Over 300,000 homeowners in Florida have received a warning regarding an offer letter from a private insurance company, emphasizing the importance of responding to avoid potential financial repercussions. The deadline for response has been extended to October 10 as part of the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation’s depopulation initiative, a state-run company.
Mark Friedlander, the Florida spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute, stressed that homeowners who receive the offer letter must promptly reply with a yes or no by the deadline. Ignoring the instructions in the takeout offer letter will result in an automatic switch to a new insurer at the price indicated in the offer.
Citizens’ spokesperson, Michael Peltier, explained that the goal is to grant customers a 30-day window to respond to takeout offers. However, due to a vendor’s mailing delay, some policyholders had less time to review their offers. To accommodate this, the deadline was extended to October 10, providing ample time for responses.
Citizens currently holds approximately 1.4 million policyholders. The five private insurance companies dispatching takeout offers include Monarch National Insurance Company, Safepoint Insurance Company, Southern Oak Insurance Company, Slide Insurance Company, and Florida Peninsula Insurance Company. Homeowners have the option to reject an offer if it exceeds 20% of Citizens’ cost.
For offers within 20% of Citizens’ cost, Friedlander explained that homeowners must decide whether to accept the takeout offer or seek coverage from the open market—a challenging task given the current market conditions, contributing to Citizens’ significant growth.
Peltier mentioned that around 1,600 offer letters would be sent to Citizens’ policyholders by the end of September 20 to complete the mailing process.