My senior citizen parents just got their renewal documents from Cooperators. Their home insurance doubled from $550.00 to over $1100.00 per year . As they have had no claims ,I find this outrageous .Where is the regulatory body that should be policing the insurance industry ?

The Co-operators are a joke. I just received my renewal documents and my one car which is 12 years old jumped from $860.00 a year to over $1683.00, my other car went from $1376.00 a year to $2300.00 and my house went from $612 to $656 all of this after being with them for 15 years claims free. How is this possible? It's a money grab and gouging.
I have shopped around and have found some companies that will match and beat the previous rates that I had with Co-Operators....they should be ashamed of themselves.
They are losing my business as well as that of my parents who have been with them for 40 years.

This should be against the law that they judge your rates by your credit score.
I have never made a claim on my tenant insurance and when I called the Co-Operator's for a quote because of my bankruptcy a few years ago they wanted $700 for the same coverage that I only pay $190 for with State Farm.
I've been a customer of the Co-Operator's for 30 yrs with my auto insurance and have always paid.
They did not take this into consideration at all with the quote of home insurance.
These companies make enough profit a year already without having another excuse to raise your rates.
The Co-Operators are also one of the few companies that charge a $2 a month fee for taking your payment out of the bank. When is this going to stop with insurance companies ripping us off.
I wish Ontario would follow suit of other provinces and go with insurance that is run by the province. Enough is enough, stop ripping the consumer off.

Just want to get insurance with Co-operators. I never have claims in my 40 years as home owner. I am fairly well off financially. Co-op wants me to sign this form not only authoriZe them to check every information I submitted but also allow them to 'share' all my personal information with every other associates they related to (heck, that could be every person on earth!!). I send the signed form back but crossed out the disclosure clause to others. They may not like that but there are other insurance company around the globe!! I like the Market Place program from CBC. Very informative.

fyi--co-operators insurance have doubled my home owners ins over night!! Tried to reach them--impossible--went from $54.00 per month to $108.o0 per month-- After seeing your doc on this--want Wendy to know "yes this is happening to me--a widow"- they even suggested(last break in--value-over 800) "not to claim this as it will result in added premiums"--so paid for damages and yet this happened after the fact! Thank you Wendy M--I guess it is time to fight back?
Shame on you--(readers)for believing that some ins. ags.really insure the people for their protection--Co-operators does not-just challenge me that!!!!!!!

People are missing the point... regardless of how great or bad the report was.. Your credit being used for this use without being upfront that it could be used to come up with your insurance premium calculation and they could use a document going back 10 to 15 years is quite sneaky and wrong. Further more the insurance guys very clearly had an chance to go on camera and set the record straight.. instead waited, in hiding until they could get the PR guys to spin this.

The fact of the matter is just because I may have bad credit doesn't mean I'm going to set my house on fire, not take care of basic repairs in my home etc. etc. If the insurance guys had their way, they would use the gas companies mentality of rate increase that the sky had a lower cloud base that day, or the sun was too bright on Wednesday so they had to increase rates.

To be honest, I felt based on what the CBC had to work with, the only thing they could have dug deeper on is getting someone to comment outside the insurance industry that deals with stats, look at if in-fact low credit scores really do mean you are a higher insurance risk. The insurance industry saying they have studies, like paid for by themselves, is very bias, and for any Canadian that takes what some insurance person happens to say as FACT is very gullible and naive. It needs to come from more than one independent study and sources to prove that it's fact where no money was exchanged. That I have yet to hear if it was ever done.

So far most of the comments are clearly from people who for the most part work in the insurance industry, protecting their employer and not an true insurance company client.

my oh my ... what do you call FOX news north of the border ... CBC. I hear Sarah Palin is going to be doing Marketpalce next. Better be careful what I say, CBC will twist it every which way but true.

There are some that understand the concept of credit score and some that just don't get it. Sorry but it makes sense actually that someone that is not financially responsible is likely going to reflect that in the maintenance of their home. It is important to keep in mind that if you get an increase on your renewal that perhaps it isn't to do with credit scoring, maybe it's a general increase which happens. I don't work for an insurer but I do know that none of the major insurers cashed in at all on home insurance this past year. Someone should publish those results to prove it. Claims have been quite high as of late and Co-operators among others are trying to find ways to lower the loss. Unfortunately we can't snap our fingers and make losses cheaper, pay trades people less money, and have material manufactured for less.

to Dave h and Jim

Dave, it was a joke. no insurance company (in Canada) would ever sue someone for slandering them, but its not like they don't deserve it.
CS is not about fraud, its about responsibility. CS not having anything to do with wealth is why its not about fraud, its about the guy that looks after his finances and ,statistcally, his home therefore better managing the risk. ie: statistically a person with a good CS is more likley to clean there chimmeny and have less chance of a chimmeny fire than that of a person with a low CS, Statistically.

