NC Department of Insurance Denies Insurance Rate Increase

BREAKING NEWS:

We have just been informed that NC Insurance of Commissioner (Wayne Goodwin) has issued Notice of Public Hearing on the 2012 Homeowners Insurance Rate Filing.

The Notice of Public Hearing is means that the NC Department of Insurance does not approve of the NC Rate Bureau's Rate Filing and feels that the filed rates are excessive and unjustified.

The Hearing will not begin until June 2013 which allows both the NC Department of Insurance and the NC Rate Bureau the time needed to go through the discovery process and prepare for the Hearing. The Hearing is conducted similar to a trial with the Department of Insurance providing evidence and testimony as to why they disagree with the Rate Filing and the NC Rate Bureau

providing evidence and testimony as to why the Rate Filing is justified. The NC Insurance Commissioner will preside as the Hearing Officer during the Public Hearing. The Public Hearing will be open to the public - the public will not have an opportunity to comment during the process.

As of last Wednesday's Public Comment Session held in Raleigh, approximately 3,000 comments were submitted. The deadline for comments was last Friday, October 19th and over 9,000 comments were ultimately received. This is a telling sign that the rising cost of homeowners insurance is a critical issue in NC.



A press release should be posted soon on www.ncdoi.com.