John Egan

The U.S. House on July 12 passed legislation that would extend the life of the National Flood Insurance Program for five years while also phasing out taxpayer-subsidized insurance premiums and paving the way for private companies to sell flood insurance.

Supporters say HR 1309 would shore up the finances of the flood insurance program, which is nearly $18 billion in debt, largely because of flood insurance payouts for Hurricane Katrina.

On a 406-22 vote, the House sent the Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2011 to the U.S. Senate. If the bill isn’t signed into law by Sept. 30, the flood insurance program will expire.

U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., who introduced the bill, says the National Flood Insurance Program “is too important to let lapse and too in debt to continue without reform.”

Among other things, the bill would:

• Phase in premiums that more accurately reflect a property’s flood risk.

• Raise the cap on annual premium increases from 10 percent to 20 percent. Some House members fought unsuccessfully to keep the cap at 10 percent.

• Reduce federal subsidies for certain insured properties, including buildings in high-risk flood zones that experience repeated flood insurance claims.

• Link maximum coverage limits to the inflation rate.

Floridians hold 40 percent of policies

More than 5.6 million policyholders, including millions of homeowners, participate in the National Flood Insurance Program. Forty percent of the program’s policyholders are in Florida. The Federal Emergency Management Agency runs the program.

Under federal law, flood insurance is mandatory if you have a federally backed mortgage for a home or other structure in a federally designated high-risk flood zone. Standard home insurance policies and other types of property insurance don’t include coverage for floods.

The private market for flood insurance is practically non-existent. The reform bill would set the stage for more private insurers to sell flood insurance policies. “The result will be increased consumer choice and competition, and it will prevent the federal government from exponentially expanding its role in disaster insurance,” says U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

The House killed an amendment to the bill from U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., that would have eliminated the National Flood Insurance Program.

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Accidents have become very costly. Keeping this view in mind the state of Pennsylvania has brought out a plan known as called the Pennsylvania auto insurance scheme. It has set a limit for injury in the body as well as damage.

In order to get the insurance benefits one must ensure that the automobile is having an insurance policy providing all the relevant information. This makes it easy to settle the insurance claims without hitches.

What is tort option?

The state of Pennsylvania has enacted a law whereby you have the right to recover damages or compensation in the event that another driver injures you or cause injuries to family members in an automobile accident. This law to recover damages is known as tort option. There are two kinds of options, one is limited and the other is full tort option. For the limited one, your rights to financial reimbursement for injuries caused by other drivers will be limited whereas for full tort options the rights to financial reimbursement for injuries by other drivers is unrestricted and your PA auto insurance premium will not be reduced.

The citizens of Pennsylvania do not always go into the facts and figures of the PA auto insurance plans and thus they end up paying high premiums. Had they reviewed after more careful examination they could have settled for low insurance premium and save lot of money. In 2003 and 2004 it has been observed that citizens of Pennsylvania had insured themselves by paying more premiums but drastically the premiums came down in the following years.

Why does the insurance rate fluctuate?

Insurance rates vary from state to state due to many factors. There is fluctuation in PA auto insurance rates also. Keep a tag on the rates available and PA auto insurance policy would be a wise option now to buy because there could be possible increase of rates in the following year depending upon the market rate. It is invariably important to compare insurance quotes before taking up an insurance policy for your automobile.

Pennsylvania Auto Insurance

Just get out the Yellow Pages and look under Insurance; there will be hundreds of ads. Look for company names you recognize, since those have been in business for a long time and survived by doing a decent job. Ask friends, neighbors or coworkers who they use and why they like them--or don't like them.

o Keep Your Personal and Business Assets Separate

If you don't insulate your own assets from those of your business, you could be in trouble. If you operate your business in the form of a sole proprietorship or as a general partnership, these businesses are not registered entities, which means that your personal assets are not insulated from those of your business.

As an example, if you're a sole proprietor and an angry customer sues you, any assets you own such as your house or car are not protected. Nor are financial assets such as your bank account. These can all be taken should a judgment be found against you.

Or perhaps you've formed a two-man partnership with your friend. This may perhaps be an even worse idea than a sole proprietorship is. What this means is that you are as liable for your friend's errors as you are for your own. You are also liable for anything purchased in the name of your partnership. Remember that one partner's signature is enough to bind both partners to a debt or other type of obligation. Again, this leaves you unprotected and without any recourse should something happen; you could be left holding the bag.

