S
susanlcalhoun
Guest
Please review and advise.
October 3, 2000
Bill White Clackamas Federal Credit Union
State Farm Insurance CFCU Manager
When I called State Farm, on the 21st to report that I had the accident they told me that I was not insured due to lack of payment of premiums. According to State Farm I have not been covered since June 1999.
I called the individual whose truck I hit and he and his wife have agreed that there is no damage to the car or to the man driving and that they would not be filing an accident report or contacting their insurance company. The couple confirmed this position several days later.
When I established my account with State Farm Insurance, I authorized payments to be automatically deducted from my checking account. For several years I received and read the statements that indicated “this is not a bill.” After a few years I stopped reading the statements because they were always the same. I had no reason to suspect that I was not covered--that the payments had not been made--because I set up my checking account along with a savings account so I would have overdraft coverage to ensure that payments, as critical as car insurance, were paid on time.
Apparently, in June of 1999 an automatic payment was rejected by CFCU and State Farm cancelled my insurance. There is nothing on my bank statement indicating that the authori-zation was rejected nor did I receive a statement from the bank that the automatic payment had been rejected.
According to State Farm two notices were sent to my home telling me that the insurance had been cancelled due to non-payment. I did not receive the notices. If I had received the notices, I would have responded immediately. I have thoroughly searched every file and sorted through every State Farm statement that I have, looking for notices that I had not opened. I found no cancellation notice(s). I might file a notice without paying attention to the contents, but I would not throw one away.
After researching my checking account statement it appears that on the 12th of June I had $59.65 in my checking account. The 12th of June 1999 was a Saturday. Rachel at the Milwaukie CFCU office told me that the automatic payment would not be accepted on Saturday because it would be rejected by the Federal Reserve.
State Farm has provided me evidence that CFCU refused the automatic payment on the 14th,
that they received notice on the 14th that the automatic payment was rejected. According to my bank statement there was still $59.65 in my checking account on the 12th and on the 14th. On the 15th of June two checks were paid even though there was a not enough in my checking account to pay them, because I had $100.00 in my savings account to ensure overdraft coverage. Because the savings balance was down to $100.00 I was charged a $12.00 NSF fee. The $100.00 was not used because I had to retain a balance of $100.00 in my savings account in order to qualify for overdraft coverage.
The bank (Rachel) is now telling me now that an automatic payment from the insurance company does not qualify for overdraft coverage. She explained that it is an arrangement I made with the insurance company and not with the bank, and therefore they are not liable for the draft on my account within the same overdraft coverage agreement. This is a total surprise. Both are drafts on the bank authorized by me, and therefore I believed they would both be covered by the same agreement--my overdraft coverage agreement made by maintaining a $100.00 minimum balance in my savings account. How would I know otherwise?
When I established my checking account with Clackamas Federal Credit Union, I established a savings account because I was told I would have check protection--that checks would not be returned due to insufficient funds. One of the reasons I established my accounts with the credit union was that I understood the credit union was more customer friendly than banks are these days and would call me if had an insurance payment authorization that could not be covered. I believed that I had created a fail safe system of ensuring payments would be made and/or if they weren’t I would be informed.
No State Farm agent called me to tell me I had been cancelled. When I mentioned this to Claudia at the agent’s office she said that the notices come from Salem and not from their office. This implies that the agent is not notified when one of their clients is cancelled. I believe that is untrue. I am certain that Salem sends a statement to the agent at the same time they send a statement to me that I have been cancelled.
Yesterday, October 2, 2000, I talked to Rachel at CFCU. She noticed that I have a loan with CFCU, which uses my automobile as collateral. She looked through my file and did not find a notice from State Farm that I had been cancelled. She said that when a car is used as collateral the bank contacts the insurance company that they need to be notified if the car is not insured.
Rachel asked me yesterday what I wanted the bank to do. After some consideration I have concluded that I want the bank to acknowledge that they should have covered the insurance payment on the 14th of June 1999 based on the balance in my account before processing any other payments, since it was received by the bank on the 12th and because I have an overdraft agreement by maintaining a minimum balance in my checking account. And based on this admission, I want State Farm to consider the mitigating circumstances and reinstate me.
I did not knowingly or purposely drive my car without insurance and do not think that I should be penalized in the same manner that someone who had willfully driven without insurance would be.
Best regards,
Susan L. Calhoun
If State Farm is unwilling to underwrite an automobile insurance policy for me at the rate I was paying before this incident occurred. I will contact a lawyer.
[This message has been edited by susanlcalhoun (edited October 04, 2000).]
