For what its worth to you.
If you have a house financed through US Bank or any other bank that uses Insurance Claim Check online to service your account, RUN!!!!! Refinance and get away as fast as you can.
We got hit with the tax day and the Harvey flooding. We just finished repairing the house and lived in it a few months when Harvey whacked us. The perfect definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. So I picked the house up off of the slab, moved it up the hill and put it on pier and beam. effu flood waters!!!!
Important info*** FEMA has a grant program through your flood insurance that will reimburse you $30,000 to mitigate future flooding. It is called the Increased Cost Compliance (ICC program). You can either raise the house straight up 18 inches over your new base flood elevation or move it to a location 18 inches above the base flood elevation. We chose to move ours up the hill. It is a lot of leg work documenting the flood mitigation but it is doable. We got a check last week.
So onto this despicable company called Insurance Claim Check. They are a band of thieving POS. They are not a division of your bank. Wells Fargo, US Bank and a host of big chain banks use these GD coyotes. They will lie to you directly and tell you they are a division of your bank. They are not!!! They are contracted by these banks to keep tabs on your money and the repairs. (I completely understand the need for keeping tabs).
Their tactic is to hang onto your money for as long as they possibly can. I was told the money was in an interest bearing escrow account and I would receive the interest earned while there. BS. I didn't receive a penny.
So the first check was for $25,000. That comes really quickly from the insurance company. It is made out to me and to US Bank. The procedure is you sign it and mail it to Insurance Claim Check co. They then mail you a check in that amount. I sent it certified mail so I know exactly when they received it. That check took 30 days before they returned it.
The whole intention of that check it to get a crew in the house, gut it and dry it out. Had I not been able to pay out of pocket, we would have had to wait 60 days for the insurance to pay and 30 days for the bank to pay back that money. 90 days !!!!
The rest of the money came and I had to send that check to the same place. Let me tell you, there is no talking to these people. I am not trying to put my financial stuff out there but that next check was a lot of money. It was way over $100,000. That company held that money as tight as they could.
I paid out of pocket to fix my house because I simply could not get them to release the money. They told me I could not contract my own work, that I had to hire a contractor. LIES!!!!
They used every stall tactics they could. One of these is if you send in information, like a letter. They take 5 days to process that letter and 5 days to respond. Usually that response is "That was the wrong information in the letter, please resubmit". Well there goes an additional 10 days.
On the 95% inspection the inspector came out and said "Wow, yall are done, I can't believe its the same house", I am putting yall at 95% complete". His report went through (5 days later) and it showed 95% complete on the website dashboard. The next day it was switched to 90% by people that never even saw my house. They claimed because we removed the cabinet doors (To paint them again) the structure could not surpass 90% complete inspection. They did this so they could hold the remaining $100,000 for another month. The procedure for getting the inspector out takes 10 days minimum. For his report to be posted takes another 5 to 10 days.
I could continue through 5 months of health wrecking stress but you get the point. I am a nice guy. Most that know me would say I am pretty calm and not out of control. At times these people got me so worked up the only thing I could scream through the telephone was effu. I know you lose when you get to that point, but I was already on the losing end of that stick before I even grabbed the doo doo end.
I finally had to file a complaint with the bank regulatory commission. I was told by this company the only way they would release the money was if I produced a receipt from a contractor for the repairs. It was like talking to a brick. I received an email from the regulatory commission saying they had inquired with US Bank and were waiting on a response. The next day I received a telephone call from Insurance Claim Check company saying they were reviewing records and noticed I was due 50% of the remaining funds. I asked her what changed and she would not give it up. They were caught hanging onto my money and knew the gig was up. That was the only way I was going to get paid was for them to be forced. Soon after that I got the other 50% of the remaining funds.
I got into rental housing years ago. When I finance a house I go to a bank in a small town down on the coast. Its going to cost me a point in interest but I am refinancing with them. This was free advice, take it for what you will. I will never use a bank chain like that again. I get to walk in and have a cup of coffee with my banker and talk about the big arse deer head on his wall or how the trout bite has been and where.
If anyone of you would like information on the ICC program just PM me. I spent $34,000 for the move, footer foundation, piers, beams, floor joists and subfloor, all treated wood. FEMA paid me back $30,000 of that through my insurance company. If I can help you any way just ask.
