Happening Now! Local Area Residents Saving Big $ On Their Home Insurance.

Home Insurance rates are going up again this year.  When your home insurance goes up – You need to call 763-390-4872

You don’t have to take your insurance companies nonsense any longer.   Drop a bomb on their high rates.   You have other options – like saving  a bunch of money on your home insurance here.  Many area residents have already switched over their insurance and saved a signifcant amount of money.

Some have saved over $1000 on all their insurance.    Maybe you can too.

Some people thought they already had a good deal - until they reviewed their insurance.  Many still can’t believe how much they saved.

It is possible they had good deal when they first started the policy.  However,  It only takes a couple double digit increases – like we’ve had in MN, to be way over paying.  Compound a bunch of little yearly increases and it adds up to paying way too much.

Did you notice how much your insurance went up last year?  How much has it gone up since you started the policy?

Last year over fifty percent of home insurance companies in Minnesota had double digit rate increases. Your insurance rates are likely not going down this year as more companies will have increases.

What could you do with an extra $1000 a year?  You don’t have to hope for a big tax return or another stimulus package to get a break.  It’s right here and easy for you to get your own home insurance stimulus.

This is not the first time you have seen an offer telling you how you can save on home insurance.  So, why is this one different?

Basically, We are not some big corporation trying to cater to the masses.  We specialize in just this area niche and it gives us an advantage.  We are experienced local expert agents - not some customer service rep’s in another state – just working for the company.  We are not captive agents working for just one company either. We represent many companies and work for you.

Our edge is we know this market and we have really good connections.  We know which companies are planning rate increases, which ones already had increases, and which ones have had rate reductions.   We compare policies and quotes everyday.  So, we know this market and the competition too.  We almost always have the best rates.  We actually have some competitors agents as clients.  They like to save money too.

Our experience combined with a  proprietary rating software system will give you a huge advantage you can’t get anywhere else.  We are local so it is much safer too. You can do it all online here, call or stop in.  We have dozens of companies so you don’t have to shop all around. We are a short cut.

Here are some of the reasons why people are overpaying:

• Some never review their insurance and do not realize how much rates have gone up.
• They tried comparing  once and it was a hassle – so they don’t bother to try.
• People don’t like change.
• People are really busy.
• They don’t know who to trust.
• Insurance is boring – that is until you save money here and get a big refund from your current carrier.
• They really like their agent.
• Some people are just way too lazy.
• Some people have lazy agents.  Most of them won’t offer to review or go after all the discounts available.
• What ever reason you may have - you should let us review your insurance.

Here is why you should…..

You could use the money saved for something else.

You will know for sure you are not over paying.

We represent all the top companies in this area from AAA to West Bend Mutual.  So, your going to have a solid company.

There are some companies – not many - that actually had rate reductions in Minnesota.   We know which ones had reductions and how to get their lowest rates.

We take the time to get you all the discounts available and it can really add up. We have some of the easiest quote forms.  It won’t take much time.  It will be easy.  You can do it all online, call, or stop by one of our offices.

Here is what you’ll have:

You will have an experienced local agent who knows the competiton, this local market, and one that is really tough to beat.  You will have periodic reviews to ensure your rates are always good and you are properly insured.

Let other fools spend hours shopping around trying to figure it all out, who to trust, or  keep over paying, etc..   You can take a short cut, have all the advantages without all the hassles, by just calling us or filling out a simple form.  You’ll have more money with equal or better coverage and no hassles.

I am going to make it even easier for you to take a look and put the risk on me.  I want you to review your insurance now – no excuses.  So here is the offer.  It is not only free to see if you can save money – If we can’t beat your current rates for this years policy in 2010 – we will give you a $25.00 gas card for letting us try.  No strings attached. So take action now.   You can’t lose unless you do nothing.  In which case you are likley to lose a lot each year by over paying.  I know you will get busy and we will too.  I am also afraid we are going to run out of gas cards.  So, this offer will end 8/15/2010.  Call or click now.

