It is our sincere hope that you and your family are safe and survived Irma with minimal damage. Now that the storm has passed, here are some valuable pieces of information. The links below will take you to resources that will protect you from potential scams as well as cost saving options you may have available to you with a brief description of each link. It is important that you have this information available to you as there is a lot of misinformation circulating, These are trusted links and if your lender or insurance carrier isn’t aware of the rules, you might have to educate them on some of these orders.
Mortgage Relief for Victims hit hard by Irma- You may have the ability to defer your mortgage payments up to a year if you need to make immediate repairs to your home like roofs or windows. Contact your mortgage company at the number on your monthly statement. Read More
I had minimal damage, should I file a claim even if it is below my deductible?- Yes! Most policies have a calendar year deductible for Hurricanes, so if you only had $1000 worth of damage, your company will reference this and if we are hit with another storm this season, they will use the damage you incurred in Irma to offset some of the deductible on the next storm. Read More
Governor Rick Scott’s Executive Order 17-235– Governor Scott has ordered certain protection for victims of Hurricane Irma. In this order you will find extension of grace periods, relief of certain non-renewals and cancellations, please read to see if any of these benefits may help your individual situation.
Message from Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis– Here is the link to the state CFO’s alert on scams and important information on available state resources after the storm.
Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s online tool – here you can check to make sure you are only hiring licensed professionals.
Assignment of Benefits – AOB, this is an explanation of how insureds are taken advantage of by public adjusters or contractors by signing off your rights on a policy to the adjuster or contractor.
FEMA – Here you have important information on Flood Insurance. Did you know that only 20% of the victims of Hurricane Harvey and Irma were not in the high risk flood zone and had no coverage? After the last remapping, many people were changed to the Preferred Flood zone X and no longer required for their mortgage and many people chose not to renew their flood policy. Are you without coverage? There is a 30 day wait for traditional flood insurance and some private markets are available with a 72 hour wait, don’t go through this season without coverage!
Family Insurance Services – we will always have the claim contact and payment links to all of our carriers on our website.