If you have a house financed through US Bank or any other bank that uses Insurance Claim Check online to service your account, RUN!!!!! Refinance and get away as fast as you can.
We got hit with the tax day and the Harvey flooding. We just finished repairing the house and lived in it a few months when Harvey whacked us. The perfect definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. So I picked the house up off of the slab, moved it up the hill and put it on pier and beam. effu flood waters!!!!
Important info*** FEMA has a grant program through your flood insurance that will reimburse you $30,000 to mitigate future flooding. It is called the Increased Cost Compliance (ICC program). You can either raise the house straight up 18 inches over your new base flood elevation or move it to a location 18 inches above the base flood elevation. We chose to move ours up the hill. It is a lot of leg work documenting the flood mitigation but it is doable. We got a check last week.
So onto this despicable company called Insurance Claim Check. They are a band of thieving POS. They are not a division of your bank. Wells Fargo, US Bank and a host of big chain banks use these GD coyotes. They will lie to you directly and tell you they are a division of your bank. They are not!!! They are contracted by these banks to keep tabs on your money and the repairs. (I completely understand the need for keeping tabs).
Their tactic is to hang onto your money for as long as they possibly can. I was told the money was in an interest bearing escrow account and I would receive the interest earned while there. BS. I didn't receive a penny.
So the first check was for $25,000. That comes really quickly from the insurance company. It is made out to me and to US Bank. The procedure is you sign it and mail it to Insurance Claim Check co. They then mail you a check in that amount. I sent it certified mail so I know exactly when they received it. That check took 30 days before they returned it.
The whole intention of that check it to get a crew in the house, gut it and dry it out. Had I not been able to pay out of pocket, we would have had to wait 60 days for the insurance to pay and 30 days for the bank to pay back that money. 90 days !!!!
The rest of the money came and I had to send that check to the same place. Let me tell you, there is no talking to these people. I am not trying to put my financial stuff out there but that next check was a lot of money. It was way over $100,000. That company held that money as tight as they could.
I paid out of pocket to fix my house because I simply could not get them to release the money. They told me I could not contract my own work, that I had to hire a contractor. LIES!!!!
They used every stall tactics they could. One of these is if you send in information, like a letter. They take 5 days to process that letter and 5 days to respond. Usually that response is "That was the wrong information in the letter, please resubmit". Well there goes an additional 10 days.
On the 95% inspection the inspector came out and said "Wow, yall are done, I can't believe its the same house", I am putting yall at 95% complete". His report went through (5 days later) and it showed 95% complete on the website dashboard. The next day it was switched to 90% by people that never even saw my house. They claimed because we removed the cabinet doors (To paint them again) the structure could not surpass 90% complete inspection. They did this so they could hold the remaining $100,000 for another month. The procedure for getting the inspector out takes 10 days minimum. For his report to be posted takes another 5 to 10 days.
I could continue through 5 months of health wrecking stress but you get the point. I am a nice guy. Most that know me would say I am pretty calm and not out of control. At times these people got me so worked up the only thing I could scream through the telephone was effu. I know you lose when you get to that point, but I was already on the losing end of that stick before I even grabbed the doo doo end.
I finally had to file a complaint with the bank regulatory commission. I was told by this company the only way they would release the money was if I produced a receipt from a contractor for the repairs. It was like talking to a brick. I received an email from the regulatory commission saying they had inquired with US Bank and were waiting on a response. The next day I received a telephone call from Insurance Claim Check company saying they were reviewing records and noticed I was due 50% of the remaining funds. I asked her what changed and she would not give it up. They were caught hanging onto my money and knew the gig was up. That was the only way I was going to get paid was for them to be forced. Soon after that I got the other 50% of the remaining funds.
I got into rental housing years ago. When I finance a house I go to a bank in a small town down on the coast. Its going to cost me a point in interest but I am refinancing with them. This was free advice, take it for what you will. I will never use a bank chain like that again. I get to walk in and have a cup of coffee with my banker and talk about the big arse deer head on his wall or how the trout bite has been and where.
If anyone of you would like information on the ICC program just PM me. I spent $34,000 for the move, footer foundation, piers, beams, floor joists and subfloor, all treated wood. FEMA paid me back $30,000 of that through my insurance company. If I can help you any way just ask.
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