10 Things Your Home Insurer Won’t Tell You

“We have our own caste system.”

Sam Mayer, a physician in suburban Chicago, had insured his home, car, and life with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company for 10 years without ever filing a single claim, until a damaged roof and a burglary led to two legitimate claims totaling $3,000. Mayer promptly installed a new home-security system. But instead of giving him a discount, the company dropped Mayer from its preferred coverage, citing his “claims history,” and instead offered him its standard carrier at a higher rate—even though his risk profile hadn’t really changed.

(“Homeowners insurers may sometimes offer a change in conditions of coverage of a consumer’s policy at renewal in order to continue to offer a policy to that individual whose risk profile has increased,” says a MetLife spokesperson. “This often occurs when a customer files more claims than average in a short period of time.”)