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August 8th, 2022 | 3 min read
By Chris Greene
Flood insurance — just like any insurance policy — is bound to have a lot of documents attaached to it. It's important to know the purpose of these. In this article, we want to talk about federal flood insurance and what the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) acknowledgment form is.
Communities across the whole United States have been getting a lot of changes when it comes to flood insurance on the federal side. This flood insurance is managed by FEMA and its most popular carrier, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
Since April 2022, the whole NFIP system has been moved to follow the Risk Rating 2.0 which changed a lot of things when it comes to flood insurance especially when it comes to premium rates. There are good, bad, and ugly changes with this update however some things simply don't change.
Just, for example, the definition of flood still stays the same when it comes to flood insurance. If two parcels of land or two properties are impacted by water then this is the only time it will be considered a flood event.
Another thing that didn't change is how both FEMA and community officials still require flood insurance for properties or sometimes even communities that are in a high-risk flood zone like flood zone A or flood zone AE.
So, if you're thinking of going through FEMA, this information is good to know. Don't worry, we have covered a lot of topics when it comes to FEMA and its changes on our website.
When purchasing flood insurance, it's basically tradition at this point that you receive an acknowledgment form of your policy. However, one question that policyholders usually first think of is if this is legit.
Yes, this acknowledgment form is legit and it serves as some proof that you have received a copy of your flood insurance policy. The thing about FEMA is that they don't just have the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to help them support this new "equity in action" objective they have.
What we mean by this is that due to FEMA being partnered with NFIP as well as Write-Your-Own flood insurance carriers, you may be able to see a different name that's not FEMA as your insurance provider. If you need to know more about Write-Your-Own (WYO) carriers, click here to go to our blog post on this topic.
Now, you might be wondering how you would be able to determine if the acknowledgment form is legit and valid. Well, here are something that you should be able to see with that acknowledgment form.
This page — sometimes referred to as simply "dec page" — will tell you relevant information about the flood policy. The declarations page should include the name of the intended insured (usually the property owners' name), the property address being insured, the flood insurance carrier, and coverages.
Before we move forward, it's important to reiterate that the flood insurance carrier isn't always the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as the Write-Your-Own (WYO) carrier's name might be your insurance provider. The declarations page with your acknowledgment form should be able to inform and show you this information.
When it comes to coverage, on the other hand, we need to remember that when doing a flood policy with FEMA, there are some coverage terms and limits you need to know. This includes the $250,000 coverage limit for residential properties and this will only go higher if you're doing a commercial policy with a $500,000 building coverage limit. Regardless of the property type, only a $100,000 coverage limit will be provided for content coverage.
But what else should you expect when receiving an acknowledgment form in your mail?
Another item that you might be able to see whenever FEMA is sending you this form is the list of the flood losses that the insured property has. Now, this is important as this may also serve as an explanation for your rates considering the claims variable that Risk Rating 2.0 has.
This list helps determine what claims variable the property is in and also helps you understand the potential flood risk you might face due to the property's flood history.
Lastly, you should be able to receive what's called the NFIP Handbook.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has a lot of terms and conditions when it comes to flood insurance. This also covers your coverages and aims to help you understand how flooding and flood insurance works.
So these are the things you should expect to receive when you're getting that acknowledgment form from FEMA. Flood insurance can be complicated at times and we want to help you avoid all of this hassle. If you have questions on flood insurance, go to our Flood Learning Center where we try to answer all of your flood insurance questions.
Ready to solve your flood insurance problems? Here are the steps you can take:
We want to help simplify flood insurance for you so that you can find more time in enjoying life's beauty.
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