We hope you had a good holiday and that your families are safe and healthy.
The Department of Financial Services continues to update and clarify
its regulations relating to
insurance premium payments during this pandemic, and each insurance and finance company
may
have its own policies.
If you have a payment issue, we
suggest you contact your insurance
carrier
or finance company directly - because only you know what payment terms you can live by.
The current
NY Department of Financial Services
policy
provides that you can contact your insurance carrier or finance company to request a payment deferral of 60 days (90 days in NJ), for premium installments
due between March 29th and April 28th
,
which
you cannot pay due to Coronavirus
hardship.
If
the premium
is not paid
by the agreed upon deferred date,
or new payment terms are not agreed to, then the insurance policy may be cancelled back to the date when it
would
have originally cancelled for non-payment.
Importantly, it was just clarified that these deferment payment rules
only apply to
Admitted insurance companies
(unless otherwise agreed to by the insurance carrier)
. Most insurance policies are placed with carriers that are Admitted (licensed) in New York. Other high-risk exposures like contractors, vacant buildings, coastal properties, or businesses with significant claims
can only be insured via
Non-Admitted insurance companies. Since these
Non-Admitted
insurance companies are not
subject to the same NY state regulations that apply to Admitted carriers,
they do not have to abide by these payment deferment rules. Again, you should discuss your payment situation directly with the insurance carrier or finance company.
