Sort Out Your Insurance Bills, One Date at a Time
A bill arrived after you cancelled, or two notices show two different dates. We read the notices side by side with you, so you can see what each date means and what to send.
What to Check on Your Bill and Notices
A bill arrived after you cancelled. Or a finance company notice shows a different date than the insurer’s. Or a payment failed after a card change, and the policy ended before you saw it.
- The bill.
- Look at it. It names who is asking for payment.
- The dates.
- Write down the date you cancelled and the date on every notice.
- The papers.
- Keep each notice and the last bill, and put your cancellation date in writing.
Send them to us with your request, and we will lay the dates side by side.
Who Is Sending You a Bill?
- Your insurance company.
- If it cancels a policy for nonpayment, the notice comes from the insurer, and state law sets how much notice it must give.
- A premium finance company.
- If you pay in installments through a premium finance agreement, the finance company advanced your premium and bills you for it, plus a service charge. Where the agreement and state law allow, it can send its own notice and ask the insurer to cancel.
- The bill itself.
- Look at it. It names who is asking for payment.
What Do the Words on My Notice Mean?
- A lapse.
- A lapse is the end of a policy because the renewal premium was not paid.
- Unearned premium.
- Unearned premium is premium you paid for coverage not yet provided.
- Return premium.
- Send us the policy and the cancellation notice, and we will read the terms back to you.
- After a lapse.
- If a policy has lapsed, tell us the date and replacement work starts from it. See Nonrenewed or Cancelled Policies.
State Facts
In Connecticut, notice before a cancellation
- For a commercial risk policy, an insurer that cancels for nonpayment must give at least ten days’ advance notice.
- For a homeowners policy, the notice is at least ten days before the effective date.
- For the motor vehicle policies the statute covers, it is at least fifteen days for the first premium on a new policy and at least ten days for any other premium.
- Connecticut law describes an insurance premium finance agreement as an agreement in which the insured promises to pay a premium finance company the amount advanced for premium, plus a service charge.
- If that agreement gives the finance company the power to cancel, the company must first mail at least ten days’ written notice of its intent. The cancellation does not go forward if the default is cured in that time.
- The company may then ask the insurer to cancel in the insured’s name.
In Connecticut, refunds
- In the Connecticut standard fire policy form, when the insurer cancels, it refunds the excess of paid premium above the pro rata premium for the expired time.
- When the insured cancels, the refund is the excess above the customary short rates for the expired time.
- When a premium finance company cancels, the insurer returns the unearned premium to the finance company, which credits the insured’s account and refunds any surplus.
Frequently Asked Questions
I cancelled and I am still being billed. What do I do?
Look at the bill, because it names who is asking for payment. Put your cancellation date in writing, keep every notice, and send them to us and we will lay the dates side by side.
Why does the finance company’s notice show a different date than the insurer’s?
Dates on notices differ. Send us every notice, and we will lay the dates side by side.
Am I owed a refund?
Send us the policy and the cancellation notice, and we will read the terms back to you. We cannot name an amount until we read it, and we cannot promise a refund. The state facts above show how one state’s standard fire policy form figures a refund.
My payment failed and the policy lapsed. Can I get covered again?
Tell us the date the policy ended. Replacement work starts from it, and we cannot promise an outcome. See Nonrenewed or Cancelled Policies.
Will I get a notice before a policy is cancelled for nonpayment?
Generally. State law sets how much notice the insurer must give, and it differs by kind of policy. The state facts above show one state’s notice periods.
Can the finance company cancel my policy?
That depends on your agreement and your state’s law. The state facts above show the steps one state requires before a finance company can ask the insurer to cancel.
How do I reach a person?
Call (203) 604-0722 or text (203) 819-7059, or email dwenz@verisrisk.net.
Put the Dates Side by Side.
Send the notices and the date your cover ended, and what comes next starts from that date.
