More Insurance Claim Headaches

I'm to the point where I'm just ready to pay the entire bill out of the amount we're getting back in taxes. We're getting a huge amount this year, due mostly to the first time home buyers credit for $7500. We need a new(er) vehicle, and the credit is really just an interest free loan. Since it's interest free, it's better to buy a vehicle with that, as opposed to with a real bank loan.

I digress. I do that a lot. Back in July, we sustained roof damage. In September, it was first looked at. We were approved for just over $13000 to pay for the work that needed to be completed. We hired a contractor by mid October. With the demand in the area due to the same type of storm damage we had, the roofers were unable to do the work until the end of November.

It got completed, though, and we started dealing with the checks. Check 1 is for $800 some odd dollars. It was separate from the other checks because it covered the re-roofing of the two sheds, which are separate structures, and factored in differently. That check is written to us.

Check 2 was for just over $7500. That check was written to us, and Fifth Third bank, which held our mortgage. The week the work was completed, we were informed that Fifth Third no longer held our mortgage. We got the check re-issued, and in the mail to Wisconsin at the new bank by mid December.

It never arrived. We waited almost a month before the bank was willing to say, "Ok, it's not going to arrive, cancel the check" to the insurance company. We got reissued a check. We dropped it in the mail last week, via certified return receipt mail.

The receipt came yesterday- it was signed for and accepted. Today, it was followed with a long thick letter from the bank. We have to submit estimates for the repairs, plus the estimation for how much the insurance company was willing to pay, show both before and after pictures, and submit to a home inspection- which we have to cover the cost of.

During all of this, they will release the check in 4 separate installments, the last of which they won't do until they've been satisfied that the work was completed. The letter makes it sound like we may have to pay for multiple home inspections, out of pocket.

During all of this, they've been in contact with our insurance company, and gotten copies of the before and after photographs (which the insurance company took, not us), and saw copies of the work estimates.

Now, aside from the crap the bank is giving us, we still have not received the last check to cover the rest of the work. The insurance agent has submitted it to the adjuster, but the adjuster has not approved it yet. It's been 2 months since the work was done, and no payments have been made to the contractors.

We were told to pay them all at once, when the checks were all taken care of. At this rate, we'll be paying them out of pocket if we have enough, and using the insurance money next December for car repairs.

-sigh- I'm frustrated with this whole process.