October 3, 2000
Bill White Clackamas Federal Credit Union
State Farm Insurance CFCU Manager
When I called State Farm, on the 21st to report that I had the accident they told me that I was not insured due to lack of payment of premiums. According to State Farm I have not been covered since June 1999.
I called the individual whose truck I hit and he and his wife have agreed that there is no damage to the car or to the man driving and that they would not be filing an accident report or contacting their insurance company. The couple confirmed this position several days later.
When I established my account with State Farm Insurance, I authorized payments to be automatically deducted from my checking account. For several years I received and read the statements that indicated “this is not a bill.” After a few years I stopped reading the statements because they were always the same. I had no reason to suspect that I was not covered--that the payments had not been made--because I set up my checking account along with a savings account so I would have overdraft coverage to ensure that payments, as critical as car insurance, were paid on time.
Apparently, in June of 1999 an automatic payment was rejected by CFCU and State Farm cancelled my insurance. There is nothing on my bank statement indicating that the authori-zation was rejected nor did I receive a statement from the bank that the automatic payment had been rejected.
According to State Farm two notices were sent to my home telling me that the insurance had been cancelled due to non-payment. I did not receive the notices. If I had received the notices, I would have responded immediately. I have thoroughly searched every file and sorted through every State Farm statement that I have, looking for notices that I had not opened. I found no cancellation notice(s). I might file a notice without paying attention to the contents, but I would not throw one away.
After researching my checking account statement it appears that on the 12th of June I had $59.65 in my checking account. The 12th of June 1999 was a Saturday. Rachel at the Milwaukie CFCU office told me that the automatic payment would not be accepted on Saturday because it would be rejected by the Federal Reserve.
State Farm has provided me evidence that CFCU refused the automatic payment on the 14th,
that they received notice on the 14th that the automatic payment was rejected. According to my bank statement there was still $59.65 in my checking account on the 12th and on the 14th. On the 15th of June two checks were paid even though there was a not enough in my checking account to pay them, because I had $100.00 in my savings account to ensure overdraft coverage. Because the savings balance was down to $100.00 I was charged a $12.00 NSF fee. The $100.00 was not used because I had to retain a balance of $100.00 in my savings account in order to qualify for overdraft coverage.
The bank (Rachel) is now telling me now that an automatic payment from the insurance company does not qualify for overdraft coverage. She explained that it is an arrangement I made with the insurance company and not with the bank, and therefore they are not liable for the draft on my account within the same overdraft coverage agreement. This is a total surprise. Both are drafts on the bank authorized by me, and therefore I believed they would both be covered by the same agreement--my overdraft coverage agreement made by maintaining a $100.00 minimum balance in my savings account. How would I know otherwise?
When I established my checking account with Clackamas Federal Credit Union, I established a savings account because I was told I would have check protection--that checks would not be returned due to insufficient funds. One of the reasons I established my accounts with the credit union was that I understood the credit union was more customer friendly than banks are these days and would call me if had an insurance payment authorization that could not be covered. I believed that I had created a fail safe system of ensuring payments would be made and/or if they weren’t I would be informed.
No State Farm agent called me to tell me I had been cancelled. When I mentioned this to Claudia at the agent’s office she said that the notices come from Salem and not from their office. This implies that the agent is not notified when one of their clients is cancelled. I believe that is untrue. I am certain that Salem sends a statement to the agent at the same time they send a statement to me that I have been cancelled.
Yesterday, October 2, 2000, I talked to Rachel at CFCU. She noticed that I have a loan with CFCU, which uses my automobile as collateral. She looked through my file and did not find a notice from State Farm that I had been cancelled. She said that when a car is used as collateral the bank contacts the insurance company that they need to be notified if the car is not insured.
Rachel asked me yesterday what I wanted the bank to do. After some consideration I have concluded that I want the bank to acknowledge that they should have covered the insurance payment on the 14th of June 1999 based on the balance in my account before processing any other payments, since it was received by the bank on the 12th and because I have an overdraft agreement by maintaining a minimum balance in my checking account. And based on this admission, I want State Farm to consider the mitigating circumstances and reinstate me.
I did not knowingly or purposely drive my car without insurance and do not think that I should be penalized in the same manner that someone who had willfully driven without insurance would be.
Best regards,
Susan L. Calhoun
If State Farm is unwilling to underwrite an automobile insurance policy for me at the rate I was paying before this incident occurred. I will contact a lawyer.
[This message has been edited by susanlcalhoun (edited October 04, 2000).]
Pardon me, but I am not sure I would have posted all the information that youdid onthat question Ma'am. Unfortunately there are alot of criminally minded people inthis world that access the internet and now have your SS#, your home address, your name and most of all your phone number. Sorry to say this and not meaning to be vicious but that was really kinda stupid.