Finally, a light at the end of the tunnel......

I've been talking about our house insurance on and off since last September, when we discovered a lot of missing shingles on the house following a nasty wind & hail storm. In September, the insurance agent looked it over, and ordered an adjuster to come on out. In October, the adjuster approved several projects, to be paid in full minus a $250 deductible. The total amount was for over $13,000.

At the same time, we hired one of the contractors that we had talked with- he wasn't the cheapest, but he was the one I felt most comfortable with, and since it was going to be done while I was home, we figured my comfort was best- and either way, it came in at under the estimate that our insurance was willing to cover.

When the first checks were sent, they were made out to us and our bank because we hadn't hired anyone yet. I wasn't sure how it all worked, so I had waited. We held onto both of those checks until the work was done. They were not able to start until the week of Thanksgiving.

The same week they started, we got a letter from our mortgage bank telling us that they sold our mortgage. The letter stated they would hold the mortgage through all of November, but the new bank would hold it as of December 1st. I called the insurance agent, and he suggested dealing with the first bank since it was still held by them, and it's here in town.

No such luck- despite what the letter stated, they sold the mortgage on November 5th, and had nothing more to do with it. We waited for information from the new bank, and the job was finished over the weekend after Thanksgiving. The insurance agency sent us a new check a week later made out to us and the new bank.

We didn't hear back from the bank until almost the end of December (that was the FIRST time they'd contacted us- 3 weeks past when a payment was due, I might add, but they did forgive all fees, so it wasn't an issue). They told us to send the check to them (in Wisconsin), so that's what we did.

It never arrived with them. Finally, early January, we start getting calls from the roofers wanting their money. We talked with the insurance agency, because at the same time, we'd never received the final payments for the job, either, which was due to the adjuster not approving the work yet (he did eventually, he just took his sweet *** time doing it).

We got a reissue of the missing check, and had to send it certified with return receipt. This time, they got it, but threw us for another loop. Instead of sending it back to us to cash, we were sent lots of paperwork, telling us we had to go through inspections, had to have the information from the roofer, permit numbers, license numbers, insurance info for the roofers- SO MUCH STUFF! In fact, 14 PAGES of stuff to fill out and send back.

Last week, we also received 2 checks from the insurance agency made out to us and the contractor, which covered just under 1/2 of the total fee- these were the last checks we needed from the adjuster.

Friday, I took Nick into work, ran down the road to the contractor and gave him all the paperwork to fill out, plus the two checks, before running around all crazy like over the state that day. I picked it back up that evening, got everything needed, and then yesterday, got it all faxed out. 14 pages. 15, actually, with the cover page. And, it was long distance, so it was $1.75 per sheet! Over $25 to send a fax!

So far, we've spent over $30 just SENDING this new bank the information, and it's driving me NUTS. Nick got an email this morning, though, telling us that they have ALL the information, that they're ordering their own inspection today, which will be completed in 5-7 days time. That's at a $35 cost to us. So, yeah, almost $70 just dealing with the bank on this.

But... they are doing the payments the right way. The check they have is for more than the cost of the roof work, by over $1300. Because of the way the house was damaged, it was classified as catastrophic damage. Normal damage would be- hey, a baseball broke a window, or an old tree fell on the roof. Catastrophic damage is when a natural problem happens, and it damages a very large area. In this instance, at -least- 10 houses on our street alone had to replace their roofs due to the same storm.

With such large damage, they classified it catastrophic. Anyway, what that means to us, is that they approve the full claim to be paid, not just the actual damages. The adjuster said it would cost over $13000 to fix. We were able to get the roof done for just barely over $11,000, and we did some work ourselves for free, and took the screens and storm window in and got them done at the hardware shop for only $125.

All in all, by not hiring a second person to do the windows and screens here, we wound up getting money back from the insurance agent.

So, back to the "doing the payments the right way" part. We figured they'd wind up sending out the full check made out to us and the contractor, because that's what the bank had told us a few weeks ago. On the paperwork, though, they saw that we don't owe the full amount back to the contractor.

We figured we'd have to have the contractor cash the check, wait till it clears, then send us the extra. Instead, the bank noted what we still owe, and is cutting a check to us & the contractor for $6,122.19, and are sending us all the remaining money on a 2nd check written out just to us. After the $35 inspection fee is removed from the money left over, we'll wind up getting a check for $1,363.51.

The $250 deductible was removed before we were cut any checks. Out of pocket, we have paid $125 in repairs, and just under $70 in fees to get stuff to the bank. But, we wound up with a check for $832.99 which was made out to just us a few months ago (just deposited it Friday), and the check for $1,363.51.

Frankly, I'm SO glad to get the contractors paid off, and get the whole thing dealt with. The extra money is nice, though.