Assignment of Benefits (AOB) abuse is a fast-growing fraud scheme that is hurting Florida’s insurance consumers. While AOB is a long-established legal tool intended to allow vendors to receive prompt payment from insurers after doing emergency repair work in a home – without having to directly involve the homeowner – this process is being abused by a cottage industry of unscrupulous trial lawyers, water remediation firms and roofers. These bad actors are persuading homeowners to sign over the benefits of their insurance policies as a means for fraudulently inflating claims, filing thousands of lawsuits against insurers, and driving up attorney’s fees.
PIFF recognizes the usefulness of Assignment of Benefits but recommends legislative reforms be enacted to prevent AOB abuse from becoming a statewide consumer crisis on par with sinkhole claims abuse and PIP auto insurance fraud, which resulted in increased premiums for Floridians.
PIFF supports a change to Florida’s “one-way attorney fee” law so that businesses that sue insurance companies are required to pay their own lawyers – just like they do when they sue any other business. PIFF also supports legislation that will end referral fees between vendors; require detailed written estimates for work to be performed by a vendor; prohibit unlicensed adjusting by vendors; and put reasonable limits on how much work can be performed before the insurer is able to adjust the claim.
Visit FightFraud.Today and sign the petition to let members of the Florida Legislature know that you want to stop scams on Florida Homeowners. To learn more about how Floridians are being victimized, read their stories today.
Palm Beach Post – August 30, 2016 State-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. is looking for a 9 percent increase from Palm Beach County homeowners – and an average 6.8 percent statewide – even though there hasn’t been a hurricane in more than 10 years. The reason has nothing to do with the ravages of nature.…
DetailsPalm Beach Post I recently attended a forum hosted by Florida’s Insurance Consumer Advocate Sha’Ron James in Boca Raton to discuss the explosion in insurance claims related to water damage. During the event, multiple speakers talked about problems associated with Assignment of Benefits (AOB), and how it is harming the insurance market and increasing rates…
DetailsSun Sentinel Ron Hurtibise Some property insurance companies are not taking on new business in ZIP codes with high claims rates in South Florida and canceling or deciding not to renew customers in high-risk areas. The action is a result of rising water damage claims in the region, the same problem that is leading to…
DetailsCitizens Board of Governors has approved recommended rates for 2017 that equal an average rate increase of nearly 7 percent statewide. The company said the increase is a necessary response to rising non-weather water losses and assignment of benefit (AOB) abuse that is now affecting all regions of the state. By unanimous vote, board members…
DetailsBy Jim Saunders The News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Pointing to a “crisis” in costly water-damage claims, the Citizens Property Insurance Board of Governors on Wednesday unanimously approved a proposed 6.8 percent statewide rate increase. The proposal would have varying effects for customers of the state-backed insurer, with some homeowners seeing premiums go up…
DetailsRon Hurtibise – Sun Sentinel The arguments were familiar at a daylong forum in Boca Raton attended by 150 players in Florida’s homeowner insurance rate crisis. But unlike their usual methods of venting over the past four years — legislative hearings in Tallahassee, websites, letters to the editor — the opposing sides listened to each…
DetailsCharles Elmore – Palm Beach Post The CEO of one of Florida’s 10 biggest property insurers told a forum in Boca Raton Tuesday that inflated water-damage claims are “morally wrong” and hurt all consumers by raising rates, while an attorney accused insurers of crying wolf about the latest “crisis” that serves their own needs. More…
DetailsJAX Times Union Opinion Lead Letter: Shady lawyers are exploiting loopholes in property insurance policies By Michael Carlson, president, Personal Insurance Federation of Florida Fri, Jun 10, 2016 @ 3:31 pm Last year, Florida broke a record by going 10 straight years without a major hurricane. But not everything is calm as we enter this…
DetailsMichael Carlson – Op Ed – May 16, 2016 Last year, Florida broke a record by going 10 straight years without a major hurricane. Residents heaved a sigh of relief that another storm season came and went without any major damage to our state. But not everything is calm as we enter this year’s hurricane…
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