Citizens Property Insurance Corp

Citizens Property Insurance Corp was created in 2002 when the Florida legislature passed a law combining the Florida Residential Property and Casualty Joint Underwriting Association (FRPCJUA) and the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association (FWUA). The purpose of Citizens Property Insurance Corp is to provide insurance coverage for homeowners in the Florida areas that are considered high-risk.

The occurrence of hurricanes in the sunshine state has always been considered natural by most people. But the damage brought by these hurricanes has caused many private insurance companies to not offer policies that provide enough insurance coverage. Because of this, Citizens Property Insurance Corp was established.

A state-run insurer, Citizens Property Insurance Corp offers coverage of up to $350,000 of total damage and repair costs. Citizens Property Insurance Corp also includes other buildings besides the actual house and contents and liability.

Impact of the four hurricanes on Citizens Property Insurance Corp

The recent occurrence of the four hurricanes – Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne -- in Florida has caused Citizens Property Insurance Corp a total net loss of $1.77 billion. As a result, Citizens Property Insurance Corp has increased its premium prices on their windstorm policy. This increase in Citizens Property Insurance Corp premium is projected to reach up to 67 per cent.

Being the largest insurer in the Florida state, the changes in the premium prices of Citizens Property Insurance Corp's policies may cause other smaller insurance companies to up their premiums.

After the four hurricanes, Citizens Property Insurance Corp was left with almost 92,000 claims, the number of which is still expected to rise within the next few months. To keep up with all these claims, Citizens Property Insurance Corp increased their yields by an average of 11.9 per cent.

Citizens Property Insurance Corp will get the biggest bite from Hurricane Charley at an estimated $925 million in losses, according to Risk Management Solutions. The next one to bore a hole through Citizens Property Insurance Corp is Hurricane Jeanne with cost of up to $332 million. Hurricanes Frances and Ivan would also take some $532 million in total losses from the insurance funds of Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Today, Citizens Property Insurance Corp has a surplus nearly reaching $1.2 billion, not counting the additional $40 million from monthly premium incomes. Yet, even with this money, Citizens Property Insurance Corp is still unsure whether they will have a deficit or they will have to assess. Should Citizens Property Insurance Corp run out of funds, the state's other insurance companies will be assessed. Citizens Property Insurance Corp will then pass those costs to their customers through these companies.

Citizens Property Insurance Corp can assess all property and casualty insurance companies, except worker's compensation and medical malpractice. The Citizens Property Insurance Corp assessment will probably be 2 per cent of each company's billed premiums. If the premium price is $1,000, the 2 per cent assessment would cost around $20.