You also need to know this offer is not for everyone…..   If you are known as uncle “ Cheap Skate Charlie” and you are the type of person who does not care what kind of coverage you have and only have insurance because the bank is forcing you to have insurance….then we are not right for you.  We offer only the best coverage at the lowest cost here.

If you don’t mind paying hundreds more than you need to each year…then you will probably not be interested.

If you are an agent or your brother in law is your agent  - we are probably not right for you.  Unless you really need to save money.

If you are not getting up right now gathering your insurance papers – we are probably not right for you.

However, if you are the type of person who takes action and takes their finances serious and you are not one of those other people listed above… then you really going to like it here.  Click on the home button or call 763-390-4872 and start saving now.

-This offer is only for Anoka and Sherburne county residents. I will try to post some recent home insurance quotes as proof later.  Please don’t wait.  Your insurance company does not need any more of your money.  Take action now before your rates go up again.  You are going to be really surprised.

What people are saying about Tim Peddycoart, BlainehomeInsurance.com and The insurance Specialists Team

” We have had our insurance with Tim for four years now and I figured it has saved us over three thousand dollars so far.  I am glad we reviewed our insurance and switch from American Family.  “  – Mark Beilke

“Our mortgage peron said our insurance looked really high and referred us to Tim.  We were paying close to $1200.00 a year with our old company and now our insurance is less than $600 a year. I had no idea we could save that much.  Awesome”  – Frank Thibault

” I have known Tim for many years.  I’ve been meaning to call him for years.  I finally did when my rates when up again with Nationwide.  Man,  I wish I had called Tim sooner.  I saved over $400. ”  – Robert McMahon  - St. Louis Park, MN

Please ask questions or post your comments and how much you saved below.  Thank you!

Technorati Tags: home insurance, home insurance Blaine, Home insurance Quote, save on insurance

But two items pending in Lansing may soon make your credit score off-limits when it comes to setting your car and home insurance rates.

Consumer advocates marched Wednesday from the Michigan Supreme Court to the Michigan House of Representatives Office Building in support of a bill that aims to limit the use of credit and other information in setting insurance rates, and to support an older state insurance regulation that tried to do the same thing but has been tied up in court for five years.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100619/BIZ01/6190310/1001/Bill-aims-to-limit-use-of-credit-scores-by-insurance-firms#ixzz0rP0EmHlH

Now the Senate must decide if it will vote on the bill; a ruling in the court case is expected by the end of August.

Insurers argue that credit and other personal data unrelated to driving records or homeowner claims accurately predict who is most likely to make claims on auto and home insurance.

Taking that into account allows insurers to more accurately assess risk and set rates, they say, and allows insurers to discount rates to customers with better scores.

Opponents counter that such insurance scoring, as the practice is called, results in unfairly high rates for consumers who don’t qualify for the discounts. Studies in other states found the practice discriminates against minorities and low-income consumers.

“In Michigan, we have one of the most onerous of all credit scoring statutes in the country,” says state insurance consumer advocate Melvin “Butch” Hollowell. “Not only do they consider your credit score, but also your level of education and occupation.”

The effect of credit scoring, Hollowell and other critics say, is that at least half of Michigan consumers with good driving records and insurance histories pay more for insurance than they would if their credit, jobs and education weren’t used in calculating their rates.

Introduced in Michigan and other states in the mid-’90s, insurance scoring finds a strong relationship between factors such as how much debt an individual has and how likely he or she is to make a claim, argues Pete Kuhnmuench, executive director of the Insurance Institute of Michigan.

“There are tendencies and correlations,” Kuhnmuench says. “It’s one of the best — if not the best — predictors we have.”

Critics cite discrimination
Critics argue that the parallel relationship between credit woes and insurance claims isn’t proof that bad credit causes drivers and homeowners to have more accidents or make more claims. And even the insurance industry can’t prove any cause and effect, such as people who are careless paying their bills are careless drivers, Kuhnmuench admits.

