The Problem with Home Insurance Fraud and How it Affects You

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Hello everyone! Jacob here with you! I’ve finally emerged from the depths of PhD qualification exam preparation land (just took the test today!) and am ready to put more time in to my blog! I apologize for being a little elusive lately, but hey, life happens! 


To get us started back on the right track, the following is today’s guest post. Enjoy!  

How about you all? How often do you feel that home insurance fraud occurs? Have you ever known any one in your community that has tried to get away with this type of fraud? What impact do you feel this type of behavior has on the rest of us? 


Share your experiences by commenting below!

Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

• @ Home insurance fraud being the most common type of insurance fraud – 
• I can definitely imagine that homeowner’s (or real estate in general) insurance fraud is one of the most common forms of insurance fraud out there.
• Why’s this, you might be asking? In my opinion, I think that the answer lies in that home insurance is a fairly broadly defined coverage, meaning that you define an approximate value of the goods in your house and get a policy to cover those in the case of a fire, tornado, etc. Because there is a significant amount of wiggle room in what’s included, this, in my opinion, motivates people to feel they can “game” the system easier.
• @ The consequences of home insurance fraud –
• As mentioned in this article, I think it’s important to point out that home insurance fraud doesn’t just negatively affect the person partaking in the activity if they get caught. 
• In fact, when the insurance companies have to pay out more money than their complex mathematical algorithms plan, all of the honest insurance policy carriers simply have to pay more to compensate for the monetary loss. 
• So, I guess what I am getting at here is that it actually benefits us all to watch out for fraud and strongly discourage this behavior. I know I don’t want to pay any more than I have to for my homeowner’s insurance policy! 
• @ What motivates people to want to partake in home insurance fraud?
• In writing the comments above, I became interested in thinking about what exactly motivates people to partake in home insurance fraud. Is it greed? Is it desperation for money?
• While I think that the answer may lie in a mix of the two motivations mentioned above, I really am amazed at how many people think they can get away with insurance fraud, even though the insurance companies undoubtedly have entire departments dedicated to seeking out fraudulent claims.
• However, enough people must be getting away with this fraud in some shape or form in order for people to continue doing it!

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/23905174@N00/2524306151/sizes/o/in/photostream/