Nation's Only Web Based Catastrophe Insurance Program Provides Alternative To NFIP

It is estimated that only about seventeen percent of Americans have a flood or catastrophe insurance policy and nearly one third mistakenly believe that a standard homeowners insurance policy covers flooding and other catastrophes such as earthquake and landslide. Flooding is one of the most common natural disasters and it occurs in ninety percent of all catastrophes. Based on these statistics homeowners appear to be unaware of the importance of having flood and other catastrophe coverages. This is why government agencies, like the National Weather Service and other organizations actively encourage all Americans to work with an insurance agent to secure an appropriate level of coverage but all too often they don't.

Many insurance professionals and consumers continue to believe that the only place to secure flood insurance is through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) administered by the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA). However, a growing number of insurance professionals have discovered an alternative to the NFIP that has proven to be very attractive to consumers looking for insurance coverage. In recent years, with encouragement from FEMA and Congress, an alternative to the NFIP has emerged in numerous states. The Internet based Natural Catastrophe Insurance Program (NCIP), available at www.CatCoverage.com is the nation's only privately underwritten, fully Internet based program offering primary layer insurance for the perils of landslides, floods, and earthquakes underwritten by Certain Underwriters at Lloyds.

Created and administered by Poulton Associates, Inc. in Salt Lake City, Utah and available in 27 states via the CatCoverage.com web site, the NCIP allows insurance professionals to access a more comprehensive catastrophe insurance product in moments and without many of the more cumbersome and time consuming characteristics of the NFIP. An insurance agent or broker can sign up for access to CatCoverage.com and print their first policy in as little as 20 minutes if the risk is accepted by the Underwriter. The same process can take several days through the NFIP based on the need for such things as elevation certificates and flood maps that need to be created and/or validated. Use of CatCoverage.com requires no special training, is very user friendly and policies are issued moments after they are paid for as electronic documents.

"CatCoverage.com also allows both residential and business property owners to secure flood earthquake and landslide coverage all under one insurance policy," Said Marissa Halverson Director of Wholesale Marketing at Poulton Associates. "We are seeing significant demand in the many states we are currently operating in and are aggressively working to establish the program in other states as well." She also said that with people largely unaware that flood and other catastrophe perils are not covered under a standard homeowners policy contracts potentially lucrative market for insurance agents who sign on to use CatCoverage.com to gain access to the NCIP.

Certain captive insurance agents are not using CatCoverage.com because they may be precluded from doing so by their contracts with the insurance carriers they represent. For these agents and their clients Poulton Associates has created CatCoverage.biz where they can insure a property but not receive any commissions or compensation for doing so. Rates at CatCoverage.com and CatCoverage.biz are identical and the underwriting process is the same.

NCIP has proven to be a stable and secure way to provide needed catastrophe insurance coverage to many property owners for years. NCIP underwriters have been providing catastrophe insurance coverage for over twenty five years and it has proven to be a stable and secure way to provide needed coverage to many property owners.

Use of the NCIP often results in consumers getting a better value. It not only offers coverage for Flood, earthquake and landslide perils but it also allows the policy owner to select coverage enhancements not provided by the NFIP such as additional living expense for homeowners and business income as well as extra expenses for business property owners giving the consumer more bang for their buck.

SOURCE: NFIP