Q: How should I file my homeowners insurance claim?
Before going to an in-depth analysis of filing a claim, it is very important to know that filing a claim, especially one that will be refused at the end, looks very bad on your credit report. The more claims you have, the higher your premiums will be. Here are some things that you should do before a homeowners insurance claim:
- Make sure that the homeowners insurance claim that you want to file right now is truly necessary
- Before doing anything else, be sure that you file any crime to the police
- Phone your insurance company immediately
- Get a police report
- When speaking to your insurance company, tell them what happened thoroughly and clearly because any confusions can end up costing you
- Find out what the time limit is on filing a claim
- Ask your insurance company whether you are covered
- Ask your insurance company whether your claim exceeds your deductible
- Ask your insurance company how long it will take them to process the claim
- Ask your insurance company whether or not you are going to need to make certain estimates for damages
- In order to protect your property from further damage, you might need to make temporary repairs on your own
- Don’t forget to save your receipts on what you’ve spend for your property in order to send it to your insurance company and get a reimbursement for what you’ve spent
- It is very important to make a list of damaged or lost parts of your house
- Make sure that your insurance company sends you the necessary claim forms – they should do this independently
- Have an adjuster examine the damage