Quote from @Peter Walther:
Quote from @Guy Gimenez:
Quote from @Peter Walther:
Quote from @Guy Gimenez:
I "almost" always get title insurance but I only purchase in Texas where title insurance is costly. Anything purchased for less than $5K I may not get T/I. I just had my first ever title claim. Underwriter's counsel took two months to confirm they were responsible for the claim even though is was clear they missed a $14,500 RTO (rent to own HVAC) lien that was filed in the public records at 4:30pm the day prior to my closing. Insurer's counsel negotiated the payoff down to $4K and then sent me an absurd set of documents to sign and refused to provide me a Bill of Sale and release of the UCC Financing Statement lien. Insurer's counsel was not acting in good faith as required by statute. After going back and forth over a couple of weeks, I finally had to hire an attorney who spoke directly to the RTO company, sent them the $4K on my behalf and I received both the release of lien and bill of sale via mail a few days later. My attorney then contacted the insurer's counsel for reimbursement and he refused to return emails or calls. I guess he knew my attorney solved the problem he refused to solve so why not wash his hands of the matter. I advised my title company I was filing a complaint with the Texas Dept. of Insurance and I then did a video (I have a good following on social media) explaining to my followers that I would be doing a subsequent video about the insurer's refusal to be accountable. Apparently the right person saw my post and within 24 hours my attorney received an email from the insurer's counsel say he would send a check immediately. So, the moral of the story is title insurance is valuable, but like any insurer, you'll likely need to hire your own attorney to get them to pay out on a covered claim. Don't expect title insurers to do the right thing unless you force them to do so. //// On a side note, I also sued Farmer's Insurance over a car accident when they refused to pay out over my uninsured/underinsured coverage. Took 7 years but Farmer's finally paid out the full policy amount. Yes, it seems there's a pattern here with insurers.
I'm sorry you had a difficult time with the one title claim you had to file but please don't paint with such a broad brush with such a limited experience. I don't know any of the facts of your claim which might give some justification to the delay but even if there is none, that doesn't mean there is a pattern with insurers. I've had insured's sing my praises to the high heavens because I was able to resolve their issue quickly.
It's not a personal attack...please don't take it as such. Having two insurers refuse to pay as stipulated in my policy may seem limited to you...it's very real to me. I have a good friend (attorney) who spent a good portion of his career suing insurers who refused to abide by their policies. Oddly enough, he never lacked for work.
I didn't take it as a personal attack, I took it as an unfounded attack on all claims handlers who do their job every day in good faith and try had to provide the insured the benefits they are due. I frequently had to explain to insureds, and their attorney's, why their claim wasn't covered under the policy, and rarely did they respond "oh, I'm sorry I was just trying to get something I wasn't entitled to."
I'm not claiming there aren't mistakes made in claims handling or incompetent or lazy claims handlers, just that there are lazy and incompetent attorneys representing insureds, but most aren't.
An attack? If you don't believe insurance claims are slow walked at times, you've been in the insurance industry too long. There was NEVER any doubt, not even by the insurers in my case, that they were responsible, otherwise they certainly would not have paid out on the claims. They simply made a business decision to force me to take action to get what I paid for. If stating a fact is an attack, you indeed did take it personally.
