Homeowners Insurance Mayhem

OK, I decided to wake up from my deep sleep on my homeowners insurance and follow the advice of Bay Area Houston who recently wrote about his USAA coverage. His advice was that in 2007, check your homeowners insurance coverage, particularly to check to see if your coverage for water, sewage and foundation had been dropped without you being aware of it. The mental nudge to me was that he had received a letter in 2003 along with a workbook about the new coverage "options."

For various personal reasons, that info came in the mail to me at a time when I was a little overwhelmed and I sort of remembered getting that same stuff - from USAA - and sticking it away in a folder. Plus, to be perfectly honest, at the time, I didn't understand what all of that info was about because the language was pretty slick about "new coverage options, additional coverage options and policy discount information." Hmm. I still can't find any discount info in any of the stuff they sent me. It's either not there or it's miniscule.

Well, I found all of that paperwork and sure enough, I am paying about the same amount in premiums for my homeowners insurance as I was before the changes in my policy, but I am getting less coverage. Specifically, mold, water, sewage and foundation coverage became options instead of standard parts of my policy.

So, I called up USAA and asked them to add water, sewage and foundation back in. They will (but not until my policy renews in March), to the tune of around $300, increasing my annual premium by about 30%. This is exactly the same story you'll read at that Bay Area Houston link.

Seriously, check your homeowners insurance coverage as one of your New Year's resolutions in 2007. You don't want your plumbing pipes to burst and find out that you don't have coverage (good grief, my water heater is in the attic!) You don't want to bear the burden of tens of thousands of dollars in foundation repairs without insurance coverage. Be prepared. It's the foundation coverage that will cost you the most. And, with USAA, there is a $15,000 limit on your new and improved optional foundation coverage.

And, while you are at it, hug a blogger, because you are not hearing about this anywhere else.