I have had Home and Auto Insurance with The Hartford thru my AARP membership for many years. My Homeowners insurance must be renewed on 12/06/08 for the next year. I recently received the new Proposal and upon reading it noticed the following:
Although property values have declined in my home area, like elsewhere, they increased the value of my home $7,000. Also, there is a new Amendment, PLA-67-8, with the Proposal advising : "Your premium would have been lower if we had not taken this information into account". That information taken into their account is as follows: "Low Credit Card Limits" and "Low Credit Limits".
My wife and I retired in 1988. We have been debt free for over thirty (30) years. However, in 1999 we purchased a new car with a no interest bearing loan which we paid off within a year because we were tired of making monthly payments. In 2005 we purchased a new car and paid for it in cash.
We have adequate monthly income to live a comfortable life. We have ample monetary reserves to take care of us for the remainder of our lives.
We have one Credit Card with a limit of $5,000. which we use for our daily expenses in return for a small monthly discount on those purchases.
There is no yearly charge for this card and the balance is always paid off at the end of each month. We have never missed or been late on the monthly payoff. At times the Card Company has raised our Credit Limit much to our dismay and we have insisted they return it to the $5,000 limit. That is all we need or desire.
Our avereage monthly bill may be up to $1,200. We were both brought up during the Great Depression era and have always kept those experiences in mind. Upon calling The Hartford I was successful in having the increase in the home value lowered $5,000 but they refuse to provide us with the lower premium because of the above listed reasons.
The Hartford advised that as a result of a Class Action Suit they were required to include Amendment PLA-67-8 along with the polilcy. They also said last years premium also was not at the lowest available due to the same Credit provisions as above, however, we were never advised of such provisions. Otherwise we would have seeked another Carrier for both our home and auto insurance.
We feel that we are being discriminated against (80 years old) and subjected to price gouging by the Hartford Insurance Company and perhaps the AARP too since they are the ones who advertise the coverage.
We are searching for a new Insurance Carrier one in which we may be rewarded for being frugal and debt free. However, we will loose certain earned benefits such as a waiver of the deductible in an accident that comes along with the auto policy when you have a number of years without a claim.
Many senior citizens have insurance through AARP with the Hartford and they should all be on guard for this new Hartford disclosure.
Deano
Texarkana, Arkansas
U.S.A.