“The theory is that higher-risk individuals tend to push the envelope more, whether it’s in driving habits or finances,” he says. “We don’t necessarily know the cause but we know the relationship exists. The statistics show us that.”

To critics and consumer advocates, the lack of a demonstrated link between credit and other background factors and insurance claims is flatly unfair. That includes state Rep. Woodrow Stanley, D-Flint, sponsor of H.B. 5634, to bar insurance companies from using credit history, education and occupation in setting insurance rates.

“Until that relationship can be explained convincingly, I reject it out of hand,” Stanley says. “I just don’t think you should be using factors that are not related to a person’s driving performance.”

Stanley finds other considerations even more objectionable.

“How can you say that if a person is a blue-collar worker they get rated one way, and if a person is a white-collar worker they’re rated a different way?” he asks. “That in my view is discrimination. Pure and simple.”

The state insurance office came to the same conclusion in 2004. Backed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation issued rules banning insurance scoring for auto and homeowners rates in 2005. Those rules were quickly challenged by the Insurance Institute of Michigan and others who headed to court for an injunction. The matter made its way to the state Supreme Court last year, and a final ruling is expected this summer.

Uphill battle
In the meantime, Stanley hopes to bypass the court ruling with a law that is even stricter. His bill has passed the Democratically controlled state House and is now before the Republican-held state Senate, where Stanley admits it will face an uphill battle.

According to insurance trade publications, more than a dozen states are considering similar bans this year. So far, California, Hawaii and Massachusetts have banned insurance scoring for autos and Maryland bans its use for homeowner insurance.

The insurance industry backs more limited laws that specify how credit information can be used in setting rates, and several states have adopted those measures.

Whether the state Supreme Court or state Senate comes down against insurance scoring may well depend on how the judges and politicians view the economic turmoil that has roiled the state during the recession, notes Butch Hollowell.

“What happens when you get laid off through no fault of your own and your credit scores drops to 650 and your insurance premium goes up?” asks the state insurance consumer advocate. “By it’s very nature it’s arbitrary and capricious.”

From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100619/BIZ01/6190310/1001/Bill-aims-to-limit-use-of-credit-scores-by-insurance-firms#ixzz0rOzns3Fo

There are also links to http://www.efinancialmn.com for the easiest and fastest life insurance quotes.

We are trying to make getting quotes online easy, fast, safe and hassle free. So check it out and compare your rates or don’t check it out and let your neighbors tell you all about the trip they took this Summer. They probably won’t tell you how they paid for it. All it took them was a few minutes to review their insurance and that they saved so much a trip was in order.

You really should check your rates. We bet you’ll save some money and it will be easy too. Unlike the local casinos – your odds really are good here. So go now and see. http://www.blaineautoinsurance.com Save some money and then come back here and leave a comment so you can help others do the same.

P.S. Go Twins!

http://digg.com/d31QVpF

Homeowner’s insurance policies are challenging to understand. You can have many different types of coverage within a single policy, and different financial obligations can be set out for the homeowner and the insurer. Here is a basic overview of some of the most important points you need to consider when choosing your coverage.

Types of coverage
You can cover many different insurable incidents and items with your homeowner’s insurance policy. Some of the most common are:

Dwelling: Dwelling covers losses that occur to your home and any structures that are attached to it. Dwelling does not cover fences or sheds.

Other structures: “Other structures” covers those structures on your property that are not attached to your home, like your fence or shed.

Personal possessions: Your furniture, clothing, electronics and heirlooms are all covered by the personal possession section of your homeowner’s insurance policy.

Personal liability: If someone gets hurt in your home or on your property, personal liability coverage can pay for injuries and treatments that exceed your deductible.

Flood: Flood insurance covers damage that results from actual flooding and is generally purchased only by homeowners who live in a flood zone. It is important to remember flood insurance pays only when the flooding of your home is the result of an actual flood. For instance, if your roof were torn off by a hurricane and the inside of your home became flooded, that would not be a claim for your flood insurance to pay. If, however, your local lake overflowed and flooded your neighborhood, it would. In many instances, you may have to purchase flood insurance separately from regular homeowner’s insurance.

