Association boards and community managers can save themselves time and aggravation by taking advantage of an opportunity to provide the association’s master policy insurance information to Assurant Specialty Property, a company that already tracks homeowner’s insurance for more than 28 million mortgage loans.
Community Associations Institute (CAI) and Assurant Specialty Property are working together to make association leaders aware of this unique opportunity.
As insurance requirements become more complex, mortgage lenders must adhere to strict regulatory guidelines encompassing all aspects of loan servicing. Importantly, this includes tracking the community association’s master insurance policy at the unit level. This means homeowners are likely to get letters from mortgage lenders requesting information about their association’s master policy.
Residents who don’t know where to find the association’s master policy information will call their community association manager or board members. That could mean many calls from confused and frustrated homeowners.
Associations can avoid this time-consuming scenario by providing proof of insurance at www.mycommunitycoverage.com. By providing this information just once a year, Assurant Specialty Property will automatically update participating mortgage servicer’s master policy information—eliminating the need for insurance verification letters to be sent to residents.
"Our highly sophisticated web-based technology allows us to update a community’s master policy data one time each year," says Jerry Gray, Assurant’s vice president of strategic initiatives. "Once a community’s insurance is updated, that information is posted and available for all units for an entire year. Our database has already substantially reduced the number of individual requests for proof of insurance."
The website also allows lenders to pull information for audits on any participating association. As an added benefit, associations that take advantage of this service will have the opportunity to access reports related to their associations for management and audit purposes.
"This opportunity should not be overlooked,” says CAI Chief Executive Officer Thomas M. Skiba, CAE. "One way or another, the lenders are going to need this information. Using this user-friendly website is an easy, convenient way to avoid unnecessary hassles. By logging on just once a year, managers and board members will avoid the headache of having to update insurance information for each of their residents."
Visit www.mycommunitycoverage.com.
Assurant Specialty Property is part of Assurant, a global provider of specialized insurance products and services. Assurant is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500, with approximately $27 billion in assets and $8 billion in annual revenue. Assurant has approximately 14,000 employees worldwide and is headquartered in New York’s financial district.
CAI works in partnership with 59 domestic chapters, a chapter in South Africa and housing leaders in a number of other countries. CAI provides information, education and resources to community associations and the professionals who support them. CAI’s mission is to inspire professionalism, effective leadership and responsible citizenship—ideals reflected in communities that are preferred places to call home. Visit www.caionline.org or call (888) 224-4321.