On Thursday, another insurance company announced it was leaving the state of Florida. Parent company United Insurance Holdings Corp. announced that United Property & Casualty Insurance Company (also known as United P&C or UPC Insurance) has filed plans to withdraw from Florida, Texas, Louisiana and New York. UPC Insurance is one of the largest home insurers in Florida according to insurance expert Mark Friedlander. Friedlander is the Florida spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute. In a statement, the company’s chairman and CEO Dan Peed said: “Due to the significant uncertainty surrounding the future availability of reinsurance for our personal lines business, I believe that placing United P&C on an orderly -off course is prudent and necessary to protect the Company and its policyholders. The Company is actively pursuing opportunities to leverage our people, technology and other capabilities. Our commercial business continues to perform well and provides the Company with a stable platform to build new engines of growth and profitability.” The announcement could mean policyholders could lose their insurance this hurricane season, according to Friedlander. “All UPC policyholders will now need to find new coverage because their coverage will not be renewed,” he said. “It’s a really scary situation right now for Florida homeowners because if this company fails, it will be the sixth this year. There are many other companies that are in precarious financial positions today.” its comes after insurance rating agency Demotech said it would withdraw UPC’s financial stability rating according to the company. UPC’s rating was already down before So when might policyholders feel the impact?”It could be very soon,” Friedlander said. Friedlander said Florida’s insurance regulator must now determine whether the company is insolvent. If so, he said UPC would be forced into liquidation quickly, prompting it to issue a notice to policyholders to prepare. “Under state law: a 30-day written notice. It can’t wait until after hurricane season. So it can happen very quickly,” Friedlander said. WESH 2 News reached out to UPC Insurance for more information, but has not yet heard back. UPC had more than 185,000 policies in Florida as of March 31, according to an investor presentation in May. This comes about a month after another insurance company, Bankers Insurance Group, announced it was pulling out of Florida. “The private insurance market in Florida is collapsing,” said Mark Friedlander. Friedlander is the Florida spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute. He said Bankers Insurance was the 13th home insurer in Florida to make such a change this year. The institute’s list includes home insurers that have either announced an exit from the Florida market, placed a moratorium on writing new business or filed for bankruptcy. Friedlander said Bankers’ departure leaves people with more than 50 other possible options in the state. “It’s a very volatile market right now,” he said. Widow buyers go dry Related: Florida property insurance company goes under, leaving policyholders scrambling.
On Thursday, another insurance company announced it was leaving the state of Florida.
Parent company United Insurance Holdings Corp. announced that United Property & Casualty Insurance Company (also known as United P&C or UPC Insurance) has filed plans to withdraw from Florida, Texas, Louisiana and New York.
UPC Insurance is one of the largest home insurers in Florida according to insurance expert Mark Friedlander. Friedlander is the Florida spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute.
In a statement, company chairman and CEO Dan Peed said:
“Due to the significant uncertainty surrounding the future availability of reinsurance for our personal lines business, I believe that placing United P&C in a regular runoff is prudent and necessary to protect the Company and its policyholders. The Company is actively pursuing opportunities to leverage our people, technology and other capabilities. Our trading business continues to perform well and provides the company with a stable platform to build new growth and profitability engines.”
The announcement could mean policyholders could lose their insurance this hurricane season, according to Friedlander.
“All UPC policyholders will now have to find new coverage because their coverage will not be renewed,” he said. “It’s a really scary situation right now for Florida homeowners because if this company fails, it will be the sixth this year. There are many other companies that are in precarious financial positions today.”
The company’s announcement of its departure comes after insurance rating agency Demotech said it would withdraw UPC’s financial stability rating according to the company. UPC’s rating was already down before that.
So when can policyholders feel the impact?
“It could be very soon,” Friedlander said.
Friedlander said Florida’s insurance regulator must now determine whether the company is insolvent. If it is, he said UPC will be forced into liquidation quickly and that will cause it to issue a notice to policyholders to prepare.
“Under state law: a 30-day written notice. It can’t wait until after hurricane season. So it can happen very quickly,” Friedlander said.
WESH 2 News reached out to UPC Insurance for more information, but has yet to hear back. According to an investor presentation in May, UPC had more than 185,000 policies in Florida as of March 31.
This comes about a month after another insurance company, Bankers Insurance Group, announced it was pulling out of Florida.
“The private insurance market in Florida is collapsing,” said Mark Friedlander.
Friedlander is the Florida spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute. He said Bankers Insurance was 13thFlorida home insurer to make such a change this year. The institute’s list includes home insurers that have either announced an exit from the Florida market, placed a moratorium on writing new business or filed for bankruptcy.
Friedlander said Bankers’ departure leaves people with over 50 other possible options in the state.
“It’s a very volatile market right now,” he said.
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