Limits
Your homeowner’s insurance policy limits determine the maximum amount the insurance company will pay you in the event of a claim. The lower your limits, the less expensive your policy will be. Of course, if your limits are too low, you may not receive enough from the insurance company to reimburse you for a total loss. When trying to determine appropriate limits for your policy, think about what you would need in order to rebuild your home after a total loss. Then, think about how much of that bill you could afford to pay with your savings. The difference is what you should consider as a limit.

Deductibles
Deductibles are the out-of-pocket expenses that you must pay before your insurance company will begin paying for losses. In order to get money from your homeowner’s insurance policy, your claim (or loss) must exceed the deductible. The larger your deductible, the lower your premium will be because you will be shouldering more of the risk. However, if you cannot afford to pay your deductible, then you could have trouble making yourself whole after a loss.

Life insurance
Life insurance is not offered as part of a homeowner’s insurance policy, so you must buy it separately. Adequate life insurance coverage can help ensure that your family gets to keep their home in the event the unexpected were to happen to you or your spouse.

Term life insurance coverage from a reputable company like SBLI is likely a good option to explore. SBLI offers affordable rates for fixed term and yearly renewable term (YRT) coverage. Fixed term coverage lasts for the term you choose and most often can be purchased for 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 years. Many people buy it to cover the term of their mortgage. With this type of term insurance, your premium remains fixed for the term you select. Yearly renewable term may be less expensive in the early years of your policy. However, this form of term insurance renews every year and the premium increases each year as well. Visit sbli.com or talk to an insurance representative for a quick quote at (888) GET-SBLI.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Copyright © 2010 Northwest Herald. All rights reserved.

1. Raise Your Homeowners Deductible: Save up to 25%
The lowest hanging fruit for homeowners insurance savings may be to increase your deductible.

According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), if you can afford to raise your deductible from $500 to $1, 000, you may save as much as 25% on your annual premium. Remember, homeowners insurance is not intended for small fix-it claims. Therefore, the benefits of a lower deductible can be quickly dissolved by the higher rates you may experience after making such a claim. As homeowners insurance intended for major perils, consider raising your deductible and collect the savings in the cost of your premium.

2. Multi-line Policy Insurance Discounts: Save up to 15% Purchasing your homeowners insurance and your car insurance from the same insurance carrier could save you up to 15% on both premiums.

3. Additional Security and Safety: Save up to 20%
Have you added new security devices to your home in the last year; perhaps a deadbolt lock, window locks or even and an alarm system? Insurance companies highly value the protection afforded by fire sprinkler systems, burglar alarms, and fire alarms — especially those connected to monitoring agencies such as your local police and fire departments. Accordingly, some carriers will reduce home insurance premiums by as much as 20% if you install some of these features.

4. Discounts for Home Improvements
A new home’s electrical, heating and plumbing systems, and overall structure, are likely to be in better condition than those of an older home. Accordingly, their insurance rates are generally lower as the risk for a potential claim is mitigated. If you have made any home improvement in the past year, you should see if a new policy will reward you with policy discounts.

5. Eliminate Coverage You Don’t Need: Analyze Your Homeowners Limits
Ideally, you want your policy to cover any major purchases or additions to your home, but you shouldn’t spend money for coverage you don’t need. You may have jewelry, appliances, electronics and other valuable possessions that depreciate over time. Consequently, it‘s in your financial best interests to compare the limits of your homeowners policy to the actual value of your possessions at least once every year.

6.  Use an experienced local independent agent for the best leverage.  They will have access to many carriers and will represent the best ones for your area.  Experienced agents will know how to get the discounts and make sure you have the correct coverage.  They will have the best connections and be there for you if need an advocate.

Call me if you have any questions or if you would like additional information.

I help people lower their insurance costs, get better coverage, and show them how to receive hassle free low cost insurance for life.

