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Family Fights For Insurance Reform

By Jessica Taloney Reporter

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Published: Tue, February 26, 2008 - 6:42 pm
Last Updated: Tue, February 26, 2008 - 7:12 pm

Jessica Taloney

You can certainly say they are one big happy family, but all of them living under one roof was not something they planned.
"There are seven of us," said Angie Broom. "My mom and dad. My husband and I and our three children."
You first met the Broom family on News Five last September. They were forced to sell their home after they were dropped by their insurance provider.
Like thousands of home owners across the Gulf Coast, Broom and her husband got a letter from Allstate saying because they didn't have an automobile or life insurance policy with the company, their home owner's insurance would not be renewed. They were faced with two choices. Either find another insurer and pay double the premium or pack up and move.
"It was really hard because we thought when we built the house we'd be there pretty much forever. And, then to just have to pack up everything and move and start over," she said.
Now they are all living with Angie's parents, sharing three bedrooms and one full bathroom while they build a new home North of I-10. They're also trying to make sure others don't have to make the same tough decision.
The Broom family will be in Montgomery Wednesday supporting an insurance reform bill introduced by Mobile Senator Ben Brooks. While it's too late to help the Broom's, they hope it will help their neighbors.
"There's still thousands of people live South of Highway 90," she said.
A public hearing on the bill is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at the State House. Brooks says everyone is invited to attend. You can also leave your comments here wkrg.com and News Five will take them to the lawmakers for you.

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Just so you all know, it’s NOT just Allstate. My insurance was Liberty Mutual formerly Prudential.

Posted by o'pinuns on 03/04/08 - 11:26 am • Report Abuse .

I was wondering if all these people could get together and sue allstate since what they are doing is illegal?

Any attorneys out there see a class action lawsuit against them?

Posted by asda on 03/04/08 - 11:24 am • Report Abuse .

My husband and I have been with Allstate since we purchased our first home eight years ago and have never filed a claim. Last year out of the blue just like the rest of the posters here, we get a letter that we were being cancelled by them. We called our local agent who said if we had car or life insurance through them we would have been able to keep our insurance. We knew this was not right but were unable to do anything about it except sell our home or obtain other insurance which is double what we were paying not to mention we had to double what we already had in our escrow account. We have our four small grandchildren which live with us in our home and one totally disabled and just barely got by before so one could only imagine after this shocker. Allstate should not only have to reinstate everyone they cancelled but at nearly the same amount but not more 10% increase that is if we even entertain the idea of doing business with them again.

Posted by Tammy on 03/04/08 - 10:48 am • Report Abuse .

It is such a relief to know that there are others who are suffering due to Allstate’s cancelling insurance. I also tried to call them, to no avail. They were very rude and would not even discuss it. After having paid premiums for 12 years with no claims ever being made on my policy. I don’t have auto insurance with them because when I tried to check into combining all my policies with them, their rates for auto insurance was over twice what I was paying. I now have to pay nearly 3 times what I was paying for homeowners. My budget is already stretched thin due to the rising gas prices as my husband commutes from Baldwin County to Mobile County for work. I hope it doesn’t come to losing my home as well. I feel for this family and the others forced to sell.

Posted by dreamers on 03/04/08 - 12:05 am • Report Abuse .

I truly feel for you guys! I have been fighting Allstate since 1990 and have heard or seen just about every dirty trick and move that you can imagine. You are not alone, though. You can read all the horror stories you can handle at http://www.allstateinsurancesucks.com . There is also a lot of great help and information available there.

Posted by dont12go on 02/28/08 - 6:21 am • Report Abuse .

So far Allstate hasn’t cancelled our home insurance but it has gone up. I do have auto and life insurance with them also. We know of several people here and some in Florida that have lost their homes because of the increased home insurance. Their mortgage payments went from below $1000 to over $2200. I do hope that doesn’t happen to us. Retirement looks scary.

Not only is the insurance premium going up, so are the property taxes here in Lower AL. The property taxes and insurance premiums all go into the home mortgage = thus making the home mortgage go up. Even with two people working, their pay checks hasn’t increased enough to make the increased payments. With people working and trying to make a living and raise their children right, it seems there should be a way to help people in order for them to stay in their homes, instead of going on welfare and food stamps.

Also, with people losing their homes, the insurance companies could go broke with not having any one paying insurance premiums. If it comes to that point, and the companies start laying off employees, maybe somebody will take a look around, fix the problem and make insurance affordable.

Posted by Horse Owner on 02/27/08 - 11:39 am • Report Abuse .

I agree with you o’pinuns - I wish we really could all band together. I will say if anyone out there has car insurance with allstate call and cancel you policy and go with someone else. If they are dropping homeowners policies like mine and everyone else down here why should you give them any money at all. Think about all states commercials have you seen one for homeowner’s insurance? No you only see the ones for car insurance because they are trying to switch more to cars than homes

Posted by asda on 02/27/08 - 11:38 am • Report Abuse .

IF anyone out there knows our rights as American Citizens concerning Insurance, please let me know. I believe we should ALL pool our resources together and STRIKE against this increase, cancel the insurance ourselves and MARCH to Washington. That’s the way American’s used to take on disputes with the government. I bet there is a Lawyer out there that would love to take on this challenge. I’m in. My house note has gone from $830 to $1297.

Posted by o'pinuns on 02/27/08 - 11:19 am • Report Abuse .

My husband and I bought our house south of I-10 four years ago. It was our first home and we were blessed to have gotten it. After Katrina, we did not have hardly any damage at all. Then in September, the letter from Allstate came dropping us for the simple reason of having no other coverage with them. We were given a short amount of time to replace the coverage. Our home is 1400 sf and the quotes ranged from 2 to 3 thousand dollars a year. Before that, we only paid $725 a year. We did find an insurance that we could afford, but it is only covered for what we paid for it, not what it is worth. We can’t afford to cover our home for what it is worth and we have almost 40,000 dollars worth of equity in our home. I pray that nothing happens to us or our home. It is just a hard situation we are being put in financially. We are both 24 years old, and we bought our home not realizing we would be stuck with an investment that would hurt us. I hope something comes out of this.

Posted by SSTEELE on 02/27/08 - 11:07 am • Report Abuse .

I was shocked to see my house payment go from $650 to $950, all due to an insurance increase of 97%! We purchased our house after Hurricane Katrina and are 5 miles from the nearest body of water. We have never had a claim and when I went to my Allstate agent concerning this increase, he basically told me “too bad” and when I stated I was going to go elsewhere for coverage, he nonchalantly stated that “it’s going to be high anywhere”.

We are financing our home, we must have homeowner’s insurance, and the insurance companies KNOW this and, frankly, are taking an unfair advantage. For years we pay our premiums- insurance companies don’t refund our money when there’s claim free years-yet when the time comes to pay, they balk, drop you, or jack the price so high that it is prohibitive. It’s like a casino--we bet that something might happen (pay our ins.) and the house (ins. companies) bets that nothing will happen. Usually, the house wins; Katrina hit, the house lost and now it’s mad.

Posted by Melissa on 02/27/08 - 10:56 am • Report Abuse .