it's tied to
> auto-fill. For several reasons, I prefer to decide how much oil I want,
> and when.
I can understand the when, sorta - if you're short of cash today maybe you
can eke out another week on the oil in your tank. But overall, you're going
to need it when you need it, and how often the tank gets filled isn't going
to change how much you buy - it's not like they could put another 100
gallons of oil into an already full tank.
Years ago, I rented a place that had oil heat, and the auto-fill was a great
convenience as far as I was concerned. And if it also means that you'll
spend less on heat this coming winter, well, how much is that deciding how
much and when worth in terms of cold, hard, cash?
== 2 of 4 ==
Date: Fri, Aug 29 2008 5:28 pm
From: Ann
On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:15:38 +0000, Lou wrote:
>
> "Ann" <nntpmail@epix.net> wrote in message
> news:pan.2008.08.29.18.13.23.240252@epix.net...
>> >> > In article <pan.2008.08.25.16.42.47.313...@epix.net>, Ann
>> >> > <nntpm...@epix.net> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > > What's the current home heating oil price in your area? It's 3.75
> in
>> >> > > north PA. Glad I didn't panic and prepay; that's 4.70. Undecided
>> >> whether
>> >> > > I should buy now or bet on it dropping some more.
>> >>
>> > ???Your pre-pay plan doesn't include an automatic reduction if the
>> > price drops? Wow, that sucks. My plan requires an annual, up-front
>> > payment to lock in a lower rate than pay-as-you-go. However, if the
>> > price of oil drops below the originally reduced price, all future
>> > deliveries are calculated on the lower rate, so my money goes further
>> > (I have money
> left
>> > over to be applied to the following year). This is with a mom and pop
>> > company in upstate NY.
>>
>> The company does also have some sort of plan like that, but it's tied to
>> auto-fill. For several reasons, I prefer to decide how much oil I want,
>> and when.
>
> I can understand the when, sorta - if you're short of cash today maybe you
> can eke out another week on the oil in your tank. But overall, you're
> going to need it when you need it, and how often the tank gets filled
> isn't going to change how much you buy - it's not like they could put
> another 100 gallons of oil into an already full tank.
That isn't one of the several reasons. <g> When heating oil prices were
following the normal pattern of dropping in the summer, I'd have it filled
at the "summer fill" price, then get another ~250 gallons sometime between
when the tank was drawn down enough to take it and when it got
uncomfortably low. Exactly when depended on my guesstimate on which way
the price would go and the weather prediction.
> Years ago, I rented a place that had oil heat, and the auto-fill was a
> great convenience as far as I was concerned. And if it also means that
> you'll spend less on heat this coming winter, well, how much is that
> deciding how much and when worth in terms of cold, hard, cash?
Auto-fill is not convenient when the furnace goes off Friday evening in
below freezing weather (empty tank) and no one responds the message
left at the 24-hour number until Monday morning. It's not convenient to
plow an extra 150' of drive every time it snows in case the company
might decide to deliver oil before the snow melts. And auto-fill is not
cheaper if they decide to fill the tank when there is a month's supply
left and the price is falling.
And of course, a company can always do what the previous owner of the
company that serves my area did ... when they realized they had bet wrong,
they canceled the plans they'd offered (and signed some people up for) and
sold the company.
== 3 of 4 ==
Date: Fri, Aug 29 2008 6:28 pm
From: Jim
Ann wrote:
>
[....]
>
> And of course, a company can always do what the previous owner of the
> company that serves my area did ... when they realized they had bet wrong,
> they canceled the plans they'd offered (and signed some people up for) and
> sold the company.
don't you just hate it when you get sold? <g>
== 4 of 4 ==
Date: Fri, Aug 29 2008 6:52 pm
From: Ann
On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:28:41 -0400, Jim wrote:
> Ann wrote:
>>
> [....]
>>
>> And of course, a company can always do what the previous owner of the
>> company that serves my area did ... when they realized they had bet
>> wrong, they canceled the plans they'd offered (and signed some people up
>> for) and sold the company.
>
> don't you just hate it when you get sold? <g>
Umm ... no, this time I don't agree that the referent is ambiguous.
==============================================================================
TOPIC: One-time credit card numbers?
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/b77ead67078c8cf2?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Aug 29 2008 8:35 pm
From: Tiziano
Ken:
If you have a Discover card, you can generate virtual credit card
numbers using either their software of via their web site.
Here is the link for more information:
http://www.discovercard.com/customer-service/security/create-soan.html
Please note that in some cases you will not be able to use a virtual
credit card number to purchase something. One example is the purchase
of airline tickets; your real credit card number must be used for
security reasons.
--
Tiziano
on 8/26/2008 11:11 AM Ken wrote the following:
> I've read that credit card companies will supply their card holders with
> a credit card number good for only one transaction, for example for a
> mail order or internet purchase.
>
> If true, how does one get one of these numbers? Phone call? Web site?
> I've seen no info in the billing stuff I get, but I could easily have
> overlooked it - I'm mainly interested in the current charges and balance
> amount.
>
> TIA
>
> Ken
==============================================================================
TOPIC: Questions About Stand Alone DSL
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal-living/browse_thread/thread/a4655242e06b438e?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Fri, Aug 29 2008 9:19 pm
From: Bill
Jack wrote:
>
> On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 03:19:36 GMT, Bill <billrubin@prodigy.net> wrote:
>
> >Jack wrote:
> >>
> >> On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:08:43 GMT, Bill <billrubin@prodigy.net> wrote:
> >>
> >> >Jack wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:24:46 GMT, Bill <billrubin@prodigy.net> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> >Just order it from Verizon (and take advantage of their current
> >> >> >deal to give you the first 6 months free, be sure to ask for
> >> >> >it).
> >> >>
> >> >> Huh?
> >> >>
> >> >> The Internet offer is for the first month free and then $19.99
> >> >> monthly.
> >> >>
> >> >> The telephone offer is for no months free and $21.95 monthly.
> >> >>
> >> >> They'll tell me to go ______ myself.
> >> >
> >> >Check out this discussion on Fatwallet:
> >> >
> >> >http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/topic_view.php?catid=18&threadid=853672
> >> >
> >> >Worst case they'll say "Huh?" Best case they'll look it up and
> >> >tell you that you qualify.
> >> >
> >> >If you choose not to believe me, be my guest. Nice to see you
> >> >ignored the rest of my post.
> >> >
> >> >BTW, existing customers out of contract can get a similar deal,
> >> >5 months free.
> >> >
> >> >Bill
> >>
> >> You think that I haven't dialed-in my no. at the Verizon site? No
> >> such offer was forthcoming.
> >
> >Well then call and tell them that you've heard that this offer
> >is available and that you want it. I don't know how much more
> >proof I have to give you before you believe me that the deal
> >DOES exist.
>
> I did.
>
> It requires VoiP
>
> At additional cost.
What??? VoiP from Verizon? With DSL? What are you TALKING
about???? Did you read the thread on Fatwallet that I pointed
you at? Did you see that people there have also gotten the deal?
I must admit, it's not often that we such a clueless person
ignoring good advice and thinking they know better than the
advice you're being given.
BTW what are the folks on DSLReports telling you?
Bill
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