“You can only move your homeowners insurance at renewal,” said every incumbent insurance agent ever.
Lies I tell you! Lies! Well, kind of…
If you own your home, chances are you have a mortgage. If you have a mortgage, chances are they are paying your insurance premiums for you. This is true most of the time. In your mortgage payment there is a portion of it going towards insurance. Don’t think for a second the bank actually cares about you, and is doing this out of the kindness of their heart…they aren’t, and they don’t.
When you get ready to move your insurance to saaaay, Probably the Greatest Insurance Agency Ever aka us! You do not always have to do so on your renewal date. Here is a quasi step by step breakdown on how it works:
Earned Premium – you pay for 365 days of insurance. If you cancel your policy at anytime short of 365 days your insurance company owes you the prorated amount for the unearned premium. (Annual Premium / 365) x (365 – Number of Days You Had Insurance).
Refund – your insurance company will then send you a refund for this amount. You can do whatever you would like with this money as it is yours.
New Policy – for the first year you will most likely (much easier if you do) pay your new Homeowners Premium yourself. Then at your next renewal your Mortgagee will pick up the tab.
Mortgagee – we notify your Mortgagee of all these changes, and send them copies of everything, so they do not freak out and give you “force placed insurance.”
Really the only hard part in the entire process is letting your current agent know you are breaking up with them. We know this is hard because he is your cousin’s best friend’s dogsitter’s uncle, but he’ll live. Just do it like a bandaid!
