42%...42%! That is a pretty large increase on our homeowners insurance!

I'm not sure about everyone else but I'm not seeing that much of an increase in my pay to keep up with raising costs of everything; groceries, housing, gas etc. As it is mortgage rates, granted they are coming down slowly, still make it difficult to afford a house and now if you have to add on your homeowners insurance that has increased by almost half-thats going to affect what homes people can afford!

This rate filing follows the homeowners’ insurance rate filing that the Department of Insurance received from the North Carolina Rate Bureau in November 2020, where the Rate Bureau requested an overall average increase of 24.5%. That filing resulted in a settlement between Commissioner Causey and the Rate Bureau for an overall average rate increase of 7.9%.

A public comment period is required by law to give the public time to address the proposed rate increase.  There are four ways to provide comments:

  • A public comment forum will be held to listen to public input on the North Carolina Rate Bureau’s rate increase request at the North Carolina Department of Insurance’s Jim Long Hearing Room on Jan. 22 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  The Jim Long Hearing Room is in the Albemarle Building, 325 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, N.C. 27603.
  • A virtual public comment forum will be held simultaneously with the in-person forum on Jan. 22 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  The link to this virtual forum will be: https://ncgov.webex.com/ncgov/j.php?MTID=mb3fe10c8f69bbedd2aaece485915db7e
  • Emailed public comments should be sent by Feb. 2 to: 2024Homeowners@ncdoi.gov.
  • Written public comments must be received by Kimberly W. Pearce, Paralegal III, by Feb. 2 and addressed to 1201 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1201.

All public comments will be shared with the North Carolina Rate Bureau.  If Department of Insurance officials do not agree with the requested rates, the rates will either be denied or negotiated with the North Carolina Rate Bureau.  If a settlement cannot be reached within 50 days, the Commissioner will call for a hearing.

To see a specific table of proposed homeowners’ rate increases across the state, please click here.