SAFETY HARBOR, Fla. – Tonja Curry of Safety Harbor is one of nearly one and a half million customers of Citizens Property Insurance — but not by choice.

“There was no body else who would cover me at all” explained Curry. “I could not understand that because I’ve never had any damage.”

Curry joined the ranks of Citizens because the state’s private insurers have been dropping coastal customers in droves, claiming hurricanes and sinkholes are just too risky for the rates they’re allowed to charge.

But state lawmakers are advancing a law that would raise premiums for Citizen’s Insurance by as much as 25% while dropping some policy holders.

Sponsor Alan Hays, a Republican Senator from Umatilla, said Citizens has been undercharging for years.

“They need to be actuarially correct, but right now all we have is premiums that are politically correct and they’re woefully inadequate and this company doesn’t have anywhere near the proper amount of reserves pay their claims” said Hays.

Hays, like many Republicans in Tallahassee, believes it’s wrong for the state to compete against private insurance companies. Full Post…

Someone filled out a change-of-address form for Citizens Property Insurance. But it wasn’t Citizens.

Now the state-run insurer is warning policyholders that mail sent to its headquarters in late June, including payment checks, may have been fraudulently misdirected to a Hialeah apartment.

The insurer of last resort, which has more than one million policyholders, said U.S. Postal Service investigators and other agencies are working to figure out the scope of the fraud.

Citizens asks any policyholder who sent a payment between June 14 and June 28 to contact its hot line, toll-free 1-888-685-1555. Full Post…