QuestionMy husband has given permission to some of his family members to have their insurance paperwork come to my house as if they live here. They never have and never will. I have told him that it wasn't right and illegal and he in turned totally dismissed me as overreacting. He then continued by telling me that the real danger was for them if they ever have to file for a claim because they will be unable to prove that they live here. Here is my dilemma, I have GEICO and so do they. If I report them will I in turn be dropped off or worst implicated as taking part in fraud. I say that because it's my house...not my husband's... he's not on the title. If they get caught are there any chances that I could get caught up in this? I want to report them but don't know where to get that done so they can be stopped legally. If I report them to GEICO I'm afraid they're just going to move on to the next insurance company still using my address. I know that because before they did this, they were using addresses in Florida, Pennsylvania and most recently North Carolina. More importantly I
need to know how to protect myself because I imagine that if they ever were in an accident I might be liable somehow or there may be a lien on my house or something of that nature. I'm not trying to be spiteful, however I have worked hard to purchase my home and have very little left to pay on it(may be 1 or 2 years), I refuse to allow anyone to mess this up because they're too greedy to pay the insurance companies what they should...the reality is they can afford it but choose not to for as long as they can get away with it and not have to make any sacrifices. I'm currently unemployed and cannot afford a lawyer so any advice would be greatly appreciated.
P.S. I choose to keep this private because if my husband were to see this one day I'm pretty sure he'd recognize that I'm talking about him and could turn violent.
Thanks,
Ash
Answer Hello Ash,
I sympathize with your position. Let me straighten out a few things for you.
First, your husband's family is involved in misrepresentation, which means "lying". If they were ever to file a claim,more than likely the claim would be denied. As for whether or not that is insurance fraud, well, yes it is in most states. However, since the insurance company would never pay the claim, that would probably be the end of it. Unless, the claim itself was fraudulent!
This could have a direct impact on your policy with GEICO or any other insurance company. It is possible, depending on the laws in your state, they could choose to not renew your policy or even cancel it if your inlaws file a claim and GEICO finds out that you, in essence, have lied about how many people reside in your house. Bottom line in their mind - you lied.
This is a dangerous situation at best. In my experience, I have found that many people who are willing to lie about where they live do so for unlawful reasons. Either they are doing so because they are looking for cheaper rates in one state or another, or because they plan to commit additional insurance fraud. In either case, the actions are unlawful. I cannot say this is the case in all circumstances, but it certainly should be a consideration for the insurance company in the course of any claims investigation. And understand as well that the insurance underwriting process can also catch the issues relating to their false addresses. Insurance companies share claims information with each other. Beware.
As for you committing fraud, the insurance company would have to prove that you are involved in the fraud. Technically, you are, but in the current situation, probably your greatest danger is having your policy cancelled. If, on the other hand, you were lying for them and they were filing fraudulent claims, this could get you involved. At the very least your policy could be cancelled, and at the very worst - depending on the scale of fraud involved - you could be prosecuted.
Bottom line - allowing them to use your address for their insurance purposes is a very bad idea, and it could get you in trouble.
As for liability, I don't see how you could be held responsible if they were actually liable in a legitimate accident. What would probably happen is that the insurance company would find out that they lied about their address, and the claim would be denied. They would end up with nothing. I don't see how you could be drawn in to a lawsuit. But, I'm not an attorney.
I really don't see any liability problems. What I do see, however,is all kinds of potential permanent insurance problems for you if you continue to allow them to fraudulently use your address - for whatever reason.
Hope this helps.
Jane Pytel
http://SolutionsForYourInsuranceClaim.com
