​     Sound familiar? This question gets asked hundreds of times from unsuspecting homeowners when floods hit there area. Most homeowners are mislead to believe that home insurance covers everything or as I have heard numerous times in the past from new clients… “when I bought this house my loan officer took care of the insurance and it’s all handled by the mortgage company and they told me I was fully covered. “ Just like I’m sure you wouldn’t go to a dentist for heart surgery, you shouldn’t go to a loan officer or mortgage company for home insurance.

     In spite of popular opinion, ignorance is not bliss, especially when it comes to homeowners insurance. The worst possible time you should find out about your coverage is when you have a claim. Floods have never been a covered peril on homeowners insurance. The common misconception is that water is covered on the policy, so that must include floods too. Wrong! There is a difference between water coverage and flood coverage. Water coverage on a home insurance policy in Texas only includes accidental and sudden leakage from a plumbing system or appliance. Some home insurance polices also include continuous leakage of water, for example a leaky shower pan behind the wall. Another coverage that should be on your home insurance policy is water backup from sewers or drains. Water backup offers coverage when the storm drain floods and backs up into your house and causes flood damage.

     Flood insurance is only sold thru licensed agents of FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program or NFIP. Flood insurance covers your home or business from an overflow of water from a lake or stream. Flood insurance is also available for renters and commercial properties. If you have a mortgage and your property is in a Flood Zone, the mortgage company will require you to purchase flood insurance. However, nearly 20% of all flood claims come from low to moderate risk areas.

     Most home insurance policies pushed by loan officers and inexperienced insurance agents DO NOT include water coverage at all. It is important that you have an experienced insurance agent to review your current home insurance policy yearly and make the proper recommendations.
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Our office offers a FREE Texas homeowners insurance review and flood insurance coverage in all 50 states. Contact us at 214-275-8372 or online at www.hanksgroup.com

1. SHOP AROUND FOR THE BEST RATES
Prices change from time to time. Just because you were given a competitive auto insurance rate three years ago doesn’t mean it is still competitive. Insurance companies change rates often and some classes of drivers experience rate hikes while others experience rate decreases. It pays to shop around for auto insurance rates every few years, but make sure not to shop by price alone. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is switching auto insurance companies for price alone and find out after a claim, the real reason why the rates were so low is because of coverage exclusions and limitations.
 
2. COMPARE INSURANCE RATES BEFORE YOU BUY A NEW CAR
Before you buy a new or used car, check insurance rates. Insurance companies base insurance rates on type of car, price of car, cost to repair, safety record, and likelihood of theft. Cars with good safety records, lower cost to repair, standard safety features like airbags and anti-lock brakes, and standard anti-theft features have an overall lower insurance cost.
 
3. RAISE YOUR DEDUCTIBLES
The deductible is what you pay before the insurance company pays. By having higher deductibles you can lower your auto insurance rates from 10% to 40%. By raising your deductible from $200 to $1000 you can lower your comprehensive and collision rates up to 40%.
 
4. REDUCE COVERAGE ON CARS OLDER THAN 10 YEARS
Remove comprehensive and collision coverage on cars older than 10 years. Insuring older cars may not be worth the insurance premiums it cost. If your car is worth less than the cost of comprehensive and collision insurance, you are wasting your money. Check the value of your car online at www.kbb.com
 
5. BUY AUTO INSURANCE AND HOME INSURANCE FROM THE SAME COMPANY
If you combine both your auto and home insurance with the same company you can save a bundle. Clients with multiple policies are more profitable for insurance companies than clients with only auto insurance. Insurance companies give deep discounts on both policies to attract these profitable multi-line clients. Typically auto insurance discounts are up to 30% and home insurance discounts up to 40%. Insurance companies will also add additional discounts for life insurance and renters insurance.
 
6. KEEP A GOOD CREDIT HISTORY
Credit history has a big impact on auto and home insurance rates. Most insurance companies use credit history as a rating factor in determining insurance costs. Studies have proven that people that maintain a good credit history have fewer and less severe claims. Based on these studies, insurance companies use credit as an auto insurance rating factor. A good credit history can result in substantial savings in insurance costs. To protect your credit always pay bills on time, keep credit balances as low as possible, check your credit for free on a regular basis at www.annualcreditreport.com , and use credit repair to correct any errors. If your credit needs repairing, check out www.lexingtonlaw.com
 
7. USE LOW MILEAGE AND SAFE DRIVER DISCOUNTS
Most companies give discounts based on driving habits. In order to qualify for these safe driver discounts, insurance companies will track and record your driving habits for a period of time. Based on this data, auto insurance discounts can range from 5% to 40% off of the standard rates.
 
8. GROUP INSURANCE DISCOUNTS
Some insurance companies offer group insurance discounts for employees of companies, members of employer groups, fraternities, credit unions, labor unions, alumni associations, sports associations and other groups.
 
9. SEEK OUT OTHER DISCOUNTS
Insurance companies offer discounts to clients who have a clean driving record with no tickets or accidents in the past three years, good student discounts for youthful drivers who maintain a B average in school, occasional drivers who are students away at college, multiple car discounts if you insure more than one car in the same household, and life insurance multi-line policy discounts
 
10. REVIEW CURRENT POLICY COVERAGES ANNUALLY
Things change over time, make sure you and your agent regularly review your policy and make sure it meets your current needs. An annual policy review is the best way to make sure you are receiving all of the discounts you are eligible for and to make sure you are properly covered.

     We have all heard of the data breaches of Target, Home Depot, JP Morgan, IRS and more recently T-Mobile. Hackers are constantly looking for ways to steal your client's sensitive data. Even though these multi-billion dollar corporations have the financial wherewithal to survive such a malicious data breach, the costs of recovery is substantial. The vast majority of small businesses face the same cyber risks as these multi-billion dollar corporations, yet do not have the resources to recover. In fact, a data breach of a small business will likely put the business in bankruptcy. Claims from clients, vendors, financial institutions, and regulators can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

     Cyber risk is costing the global economy $445 billion annually, $108 billion of which comes from the U.S., according to a new report. “Cyber risk is now a major threat to businesses,” Allianz said in the report. “Companies increasingly face new exposures, including first-and third party damage, business interruption and regulatory consequences.” AGCS said the problem has become severe only in the last 15 years, though it has a particularly severe impact on the world’s top economies. Out of the $445 billion annual global cost, $200 billion-plus of that number comes from the world’s largest economies — the U.S., China, Japan and Germany. The top 10 global economies account for more than 50 percent of cyber crime costs, according to the report. AGCS said that cyber risk remains the most underestimated by businesses.

     Most commercial insurance policies exclude cyber risk or data breach coverage. Some business owners polices include a limited endorsement of data breach coverage for a small premium. Check your current policy to make sure you are covered. Cyber Risk is real and Cyber Risk Insurance can help with recovery if your client's sensitive data is ever compromised.

Cyber Risk....Who Cares?....Your Clients Care!