More than 300,000 Florida homeowners are being warned to respond to an offer letter from a private insurance company or risk paying more money. The deadline has been pushed to Oct. 10.
It’s part of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s depopulation program. The company is run by the state of Florida.
“We were really excited to be able to have the dream of buying a house, which is very hard in Orlando, and then everything just got more expensive,” said Tracy Parkhurst, who is a homeowner in Orange County.
Parkhurst said the cost of her property insurance has doubled in two years.
She is one of 304,000 Citizens policyholders who received the policy change offer letter in the mail.
“Citizens said they would renew for $3,079. However, the company that wanted to take our contract was offering $4,980,” Parkhurst said.
The offer is about a 61% increase.
The Florida spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute, Mark Friedlander, said if a homeowner receives the offer letter, they must respond with a yes or no by the deadline.
“If you ignore what’s stated in the takeout offer letter, you will automatically be switched to a new insurer at the price that is indicated in the takeout offer,” Friedlander said.
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Note: I blanked out the forms Customer Policy Number and Registration Code. Unbelievable it, they, were included.