Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner

Contractor Fraud Week   Do you need to hire a contractor after a fire or other type of loss?   Contractor red flags to watch for:     🚩Drop-in visits to your home   🚩Flyers, calls, texts or online ads from people claiming to specialize in disaster repair   🚩Pressure to sign contracts immediately or pay large deposits before work begins.   Before you sign a contract: Verify the contractor is licensed, bonded and insured – pro tip, L&I has that info in WA.     Beware of signing away your rights with a post-loss assignment of benefits agreement (AOB)! They are pitched as a convenience for policyholders but can lead to delays and even fraud. Stay tuned for a new version of our bill to ban AOBs in the 2027 legislative session!     Listen to our podcast about our proposal to ban AOBs at:   https://lnkd.in/gqm_JeNh

Please join us! City of Medical Lake, WA and surrounding area residents: May 20th we’re bringing the OIC to your backyard. Hear from a panel of insurance and emergency preparedness experts on wildfire mitigation and bring your questions! You can let us know you’re coming by visiting: https://direc.to/o13C (RSVP not required but helpful) #communityconnect

🌋Most homeowner and auto policies will cover at least some damage from volcanic eruptions, but there are exceptions. Make sure you’re covered: https://lnkd.in/gCPaTD-y #mountsthelens #volcano

🔥IBHS is now offering its Wildfire Prepared Home designation in WA, which will help homeowners in areas with a high wildfire risk make their homes more insurable. Listen to this episode of OIC Answers to hear IBHS’ Director for Wildfire Steve Hawks talk about their research facility, how the designations work, how it helps homeowners protect their property, the steps involved in earning a designation and the OIC’s work on wildfire mitigation. https://lnkd.in/gNr859RJ

A Yakima insurance agent and an unauthorized insurance company are barred from doing business in Washington after Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer issued cease-and-desist orders in April. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gk6bmntZ

Commissioner Kuderer will chair the NAIC’s Child Care Insurance Working Group, which will address the insurance issues facing childcare services providers, like child-placing agencies and group foster homes and how those issues impact consumers. Read more at: https://lnkd.in/gSp268YA

Introducing the Office of the Insurance Commissioner’s brand new Disaster Response Toolkit!   Whether you’re facing wildfire risk, flooding, earthquakes and more we got your back.   All the information you need to stay covered in one place—because you have enough going on. Sign up for email alerts and we’ll send you the link to order as soon as it comes online: https://lnkd.in/gnzpwZFv

Please join us! City of Medical Lake, WA and surrounding area residents: May 20th we’re bringing the OIC to your backyard. Hear from a panel of insurance and emergency preparedness experts on wildfire mitigation and bring your questions! You can let us know you’re coming by visiting: https://direc.to/o13C (RSVP not required but helpful) #communityconnect

Washington state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer is visiting Eastern Washington communities in May as part of her Community Connect outreach events, focusing on meeting residents of wildfire-threatened areas and discussing their issues with home insurance.   Read more at https://lnkd.in/gS7zHNUX

Ending Public Service Recognition Week with a BIG ‘thank you’ to public servants in Washington state. We appreciate you! 💙#PSRW #wastate