Jim
The government DOES regulate home insurance companies, they regualte ALL insurance companies. Google minimum capital test (MCT), this will explain a lot

I was a victim of the CoOperators company several years ago, and it wasn't based on my credit rating which is triple A I have been informed. However, that is another story. When I read the letters above, I can't help but think that many of them are employees of said company.

Boy am I loving these fake comments from insurance employees. Its all CBC's fault, right Terry and Craig?

It sounds to me like the insurance industry is having some of its people slag Marketplace. Is anyone surprised?

I don't see how the CBC Marketplace response is effective. Why did you broadcast the pilots comments about the insurance industry when you knew it was misleading. Why did Ms. Mesley make the comment to the woman that if she lost her job her home insurance could go up. Credit score has nothing to do with wealth however you tried to emphasize that by picking two individuals for your 'research' who are not wealthy. Credit score is about financial responsibility. That is exactly why I did not like the piece you broadcasted. Two thumbs down. There is likely a reason why the insurance companies turned down interviews and it wasn't porbably to hide anything.

CBC, I honestly hope you get sued, and the insurance companys use that money to off set losses and lower home insurance rates.

I will never watch your station again untill you decide to air the WHOLE TRUTH in a fair and unbiased manner. Maybe if you did that the companys, inclunding the IBC, will agree to be interviewed

Your response letter is pretty funny...it's all about semantics, huh? I watched that show and was shocked and angry at the insurance company, and then I read the letter the cooperaters wrote to you which corrected your misleading story, now I'm shocked that you actually had a team of people work on a report that innaccurate. You definitely left me worried that if i lost my job, my rates would go up. Now I read that's not true. If income has no correlation to credit score and the rates are based on credit score then what's the point of your story!?!
Your weak defense is like a kid caught in a lie, you say essentially, what we really meant was...
Kind of ironic that you do a report that you claim is about fairness, and your yourself are unfair in presenting that report! But it's just a big insurance company, so there's no real victim--true, but it sure discredits any claim you have to quality journalism. You know you've done a bad job when I'm feeling sorry for the insurance company!

Bravo Marketplace!!! I am glad you blue the smoke and mirrors out of The Co-operators response to the show. To be critical of the show to say it was sensationalized and made good TV is ridculous and there are far more people being affected than they are saying. Even in their response they clouds the issues and say there are studies. Are the absolute and conclusive? Are the studies based in Canada or the US? From what I have read on the issue the studies are based more in the US and have been shown more often than not to affect lower income families and minorities. Do they really warrant a 2000 dollar increase in premiums as shown in the example shown from the Cooperators website? I would have to see it for myself to believe it. Cooperators you should be ashamed for the smoke and mirrors and you have the nerve to call yourselves Canada's champion.

Virginia Smart how about you talk to a university professor, Actuary or OSFI (the government body that regulates how much capital a insurance must have on hand to operate in Canada. Why not educate you self on the facts of how insurance works and how capital is regulated. Then you may understand why due to increased claims these tools such as credit score are being sued. Do you have a problem with a smoker paying more for life insurance? You don't have to smoke just like you don't have to live beyond your means, thus having a bad credit score.

Also the CBC has received more government bail out or funding to be operational then the whole insurance industry put together. Why imply the that like AIG a insurance bailout was given in Canada.

I think CBC should change its name to Fox news Canada, well you seem to lack a certain journalist integrity, with your one sided bias, maybe you guys will make money and not need taxpayers backing?

T

I've read both letters and I don't have the space to dissect them for everyone here (pity that, really); So I'll have to keep it general: anyone w/half a brain will see through the red herring's and strawmen in CBC's response letter. It's pretty obvious that you picked the wrong company try and humiliate and based your actions on the wrong reasons.

Go to co-operators.ca and print their letter along wit this one. Compare them. Notice CBC's silence on many of the important points brought up in the co-operators statement. Now call the CBC out on their shenanigans.

You have to be kidding me. The Co-operators letter makes complete and absolute sense and your response is completly not how the story was protrayed. The story that ran was a complete bashing of the co-operators and was totally one sided.
For Shame CBC.