Professor Dan Schwarcz of Minnesota Law has posted an excellent empirical study of homeowner's insurance contract forms, finding important variations in coverage, most of which reduce the level of protection from the presumed industry standard. The paper offers a meticulous review of insurance policy contract forms from the top ten insurers in six different states, revealing a dizzying variety of provisions for events such as water damage, pollution damage, theft losses, and replacement cost standards.
Even obtaining the actual contract terms in use proved to be a significant challenge. In part III Professor Schwarcz recounts his exhaustive efforts to obtain copies of contract terms, from insurers themselves, from insurance agents, and from state regulators. Shockingly, state insurance departments who all profess to require contract forms to be submitted and approved, and to be publicly available, are systematically unable to produce insurance policy forms on request. The bottom line is that consumers cannot possibly shop for coverage terms because they cannot discover contract terms without purchasing a policy.
This is the sort of careful study of actual consumer financial markets and practices that the research division of the new CFPB ought to be doing, to inform consumer education and regulatory strategies going forward.
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