As you and almost everyone in the world knows times are tough all over and saving money is great anytime….but for many folks it is crucial now. I came on this by happenstance and George suggested I share it with you.
Most of us have insurance of one type or another. We have a number of properties and Citizens insure most of them. In the past I would get my renewal bill, schedule it on bill pay and think nothing else about it (maybe with the exception of not liking to pay it at all). I had a problem with my statement, it was marked “lienholder billed” and there is no mortgage on the property so I wanted it corrected. In the course of talking to my agent she asked whether I made full payment on this and I said yes, why? Well, she said, you have the option of split payments. I didn’t know that said I rather naively. Apparently there is another statement inside all of the insurance documents (if it is a self pay statement) and it asks if you wish to make payments.
Now I don’t know about you but some money in my pocket is better than all of it in Citizens pocket. The deal for quarterly payments is 40% first payment plus 10.00 set up fee plus 3.00 finance charge (?) and then they bill you.
One thing I realized is that this plan has been available for some time and not one of my agents mentioned it to me. I think it is probably better for the agency to get all payments at once.
So now, couple things to check. If you have no escrow make sure your statement is billed to you and not sent to your lienholder. Then look for the details in your packet of documents. If you don’t see it call your agent. This may not apply to all companies but I would check.
Talk to you soon…next time something called the battle of the DPs.