Tim Peddycoart

763-441- 0291

The Process of Making a Personal Financial Plan and Sticking to It

Feb 15, 2010 Jennifer Terry

The home budget is a detailed financial plan that describes how resources will be used. The process of making a budget that can be maintained is more complex than writing down income and subtracting expenses. The successful home budget is developed with the personal or family goals in mind. These goals drive the budget instead of allowing the debt to drive the budget.

How to Set the Goals

Every family has goals. These goals may be to go on a particular vacation, take a family night out at the movies or to purchase a new car. The family might even have long term goals such as paying off the home mortgage sooner or buying another house. Each person in the family also has goals. These family and personal goals must be considered before the budget plan is developed. In a goal driven home budget the goals are developed first. Consider how much each goal will cost to accomplish. Remember all the resources required to reach that goal. There may be time issues to think about such as a son who wants to earn his camping badge in scouts. Yes, the budget will need to accommodate the purchase of basic camping equipment, but if it is winter, time will also be involved. The wait for spring to arrive will let the family begin saving for the equipment closer to time. Always develop the goals first. This is the only way a family can stick to the budget.

How to Link the Goals to the Budget

Linking the goals with the budget is called strategic planning. The home budget is always more successful when strategic planning is implemented. Now is the time to list all the family expenses. Everything. Every dime the family spent last month must be written down on paper. Do not pass judgment on the partner for frivolous expenditures, this is a time of growth and cooperation. This is an information gathering step. The more information that can be extracted the better the home budget outcome will be.

Make a new list and include only the main payments such as utility bills, home mortgage, insurance payments (list these separately). Below these draw a line. Below the line, move items from the last month’s expenditure list over to the new list. Include only the items required to live. Do not include restaurant meals, cell phones, movie tickets, etc. Study the items that were not moved. Which of these must be included in this month’s home budget and, which can be excluded? Consider how the needed items can be reduced in price. Write this reduction plan down and move the new amount to the new list. Repeat for every item on the list.

List all income resources. Enter the amount actually brought home. If optional items such as indemnity insurance are taken out of the check, list the amount before the insurance is taken out and list the insurance in the expenditure report. Consider if the indemnity insurance is duplicated somewhere else, if so it is not needed and can be cut. If it is not duplicated, consider the family need versus the expense

Read more at Suite101: How to Create a Successful Home Budget: The Process of Making a Personal Financial Plan and Sticking to It http://personal-budget-creation.suite101.com/article.cfm/how-to-create-a-successful-home-budget#ixzz0fetyjA5c ]]> http://www.blainehomeinsurance.com/uncategorized/how-to-create-a-successful-home-budget/feed 0 http://www.blainehomeinsurance.com/uncategorized/cash-in-refinancing-could-help-homeowners-save http://www.blainehomeinsurance.com/uncategorized/cash-in-refinancing-could-help-homeowners-save#comments Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:52:20 +0000 admin http://www.blainehomeinsurance.com/?p=118 By Kenneth Harney
Saturday, February 6, 2010

Thinking of cashing out some equity when you refinance your mortgage? Sure, that used to be what millions of homeowners did when they needed extra money.

But now get ready for the post-boom, post-crash trend that’s really hot: Cash-in refis — the complete opposite of cash-outs.

“It almost sounds un-American,” jokes Frank Nothaft, chief economist for mortgage giant Freddie Mac. After all, Americans have grown accustomed over much of the past two decades to tapping into their equity — pulling out a chunk of cash and adding to their debt load — when they refinanced their mortgages. “Almost nobody thought of putting money back in,” he says.

Cash-outs hit their highest level of popularity during the wild appreciation streaks in the early and middle years of the past decade. In mid-2006, just before home values began deflating across the country, the rate of cash-outs hit 88 percent, according to Freddie Mac, which monitors refinancings quarterly.

This meant that nearly nine out of 10 refinancers whose loan files were sampled by Freddie Mac increased the size of their mortgage balance by at least 5 percent. It was the heyday of the pile-on-more-debt mind-set — cash me out, I can’t lose on my real estate — that came crumbling down in 2007 and 2008, when home equity holdings shrank drastically and painfully.

