The Saga of the Mortgage Insurance
When we first bought our house (about 14 years ago), we got mortgage insurance that pays off the house if either the Wonderful Spouse or I die. This was a condition of the mortgage and made both of us feel better too. Our mortgage has since been sold several times, meaning that the mortgage insurance company has also changed several times.
To make a long story short, it?s a good thing that I haven?t died in the last 5-6 years because during one of the insurance transfers my name got left off. ?How does that happen?? you ask. Good question and I still have no answer. How could I not have noticed that my name was no longer on the insurance? Easily, none of the insurance companies have sent us a declaration of insurance (except the original company). I called one company several times to get paperwork and they kept telling me it would be here in 2-4 weeks ? never happened. I should have pushed the issue more, but it was easy to forget, so I didn?t (push the issue that is).
Anyway, our mortgage got sold again and we got the paperwork from the new insurance company (for a wonder) and it had only the Wonderful Spouse?s name on it as being insured. I called them (company Z) up and they told me that I would have to get an original declaration from the previous insurance company (company X). Company Z was very helpful, even going so far as to give me company Y?s toll-free phone number. Company Y said that I would have to contact company X, because they didn?t have a copy of the original declaration (are you sensing a pattern here?) etc.
I finally wound up with the original insurance company ? whose original declaration I still had (so at least I didn?t have to call them). I have faxed the information to the second insurer, who has to update their records and fax it to the next in line, who has to update their record etc. etc. I can tell this is going to take about 6 months to straighten out ? but better now than if my Wonderful Spouse had to go through this because I had kicked the bucket!
So let this be a lesson and make sure you follow up on any mistakes you discover ? and are you sure all your insurances are the way you intend them to be? Maybe you should check to make sure. The representative from Company Z actually told me that I would probably have to fight hard with the previous insurance companies because they would count on me giving up (so of course I won?t). If I don?t hear from Company W by Wednesday I will call and fax again ? and repeat that every 3 days until they are sick of me!
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