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Insurance Consumer Complaint Ratio Reports
What is a complaint?
The Department of Insurance Securities and Banking (DISB) receives hundreds of complaints and questions each year about insurance companies. Complaints and inquiries from the public give us an indication of the kind of service insurers are providing to their customers. Complaints can also help us identify insurance companies or agents that may need to be investigated for violation of District of Columbia insurance laws or regulations. DISB also uses complaints to focus public education efforts on the issues that concern District of Columbia insurance consumers. Each time DISB receives a complaint, the following takes place:
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Notify the insurance company;
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Send the company a copy of the complaint; and
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Require that the company provides an explanation to DISB within 10-15 days.
DISB maintains a record of each written complaint filed by a consumer.
A formal complaint is any written communication expressing dissatisfaction with an insurance company or an agent. A complaint is “closed” when the complaint process concludes. General written inquiries received from consumers are not counted in the reports. Also, we do not include complaints regarding products not within the jurisdiction of DISB.
What is a complaint ratio?
The complaint ratio for a company is a statistic that shows the number of closed complaints for every $1 million of premium the company sold in the District during that calendar year. For example, if a company has a complaint ratio of 1.58, it means the company had 1.58 complaints for every $1 million of premiums sold in the District. A company with a complaint ratio of 1.58 has a better complaint ratio than a company with a 3.58 ratio, so the lower the number of complaints per million the better. If a company has a zero (0) ratio, it means no complaints were filed against that company.
Which complaints did we use?
The reports show automobile and homeowner complaints that DISB has processed. The complaint data is based on formal complaints against specific companies over which DISB has jurisdiction. In order to make the reports as fair as possible and treat companies equally, all closed complaints are counted without any attempt to distinguish between “valid” or “invalid” complaints.
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