From 2005 to the third quarter of 2009, according to Federal Reserve estimates, American homeowners lost $7 trillion in equity — an unprecedented evaporation of household wealth. Almost nobody was spared.

Now the pendulum in consumer psychology appears to be swinging toward reduction of household debt — whether credit cards or mortgages. In Freddie Mac’s latest quarterly survey of refinancings, 33 percent of homeowners put cash into the deal to lower their mortgage balances, the highest percentage ever. By contrast, only 27 percent of refinancers took cash out — the lowest percentage on record.

Why throw money from savings into your mortgage? Nothaft says a small percentage of refinancers traditionally have preferred to lower their mortgage balances whenever possible — including himself and his wife.

There are at least two key rationales for doing so, Nothaft says. No. 1: If interest rates are low and you’re getting minuscule returns on your bank savings or money-market funds, paying down your home loan might well provide you a better return on your investment
For example, in early 2009, Nothaft and his wife chose to lower their mortgage balance at the same time they were refinancing to 4.75 percent. “We thought, hey, this is a no-brainer,” recalls Nothaft. “We can get a 4.75 percent return instead of close to zero” on checking accounts and bank deposits.

A second reason to consider a cash-in refi would be to qualify for a better interest rate and terms on the replacement mortgage. Say you’ve got a loan-to-value ratio above 80 percent and any refi of the current balance will require payment of private mortgage insurance premiums and possibly come with a higher rate.

But if you have some money that you could devote to lowering the principal balance — cashing in — you might be able to cut your LTV ratio to 75 percent or less, get a more favorable interest rate and avoid mortgage insurance premiums.

Cash-ins, in effect, are a disciplined form of saving — one that in today’s depressed rate environment for competing types of savings might be a heads-up financial management move.

Nothaft said he isn’t sure whether the recent jump in cash-in refis is the start of a long-term societal shift. But there has been a steady rise since the fourth quarter of 2007, when cash-ins hit 9 percent, up from just 5 percent of all refis earlier that year.

By early 2009, they accounted for 13 percent of refinancings and then grew to 18 percent in the third quarter. After that, cash-ins jumped precipitously to 33 percent in the final three months of 2009.

“It may well be a reaction to higher credit standards by lenders” — making cash-outs and refis in general tougher to get — or “some decision on the part of many people to be a little more conservative in uncertain times,” Nothaft says.

A cash-in refi is hardly a remedy for everyone — most people don’t have spare cash available to throw into the pot. But with mortgage rates widely predicted to rise from 5 percent for 30-year fixed rate at present to the mid- to upper 5s as the year progresses, the numbers just might work for you if you have the resources.

Over fifty percent of the home insurance companies in Minnesota had double digit rate increases last year and you can bet on many more are planning increases for 2010.

Homeowners insurance prices can vary depending on which insurance company you choose. You should review your insurance policies every few years – at least – to ensure you have the correct coverage and pricing.  Now – with the rates up - would be a good time to review your policy and compare rates.

The best way or at least the most efficient way is to contact a local independent agent in your area. They will have the most options and you won’t have to shop all around trying to figure out which quote is best and who you can trust. They will likely represent the best companies for the area and know the correct coverage for your area. Ask them if they do periodic reviews. If they do that could save you a lot of hassle too.

You do not want to get a quote online unless it is from a local agency. Here’s why – most online quote sites just collect your details and sell your information over and over.  Many of these companies are out of the state and their agents or rep’s may or may not have experience, they may or may not know the correct coverages for the state. You can get your best quotes with the least amount of hassle by sticking local.

Use www.HomeInsuranceMN.com to receive quotes for Blaine and the surrounding Anoka county cities. They are local and specialize in serving Anoka county. You can get a quote online, call, or stop by their office. 763-390-4872

Use www.istmn.com for all other lines auto, bus, life and health. Call 763-441-0291 now and start saving today. When you call have your insurance papers handy for the most accurate and quickest quotes.

Technorati Tags: home insurance info, Home insurance Quote