It's called the WYO program through FEMA.
I live in Florida. I wrote HUNDREDS of Flood Insurance Policies. I went to DOZENS of seminars put on by the Federal Government through FEMA and the NFIP.
Flood Insurance is -- Guess what Flood Insurance is genius..... It's (are you sitting down?)
It's "Insurance"
Insurance can ONLY be sold by (are you sitting down again?) Insurance Agents. LICENSED Insurance Agents.
When I started in the business, Florida's requirements were 240 CLASSROOM hours of study and a day-long test that rattle the brains of the people that took it... Including people with Law Degrees and CPAs.
And that only licensed you for Property and Casualty and Health. Life Insurance was another 40 Classroom Hours. Annuities were another 40. I also had a Series 6, NASD License.... Another 40 hours.
So, if you wanted to buy Flood Insurance, guess where you had to look to buy it?
Think HARD now.... Okay? Give up. That's what I thought.
You have to find an INSURANCE AGENT!!!!
And Insurance Agents can only sell Insurance if their Licensed through (Here's a tough one)......
An INSURANCE COMPANY!!!
Since the idea of the NFIP is to get people who need Flood Insurance actually Insured, they have to sell it through (Don't hurt your brain) ??
And an OBTW..... You wouldn't know this, but if you plan to buy a house and it's in a Flood Zone A (or X or whatever the Corps of Engineers decides is a Flood threat at that time) the Federal Government REQUIRES your Bank to REQUIRE YOU TO BUY FLOOD INSURANCE.
Banks also require you to buy a Homeowners Policy. They're funny like that.
So, since the Federal Government couldn't possibly ask their people to go through the trouble of getting licensed (States License Insurance Agents, nobody else) mostly because the vast majority of them could never pass the test and partly because many of the people that NEED Flood Insurance are dozens, sometimes HUNDREDS of miles from the nearest federal agency......
NFIP and FEMA made a deal with Private Carriers like State Farm, Allstate, Travelers and many other Companies to write FEDERAL FLOOD INSURANCE FOR THEM.
The rules, the costs, the claims, the -- everything, is all the same. No matter where you go, no matter which Insurance Company writes it, it's all the same because -- IT'S ALL THROUGH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
Private Companies write it simply as a convenience for the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
Initially, people were getting confused and started asking, "I thought I bought this policy from you at State Farm (or Allstate) why does it say 'National Flood Insurance Program' at the top? Did you cancel me? Whats going on?"
So because people are stupid (they are, trust me -- Just like you) the NFIP started the WYO (Write Your Own) program to stop the confusion because we didn't ant to go through the same shit I'm going through with you every ******* time I wrote a ******* Flood Policy.... Which was often. .
But nothing has changed. Your policy might say "Travelers' or "Allstate'' at the top of the page, but it's through the Federal Government.
Whether you choose to believe that is unimportant to me. If you want to stay stupid, that's on you.
But I'm telling you, Flood Insurance is written through, controlled, by, pricing is controlled by, rules are written by, claims are payed by -- The Government of the United States -- FEMA.
Private carriers only do the writing and billing. Nothing else.
Except claims sometimes.
Your bigger Companies like State Farm and Allstate (down here) will do their own adjusting for the Federal Government.
But here's the thing........ If there is a substantial loss on a Dwelling, there is NO reason for a State Farm adjuster to deny Flood Coverage. None.
If they do, then the it has to be covered by State Farm. If a Flood didn't take down the dwelling, then wind did and The Farm is on the hook for that.
But most of your smaller Companies (which is who we're talking about up North_ use FEMA Adjusters.
Trust me on this. I was going to be one.
I knew a couple that owned a big Diesel Pusher Motor Home.....over 40 feet, maybe 44 feet.
And what you with FEMA is you go to disaster areas and write claims for them.
And you can make a LOT of money. I mean a SHITLOAD of money. MORE that a shitload once you get good at it.
And you can pick and choose where you go.
FEMA declares a State of emergency because of snow and it's too far away? You turn it down if you don't want to go.
They declare a SOE within a thousand miles, this couple would drive their huge Motor Home there, live there, make THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS a week and when they got to $200k earned for the year, they stopped.
Which was usually within a few Months. They had it down to a science.
But it's hard work and you gotta HUSTLE.
I'm married, I like my OL and I didn't want to live in areas of emergency for Months on end away from home.
But it's something interesting to think about for a young person.
