Several changes have occurred within the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that will or already have impacted your Flood Insurance Policy.  These changes comply with requirements of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 (BW-12) and the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014 (HFIAA) passed by Congress in their respective years.

First, for any Pre-FIRM properties (properties built before Flood Rate Maps inception):

• Non-Primary Residential Properties and Severe Repetitive Loss Properties will see a 25% rate increase annually until the property is at full rate (per actuarial tables)
  • This is ONLY for properties that are subsidized
• All other Pre-FIRM properties will increase a minimum of 5% to a maximum of 18%
  • AE Zone – 7.9% (Primary residence)
  • V Zone – 5.9%
  • Z – 4.3%

Next, for Preferred Risk properties:

• Total rate increase of 14.9% with an annual maximum increase of 12.5%

Additionally, we were notified that the Reserve Fund Assessment fee will increase by 18%

Per the guidance, Congressionally mandated surcharges are not considered premium and therefore are not subject to premium rate cap limitations.

I expect most clients to be impacted by these changes; however, we have limited number of policies that fall into the Pre-FIRM category.  If you have any questions or want to explore the option of Private Flood Insurance in lieu of the Federal Program, please do not hesitate to reach out.

As always, we thank you for your continued patronage and look forward to continuing to serve your insurance and risk management needs.