The Top Sources for Help with an Insurance Claim
Insurance claims are tricky. Many homeowners are lost: they’ve never dealt with a claim before, so they don’t know what to do.
It’s not your fault. You’ve been a safe, responsible homeowner for decades – that’s not a bad thing. Many homeowners go their entire lives without filing a major home insurance claim.
Whether it’s water damage, fire damage, smoke damage, or any other type of insurance claim, you may need help with your insurance claim.
Fortunately, you have plenty of resources available. There are free websites, certified insurance help professionals, public adjusters, and other trusted sources of insurance help.
Need help with your insurance claim? Here are some of the best free online resources for help with insurance claims.
Delay Deny Defend
Delay Deny Defend is one of the best-known books in the insurance claims space – and one of the most-despised books by insurance companies (which is a great endorsement).
In Delay Deny Defend, Jay M. Feinman explains why insurance companies don’t pay claims – and what ordinary people like you can do about it.
You can buy the book to learn more about the insurance industry and how it works. However, Feinman also offers good advice through his DelayDenyDefend.com website.
The premise of the book is this: starting in the 1990s, many of America’s largest insurance companies changed their approach to insurance claims. They started to delay, deny, and defend insurance claims – instead of immediately paying them out with minimal investigation.
This approach was great for combating insurance fraud, but it has wreaked havoc on honest policyholders who simply want to receive the money they’re owed under the terms of their insurance contract.
You can read an excerpt from the book at DelayDenyDefend.com here.
Confused why your insurance company is dragging its feet? Not sure what to do next? Want to read stories from other policyholders who have gone through similar situations and succeeded? Delay Deny Defend is a must-read book – and a valuable free website for basic insurance help.
United Policyholders (UPHelp.org)
United Policyholders (UP) is a non-profit organization founded with the goal of helping honest policyholders navigate tricky insurance claims. United Policyholders does not take money from insurance companies. Instead, they give policyholders honest, unbiased information. The organization’s slogan is “empowering the insured.”
In 2020, UPHelp.org has changed the lives of policyholders across the United States by providing valuable information about all types of insurance claims. Some of the covered topics from the last few months include:
- Oregon wildfires insurance claim and recovery help
- 2020 California wildfires
- 2020 Iowa derecho insurance claim and recovery help
- COVID-19 preparedness and recovery help
The UPHelp.org website is filled with free resources explaining how to proceed with property damage insurance claims, how to maximize compensation from insurance claims, and how to defend against bad faith insurers.
Ultimately, if you’re looking for free insurance claim help from an unbiased organization dedicated exclusively to helping policyholders, then United Policyholders and UPHelp.org is a great place to start.
National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (NAPIA.com)
The National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters (NAPIA) was founded in 1951 to advocate for public adjuster education and standards of professional conduct among public adjusters. Over the past 70 years, NAPIA has built a reputation for promoting consistency across the public adjuster community.
At NAPIA.com, you can learn more about how public adjusters work and what a public adjuster is. You can also find a list of certified public adjusters and public adjusting firms for more personalized insurance help.
Many homeowners are unfamiliar with public adjusters and how they work. NAPIA wants to help by explaining everything you need to know about public adjusters and how they operate.
Reddit’s /r/Insurance and /r/PublicAdjusters Subreddits
Reddit has two main communities for insurance help, including:
- Reddit.com/r/insurance
- Reddit.com/r/publicadjusters
Like other subreddits, r/insurance and r/publicadjusters feature insurance complaints, insurance tips, advice, and feedback from people who have gone through a similar experience.
Want to hear from people who are going through your exact same situation? Want to learn about insurance tips, tricks, and strategies to maximize compensation? These subreddits are valuable resources – and they’re completely free.
Both subreddits are very active, showing just how many millions of Americans struggle with insurance claims every year. You can post questions, answer insurance questions from other Redditors, or view resources for all types of insurance issues.
Ultimately, Reddit can be as useful or as useless as you want it to be, but r/insurance and r/publicadjusters are two of the best online resources for insurance help.
Merlin Law Group
Merlin Law Group has a dedicated property insurance claims blog. You can find thousands of similar pages with law firms across the United States, although Merlin’s blog is particularly helpful.
Merlin Law Group specializes in insurance issues. The law firm has a team of attorneys who have been handling insurance claims since 1985. Some of the specific topics tackled by Merlin Law Group include:
- Bad faith insurance claims
- Business interruption claims
- Commercial property insurance claims
- Hurricane, wildfire, hail, tornado, or water damage claims
In some states, public adjusters handle insurance disputes. In other states, attorneys fulfill the same role. It depends on state insurance law.
Whether looking for free online help for insurance claims or professional assistance for bad faith insurers, Merlin Law Group’s insurance website has a wealth of information on property insurance claims.
ClaimsMate Public Adjusters & Insurance Claim Help
ClaimsMate is one of the internet’s leading free insurance resources. The company offers a range of insurance adjuster guides, free insurance resources, and other information. You can find helpful information for any type of specific insurance claim situation in the Insurance Claim Tips section.
For more personalized insurance claim help, request a free consultation from a qualified public adjuster through the ClaimsMate website. Or read the leading tips on how to find a local public adjuster near you for your specific situation.
Based in the United States, ClaimsMate works to connect policyholders with public adjusters throughout the country with decades of proven experience helping with insurance claims.
Whether looking for free insurance advice, real experiences from other insurance policyholders, or a basic explanation of how typical fire damage and water damage insurance claims work, ClaimsMate is one of the internet’s leading resources for insurance help.
Need more personalized assistance? ClaimsMate can help with that too, offering free consultations from public adjusters to customers across the United States.
Disclaimer: Be Careful Who You Trust For Help With Insurance Claims
Some contractors offer to handle your insurance claim. They offer to handle your claim from beginning to end, making repairs and working with your insurance company for payment.
You need to be careful who you trust with your insurance claim: only public adjusters and lawyers are licensed to determine policy coverage and negotiate claims.
Contractors might mean well – but they don’t have the experience or certifications to handle insurance claims.
Or, some contractors might try to take advantage of homeowners in vulnerable situations. After a disaster, many low-quality contractors flock to a region hoping to make quick, easy money. Many of these contractors go door-to-door offering to help with your insurance claim. Just sign your insurance paperwork to the contractor, and the contractor takes care of everything.
Whether a contractor means well or not, you need to be careful with who you trust for insurance claims.
Final Word: Contact ClaimsMate for Insurance Claim Help
ClaimsMate can answer your insurance questions over the phone in a hassle-free, no-pressure environment. Just contact ClaimsMate and explain your situation.
During a free consultation, public adjusters can explain how they can help – including how much more money you could receive from your insurance claim.
Contact ClaimsMate today for help with your insurance claim.
Stephanie is a property insurance claim expert with over 20 years of experience working as an insurance adjuster, expert witness, appraiser and umpire. She is passionate about sharing her expertise, knowledge, tips and training to help both property owners and Public Adjusters in their pursuit of effectively managing claims and recovering the claim settlement they deserve after a loss.
