A report last week from the Association of British Insurers reveals that the industry detected 33,000 fraudulent motor insurance claims last year, compared with 28,000 in the previous year. With bogus claims leading to car insurance premiums soaring at a record rate, insurance expert John Hooper gives [...]]]> (PRWeb UK) July 27, 2010

A report last week from the Association of British Insurers reveals that the industry detected 33,000 fraudulent motor insurance claims last year, compared with 28,000 in the previous year. With bogus claims leading to car insurance premiums soaring at a record rate, insurance expert John Hooper gives the low down on how good drivers can secure vastly lower premiums by agreeing to credit check scoring.

Fraudsters out on the road prey on good drivers who are insured. Scams such as slamming on the brakes suddenly at roundabouts or traffic lights lead to an insurance claim from the innocent driver behind who pays the fraudster for exaggerated whiplash injuries and repairs. This, along with other drivers inflated claims after genuine accidents, is forcing insurance companies to increase their premiums to cover costs.

A report from the AA earlier this week showed that the average comprehensive policy now costs 30% more than last year. There was a rise from

Related Blogs

Real estate industry executives from across the country will meet in Austin for the 2nd annual invitation-only Ignite 2011 Real Estate Summit, hosted by QuantumDigital, Inc, the turnkey provider for measurable direct mail, on-demand digital printing and email marketing. The summit, to be held January 20 and [...]]]> Austin, TX (PRWEB) December 1, 2010

Real estate industry executives from across the country will meet in Austin for the 2nd annual invitation-only Ignite 2011 Real Estate Summit, hosted by QuantumDigital, Inc, the turnkey provider for measurable direct mail, on-demand digital printing and email marketing. The summit, to be held January 20 and 21 at QuantumDigital, will feature twenty real estate industry and marketing technology speakers from around the nation to discuss key issues affecting the real estate industry and marketplace today.

Real estate firm executives may submit a request for an invitation at http://ignite-re.com.

Designed exclusively for executive-level leaders of national real estate firms, the Ignite 2011 Real Estate Summit is an opportunity for those invited to learn how their peers are communicating value propositions in the marketplace and what theyre doing to make their direct marketing campaigns perform better and deliver stronger ROI. The two-day summit will provide relevant knowledge regarding new technologies, trends, recruiting best practices, leadership, and ways to arm real estate professionals with relevant marketplace information that can help turn ideas and strategies into effective programs that they will use. Attendees will take away valuable information that can help streamline internal production processes and ultimately generate more business for all parties involved.

The success of this event is its ability to bring together the most successful real estate leaders for an information sharing discussion to determine how to set themselves up for success in this ever changing real estate industry, said Debbie Gurley, Vice President of Real Estate Sales, QuantumDigital. By request, we have made this event open only to decision making executives such that the dialogues can be intimate, peer-to-peer level, open, and constructive, as seen from a macro level.

Topics to be discussed at the summit include lessons learned from 2010 in preparation for 2011, leadership, recruiting, strategies for building a successful brokerage, how to measure marketing ROI, automation of warm lead generation, and new developments in information technology. Attendees will have the opportunity to network with industry experts and leaders from organizations such as Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, Weichert, Prudential Gary Greene, Windermere Real Estate, Long Realty and many others to hear how they’re utilizing the latest technologies, marketing automation programs, and leadership techniques to increase productivity and pull ahead of the competition.

The invitation-only summit offers a unique opportunity for organizations to sponsor this gathering of prestigious real estate executives from across the nation. There are multiple ways to show support of the industry through this event and interested parties can contact Debbie Gurley at 512.617.2325 or deb@quantumdigital.com for further sponsorship information.

About QuantumDigital

QuantumDigital, Inc. is the turnkey provider for measurable direct mail, on-demand printing and email marketing, specializing in developing data-driven integrated direct marketing programs. By leveraging the latest technologies, QuantumDigital is able to offer real estate professionals, small businesses and enterprise-level organizations a more targeted, measurable and integrated approach to direct response marketing and lead generation. Founded in 1986, QuantumDigital is based in Austin, Texas. Visit QuantumDigital at quantumdigital.com or follow on Twitter @RealEstateQD.

###

Related Blogs

According to the government of Ontario, the new Auto Insurance Anti-Fraud Task Force will be investigating the cost of auto insurance fraud, its geographic distribution, the best prevention practices in other jurisdictions and a host of other factors that will aid in the development of recommendations aimed at minimizing [...]]]> (PRWEB) August 09, 2011

According to the government of Ontario, the new Auto Insurance Anti-Fraud Task Force will be investigating the cost of auto insurance fraud, its geographic distribution, the best prevention practices in other jurisdictions and a host of other factors that will aid in the development of recommendations aimed at minimizing the level of auto insurance fraud in Ontario via preventative methods and detection programs. If fraudulent claims go down, eventually insurance rates should also start to decrease accordingly. Because a lower insurance rate is something that all consumers have an interest in pursuing, InsuranceHotline.com focuses on this objective.