To protect yourself, use a registered corporate entity, such as a C or S corporation, a limited liability corporation, or a limited partnership. You'll need to keep your company's registration up-to-date, hold annual meetings and keep annual minutes, keep business clients separate from your own, and avoid signing any business-related documentation in your name. This keeps your own assets separate from those of your business. By the same token, you are also protected from any debts or disasters incurred by your business.

o Protect Your Business Assets

You need to protect your business and real estate assets from yourself. A limited liability company is an excellent way to help protect key assets. For example, if you have a rental property, you should hold assets either in a limited partnership or in an LLC. These protect you from personal liability if anything should happen on the property and it also provides you another advantage. Should someone become injured on your property, you are protected from being sued directly by the tenant. Remember that the business's assets are still at risk of suit should the tenant decide to sue. However, if you have adequate insurance, you can help protect yourself from having the claimant lay claim to your assets so as to satisfy your obligation. This strategy comes with a caveat though.

A comprehensive commercial insurance policy can help you keep the property instead of having it end up as a part of a court-ordered settlement. What should you look for? The liability insurance should cover injuries to third parties on your property. It should cover trespassing, especially if you have undeveloped or vacant land. If you have people working on your property as your employees, you should also have Worker's Compensation insurance. The insurance should also have "increased cost of construction" additions if your building should become damaged or require reconstruction. That means you'll be covered at today's construction prices instead of those of previous years. If you are a landlord, "loss of rents" riders can help you recover costs in the event your building is damaged and uninhabitable so that you can pay relocation costs or receive income from the property while it's being rebuilt to offset right losses. A final consideration is a "higher limits" rider, so that you have extra protection in the event a catastrophic claim is filed in one of these categories.

But as we know, insurance companies have an economic incentive not to cover every claim. They find reasons to deny coverage. So while you will have insurance you will use entities as a second line of defense to protect your personal assets from your business claims.

Garrett Sutton, Esq. is a corporate attorney and is the author of "Own Your Own Corporation" and other titles in the Rich Dad Advisor series. His firm forms and maintains corporations, LLCs and other entities and may be reached at http://www.corporatedirect.com

To get a FREE copy of Garrett's book, "What to Know Before you Incorporate" log onto http://www.corporatedirect.com

Studies show that in 2008 over 10% of homeowners had to repair damages to their homes caused by pests inviting themselves in out of the rain. Mice, rats, wasps and termites have done hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damages to homes across the U.S., and in some instances have sent homes tumbling to the ground if not more quickly than at least more efficiently than the windstorms, hail, leaking pipes and kitchen fires that your homeowners insurance policy was designed to protect you against.

The catch is, these little critters are considered to be an avoidable peril-in other words, if they've set up roost in your foundation they're there as a result of something you did and you should be able to get them out.

Whoever invented that policy clause quite obviously never actually had to attempt to remove a termite colony from their floor joists.

Regardless, if your home suffers damages as a result of something these tiny invaders have done you and you alone are responsible not only for repairing the damages but also for taking steps to evict your uninvited guests to begin with. Your homeowners insurance isn't going to help you unless you've purchased a special policy designed to protect your home from death by snacking, and if you're like most Americans at the heart of today's slumping economy the hundreds of dollars it's going to cost you to call in an exterminator is money you just don't have.

So what can you do?

The most obvious solution is to stop these vermin in their tracks so before they have the chance to cause a problem. Remember that any opening into your home, regardless of how small, is an open invite for mice and other uninvited guests. The average mouse can squeeze through a hole in your wall that's less than ¼ of an inch wide, so you want to make sure that these holes are well plugged with steel wool or some other inedible materials.

Keeping termites and wasps out is a little more problematic. Try to avoid leaving tissue paper and stuffed toys lying around in your attic, as these attract wasps looking for a place to set up roost. Termites love damp wood, so make sure there's no moisture lingering around your foundation and dig up any stumps or trees that are too close to the house. Don't leave firewood or other wood products lying on the floor where they're an open invitation to any creepy crawly that happens to come crawling past.

Your homeowners insurance company isn't going to do much to help protect you from these miniature invaders, but that doesn't mean you have to sit back and take it. Remember, the best defense is a good offense-and when you consider the price of an exterminator an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure.  

Mike McDonough is a National Account Executive for QuoteScout.com, where they specialize in matching consumers with the best home insurance quotes on the web. For more information on your homeowners insurance visit http://www.QuoteScout.com

You should ask your insurance company if they would have a problem with that. They might say no, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

The only problem I can foresee is that by the time you ask, the first garage might have already started the repairs.