Flood Zone Correction, Inc. Calls For Flood Insurance Program Reform

Why Program Fails Most Homeowners, Businesses & Condominium Associations; And How to Make the Program Work

(August 12, 2005 - West Palm Beach, FL) – Dan Freudenthal, President of Flood Zone Correction, Inc. the nation’s first flood zone correction company, joins the spectrum of advocates calling for reform of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Freudenthal contends the NFIP continues to fail thousands of flood insurance policyholders around the country, particularly those who sustained no flood damage during the devastating 2004 hurricane season. 

According to Freudenthal, “The NFIP has been woefully negligent in its handling of the 2004 hurricane season claims process, but even worse is its administration of the program during the last 26 years. The mandate forcing property owners to purchase high-risk flood insurance when their properties are, in fact, low-risk for flooding is unfair and wrong.“ He continues, “The miscarriage of the program is further evidenced by the maze of this bureaucracy which includes lenders, flood zone determination companies and some insurers who thwart the property owners’ efforts to correct their flood zone classifications and to receive the refunds that they are entitled to receive.  One must conclude that many of these policyholders: homeowners, commercial property owners and condominium associations, are really subsidizing losses, particularly repetitive loss properties, and the NFIP’s 2004 $100 million dollar ad campaign to sell flood insurance.”      

Freudenthal urges the public to review the unfair policy applications of the NFIP.  They include flood risk assessment, flood maps, unfair flood zones (A and AO), flood insurance policy pricing (in many cases, preferred risk policies for low-risk properties cost more than high-risk policies), FEMA filing fees (some reclassification fees exceed the cost of an annual flood insurance policy premium), and, policy cancellation, nullification and refunds.  

According to NFIP statistics tracked from 1978 through September 30, 2004, consumers, companies and condominium associations throughout the United States purchased more than 4.4 million flood insurance policies at a cost of $1.9 billion dollars. Property owners filed approximately 1.2 million claims with 916,279 payouts for a total of $12.6 billion dollars or an annual average of $486 million dollars. In the state of Florida, consumers, companies and condominium associations purchased 1.8 million policies costing $647 million dollars. They filed approximately 175,795 claims with 100,325 claim payments for a total of $1.5 billion dollars or an annual average of $60 million dollars. These are two examples that illustrate the ever-widening discrepancy between the amount policyholders put into the NFIP and the amount they annually receive in the form of NFIP claim payments.

“The program needs a major overhaul, not only in how it responds to disasters, but in how it administers programs designed to protect the assets of every NFIP customer,” states Freudenthal.  

Consumers and companies should further scrutinize these requirements on the basis of claims and claim payments.  Over a 25-year period, property owners in the United States have filed approximately 1.2 million claims, with 901,000  claim pay-outs for a total of $12 billion. That’s a discrepancy between the $1.8 billion consumers and companies annually put into the NFIP and the $490 million annual average that they receive in NFIP claim payments.  These statistics are strong indicators that many homes and buildings were built responsibly to protect against catastrophic flood events, and therefore, should not be in the SFHA. If your home has been free of flood damage since you’ve lived there, it probably does not belong in the SFHA.

Consumers and companies should further scrutinize these requirements on the basis of claims and claim payments.  Over a 25-year period, property owners in the United States have filed approximately 1.2 million claims, with 901,000  claim pay-outs for a total of $12 billion. That’s a discrepancy between the $1.8 billion consumers and companies annually put into the NFIP and the $490 million annual average that they receive in NFIP claim payments.  These statistics are strong indicators that many homes and buildings were built responsibly to protect against catastrophic flood events, and therefore, should not be in the SFHA. If your home has been free of flood damage since you’ve lived there, it probably does not belong in the SFHA.

Flood Zone Correction, Inc. headquartered in West Palm Beach, FL, is an advocate for residential and commercial building owners throughout the country, promoting fairness in the evaluation of flood risk and the imposition of flood insurance requirements. Since its founding in 2001, Flood Zone Correction, Inc, has successfully reclassified over 90 percent of the residential and commercial properties evaluated, saving clients millions of dollars and adding tens of millions of dollars to property values. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.floodzonecorrection.com or call (877) Flood Zone (877-356-6396).

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