Home Insurance Claim Time Limit – How Long Does It Take

Home insurance claim time limit depends on where you live and the state law and it might take an insurance company several weeks or several months for a payout to be issued when you file for a rental insurance claim or home insurance claim. There are places where the law states that insurers need to payout home insurance claim in a reasonable time while in other states, the time frame lies between ten to thirty days.

Some states gives you forty days to accept or deny the claim and it is so unfortunate for homeowners and renters because there is no federal law that mandates payout in a specific period of time.

Home Insurance Claim Time Limit

Experts would always tell you that two claims cannot be equal and what this means that even if two homeowners file a claim for damage done to their roof, the circumstances surrounding the roof damage would differ. This ends up leading to a lengthy claims process for the policyholder while the claims process speeds up for the other person. Making sure that you are fully prepared before you go on to file a claim is the first step towards ensuring that you are paid promptly.

You would need to file a claim as soon as possible and there are key steps any homeowner can take to help expedite the home insurance claims process. These steps includes;

• Keeping an inventory on all items in your home and this would include receipts, pictures and personal belongings as well.
• Every claim should be promptly reported and also ensure that your insurer has your recent contact information.
• Reading of policy and knowing your rights as well as complying with the policy requirements is also very important. It is very necessary that you know what the state law requires.
• Every loss should be properly documented as well. Photos of damages should be taken before repairs and clean up is carried out and one other thing is keeping a recorded conversation between you and the government, repair, insurance or any other professional body
• If you have other complaints or concerns then you shouldn’t hesitate to contact the state insurance department

Taking a look at the other side, here are few points that are likely to deny your claims;

• Failure in maintaining a complete inventory on items and personal belongings in your home
• Failure in having proper paperwork
• Failure in providing detailed information in a timely manner to your insurance company

Questions that might pop up regarding submission of incorrect information, figuring out cause of loss and delay in reporting to your insurer can also lead to your claims either getting delayed or denied. You really cannot be able to tell how long it would take for a home insurance claims process but it varies in several states. There are state laws in some places that do not provide a specific time frame so what they do in grant insurers a reasonable amount of time for payouts to be denied or paid.

Homeowners in some case go through what we call the appraisal process and this process involves one appraisal chosen by the insurer and the other appraisal chosen by you. There is a neutral umpire who comes so both parties can have a binding agreement and reach a resolve. If your claim gets denied then a notice in writing would be sent to you and this letter needs to contain a section of your insurance policy which agrees with their action.

If your claim has been denied wrongly then the next line of action for you is to file an appeal and if the reason why your claims got denied is because of insufficient proof of loss then ensure that your claims gets documented properly to help bolster your claims. You can also go ahead and hire a public adjuster if you are not pleased with the decision of your insurer and the public adjuster would help in reviewing your claims or filing a complaint with the state insurance department.

Sending a letter across to the insurance company explaining in details why your claims shouldn’t be denied is the best way appeal a claim’s decision and documents that yod held back during the claims process should be included as well.