Homeowners Insurance Complaints

Citizens Insurance CEO Scott Wallace resigns

Scott Wallace , the President/CEO and Executive Director of Florida's state-run insurance organization, Citizens, announced his resignation on Friday, the organization announced Monday. 

Citizens, which was included in widespread insurance reform last year, has grown rapidly in recent years, causing many to question its financial security.

Wallace has been challenged by some lawmakers over some of Citizens' policies, including several changes that took place Jan. 1, 2012.

Sen. Mike Fasano, New Port Richey, sent a charged letter to Wallace today through the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, asking several questions about Citizens' policies. 

"I have received many complaints from policyholders that Citizens is conducting business in ways that, in some cases, are inconsistent from one homeowner to another," he wrote. His letter criticized Citizens for spending large amounts on outside legal counsel to fight sinkhole claims, applying different rules to different customers and canceling policies on struggling homeowners.

Wallace, who has been the top executive at Citizens for six years, plans to stay at the helm of the insurer until April, to help with the transition. His resignation was voluntary and his contract requires him to give 90 days notice before leaving the company. He could not be reached for comment Monday.

"Scott has led the company through a complex ramp up of the infrastructure needed for Citizens to provide the services and possess the claims payment ability that is so essential to our state's housing industry," Citizens' chairman Carlos A. Lacasa said in a statement.

Wallace did not provide a reason for resigning in his letter, available here (

Christine Ashburn, a spokesperson for Citizens, said Wallace's resignation had nothing to do with mounting criticiscm from lawmakers, or recent changes to Citizens' policies.

The 7 Worst Auto Insurance Companies in Customer Satisfaction

Every year, J.D. Power and Associates publishes rankings of car insurance companies based on customer satisfaction. They call customers in the most comprehensive survey possible, then release the results in star ratings, every year, with the rankings based on five metrics: pricing, policies available, billing, being reachable, and overall satisfaction. The best is (drumroll please) … Amica Mutual. But what about the worst insurance companies in customer satisfaction?

We started by taking the bottom seven car insurance companies from the J.D. Power survey, then looked at three other customer satisfaction metrics: complaints officially filed with the Better Business Bureau, as well as consumer posts put up on Complaints.com and P***edConsumer.com. Here’s what we found.

A short reminder: Complaints.com and P***edConsumer.com are anonymous sites, so sometimes their complaints may not reflect the full reality of the situation. Still, it can offer some interesting insights, as we found out. Here’s the list, from “least worst” to “the worst of the worst.”

J.D.