HIKE IN PREMIUM BECAUSE OF UNRELATED CALIM:
I have a home (rental property) in Illinois insured by Country Mutual Insurance Co. because of damage it received as a result of nearby construction from a co. (ALSO insured by Country Co) a claim was filed from MY side of the loss, and I was paid eventually. Because the papers and payment check was sent to my Ca. address, this implicated my home in Ca. and my insurer on my Ca. home (Mercury), increased my yearly premium $426.00. When I asked them "Why", they said "You filed a claim" and mentioned Country Mutual as filing it.
So...as a result of my insurance co. (Country Co.) in Illinois paying a claim on my Illinois property, because my ILLINOIS house sustained damage from an outside source (I had nothing to do with), I get a rate hike from my totally separate insurance co. (Mercury) on my house in Ca. IS THIS FOR REAL!!!??? How can they do that? When I asked them for an answer they said "That's just our policy that we have submitted to the state of Ca. as operating procedure". How can the state of Ca. condone this, why don't I just send them my wallet and say "Take out what you need" and return it. Since all insurance claims go into the national data base (CLUE) IF...I did NOT have the papers for the claim, and payment check sent to my Ca. address implicating this address, would Mercury have hiked my rate up $426? Because my NAME was involved it probably would still have implicated me.
In addition to filing a complaint with the Ca. Dept. of Insurance, I am going to post this on every consumer complaint / watchdog site there is, including the Attorney General for Ca. so that everyone knows how insurance companies are screwing us in every way they can. Maybe it will have some positive effect in some way by warning other people in the same situation. Here's hoping this may help any of the other homeowners who may have a similar situation. THIS IS GOT TO STOP!!!