How Safe Is Your Insurance Company

Do you ever wonder whether or not your insurance company actually has the assets to pay when you need to file a claim? Or what if you don't need them for 10 or 20 years, will they still be around? Wouldn't it be a good idea if you could check out a company's financial strength before you gave them your money? Or what about their customer service ratings? Maybe they have the financial wherewithall, but just don't provide good service to their clients.

I highly recommend checking out a couple of web sites before you write that check.

Evaluate Your Insurer's Financial Strength with TheStreet.com Ratings.
Every time an insurance company is declared insolvent, thousands of policyholders suddenly find themselves with some very serious problems. In addition to the loss of their premium dollars, they are forced to purchase replacement coverage from other carriers, often at higher rates. If savings are held by the insurer or scheduled pay outs are in process at the time of failure, those funds can be frozen and the guaranteed payments called into question.
That's why it is so important to periodically monitor the financial condition of each company with whom you have an insurance relationship. TheStreet.com product line is designed to help you in your evaluation.
TheStreet.com Ratings tracks the financial strength of approximately 4,300 U.S. property/casualty, life, annuity, and health insurance companies each and every quarter. We then issue TheStreet.com Financial Strength Ratings based on our analysts' review of publicly available information collected by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and supplemented by data we collect directly from the companies themselves. TheStreet.com does not accept compensation from the companies it rates for issuing the ratings and does not allow companies to influence the ratings they receive or to suppress the release of their ratings.
In 2009, TheStreet.com Ratings was recognized by a leading consumer publication as "the toughest grader with independent and objective ratings" and as the only rating agency that doesn't accept payment from any of the companies it rates. So, whether you are considering life, annuity, health, auto, homeowners, business or professional liability insurance, the TheStreet.com Financial Strength Ratings can help you.
Go to the following web site and check out your company's financial strength: http://www.thestreet.com/insurers/index.html

There is another site that will tell you what customers think about a company's quality of customer service. It is: http://insurance.freeadvice.com/reviews/index.htm

The next web site is from consumer reports and lists the strongest Long Term Care Insurance carriers.
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/money/insurance/longterm-care-insurance-1103/ratings/index.htm