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Home Insurance Q&A

Did you know that your home insurance premium will probably go up after you file a claim? One FiLife user found out the hard way. Hardie’s kitchen flooded almost three years ago and MetLife paid for the repairs. Now Hardie’s hunting for a new policy and the premiums seem steep. He’s mad.

Enter the FiLife Gurus.

According to Ali, our real estate guru, this is business as usual for home insurance companies. “The best way to keep your costs down is to take a higher deductible on your next policy,” she says. “I realize that hurts your wallet too, but that’s probably what you’re stuck with!”

Dave Hanson, another FiLife guru, says there is some good news: “Your claim should not last more than three years on your insurance claims record (known as a CLUE report). So, pretty soon you should have a clean record, and be able to reinsure elsewhere at lower rates.”

You can read the rest of their conversation here.

If you have a personal finance question then sign into FiLife and ask one of our gurus. We’re not standing by 24 hours a day but we’ll get back to you in a reasonable timeframe. We’d love to hear from you.

– Kristen Sullivan