Currently, the Ontario government estimates that this form of fraud is a billion dollar business in the province. Auto insurance fraud is typically categorized as either opportunistic or premeditated fraud. Some of the most common types of auto insurance fraud include:

Padding legitimate claims
Lying about the way a loss occurred
Staged collisions (for damages and/or injuries)
Including pre-existing damage when submitting a claim
Withholding information (accidents, driving convictions, claims, cancellations, medical history, etc.)
Claiming for treatments not received or delivered

Anyone caught carrying out insurance fraud will face consequences which can vary based on the type and the severity of the fraudulence. Some examples of the penalties of getting caught or of attempting to commit auto insurance fraud include:

Denial of the claim
Cancellation of the insurance policy
Potential of higher premiums in the future
Denial of coverage in the future
Imprisonment (Upon conviction, cases involving over $ 5,000 have a maximum sentence of 10 years and those under $ 5,000 have a maximum sentence of 2 years)

While its unlikely that forgetting to mention a minor traffic violation when signing up with a new insurance provider will result in the cancellation of your policy, it is important for consumers to be mindful of types of fraud and the potential consequences because insurance fraud is a serious matter, says Tammy Ezer of InsuranceHotline.com. We all pay for insurance fraud in the form of higher premiums so its in everyones best interest to be aware and to be honest when providing information for insurance quoting or claiming.

Everyone can play an important role in fighting auto insurance fraud. Some of the best ways to combat this type of fraud include:

Knowing the details of any policy as it includes details about coverage, rights and responsibilities
Reporting all accidents and losses
Checking the details of any insurance application or any claims forms to ensure accuracy
Denying requests to sign blank insurance claims form
Demanding details regarding repairs and medical treatments and reviewing them for accuracy
Keeping detailed records of any accidents (name, address, phone number, license plate and insurance information of all parties involved)

Insurance rates are impacted by fraudulent claims and each companys experience in this area will differ. It is important for consumers to check for potential savings annually whenever their policy is up for renewal. The company that had the best rate for a consumer’s car and driving profile last year may not be the one that can offer the best rate today or even next year. Consumers should shop around to see if they could be saving money on their car insurance.

About InsuranceHotline.com

InsuranceHotline.com is a free online insurance rate comparison service that directs consumers to its large network of more than 30 insurance companies and licensed insurance professionals and provides quotes based on the lowest rates available through its network. In business since 1994, InsuranceHotline.com does not sell insurance, is not a licensed broker, and is not owned in whole or in part by an insurance company, agent or brokerage; ensuring consumers get a truly unbiased quote.

###

Related Blogs

Nearly 13 million U.S. Facebook users do not use, or are not aware of the sites privacy controls, according to a new Consumer Reports investigation on Facebook and privacy, potentially exposing personal information beyond their network of Facebook friends. The report also revealed that a projected 4.8 [...]]]> Yonkers, NY (PRWEB) May 03, 2012

Nearly 13 million U.S. Facebook users do not use, or are not aware of the sites privacy controls, according to a new Consumer Reports investigation on Facebook and privacy, potentially exposing personal information beyond their network of Facebook friends. The report also revealed that a projected 4.8 million people have posted about where they planned to go on a certain day, a potential tip-off to burglars, while 4.7 million have liked a Facebook page about health conditions or treatments, details that insurers might use against them.

The full report can be found in the June 2012 issue of Consumer Reports and online at ConsumerReports.org

The Consumer Reports investigation focused on Facebook as it is the largest social network with just over 900 million users worldwide and more than 150 million users in the U.S. The service makes it easy for people to keep up with friends, family and colleagues, discover great content, and connect to causes. Consumer Reports notes that to deliver this service, Facebook and other social networks collect enormous amounts of often highly sensitive information and distribute it widely and quickly.

Consumer Reports points out that all of this data collection is not without risks. A projected seven million households using Facebook said they had trouble last year, ranging from someone using their log-in without permission to being harassed or threatened up 30 percent from the previous year, according to the Consumer Reports Annual State of the Net survey. And unless an individual has chosen their privacy settings meticulously, one of their friends who runs an app could grant it access to their information without their knowledge, including information that was set to friends only view. Only 37 percent of users say they have used the sites privacy tools to customize how much information apps are allowed to see, according to the Consumer Reports survey.

Facebook really is changing the way the world socially communicates and has become a successful service in part by leveraging copious amounts of personal data that can be spread far wider than its users might realize, said Jeff Fox, Consumer Reports Technology Editor. Our investigation revealed some fascinating, and some disquieting trends but ones always worth knowing for consumers who wish to keep their personal data under better control.

What does Facebook know?

Americans feed all kinds of personal details into Facebooks vast database by posting status updates on their wall, updating their profile, liking a page, or using other Facebook features. The numbers below show how many people engaged in each activity during the past 12 months, based on projections from the Consumer Reports State of the Net survey:

Related Blogs

Gillin, Jacobson, Ellis & Larsen (GJEL Accident Attorneys) Managing Partner Andy Gillin was recently invited by Avvo, a free, comprehensive legal website for consumers and lawyers, to host a live webinar Car Accident 101 to offer legal insight to drivers and passengers involved in vehicular accidents.

Prudential Retirement, a business unit of Prudential Financial, Inc. announced today that United Way of Central Maryland has selected Prudentials Portfolio Protected Buy-Out to support the termination of its defined benefit retirement plan.

The Portfolio Protected Buy-Out combines the strength of Prudentials guarantee with a separate [...]]]> Newark, NJ (PRWEB) December 1, 2010

Prudential Retirement, a business unit of Prudential Financial, Inc. announced today that United Way of Central Maryland has selected Prudentials Portfolio Protected Buy-Out to support the termination of its defined benefit retirement plan.

The Portfolio Protected Buy-Out combines the strength of Prudentials guarantee with a separate account portfolio which provides additional security to covered individuals. The Portfolio Protected Buy-Out is designed to:

Related Blogs