The Covered Loss

Editorial Policy

How The Covered Loss researches, writes, fact-checks and corrects its pages, which sources it uses, the rules every page follows, and what it never claims.

The Covered Loss pages are written to be accurate, useful, fair to policyholders and insurers alike, and honest about where each fact comes from and what a page cannot know. This page sets out how that works and where its limits are.

General information, not legal or insurance advice, and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Your policy’s wording and your state’s law decide, and both change. For help with your claim, your state insurance department’s consumer line and legal aid are free.

How a page is made

  1. Research. We start from the policy forms, state insurance codes and regulations, department bulletins and orders, the federal flood policy and FEMA’s rules, the Fannie Mae and HUD servicing rules, and IRS publications, and note what they do and do not settle.
  2. Writing. A draft is written from that research under The Covered Loss name.
  3. Fact-check. A separate check compares each day count, unit, trigger, suit limit, cap, deductible rule, dollar figure, date and policy term with its source, and reworks every sum on the page.
  4. Graphics. Any charts or diagrams repeat figures from the text and add no new facts. Every deadline, cap, deductible or fee in a graphic shows its state or policy form, the dates it applies to and its source. No graphic shows what a reader will get or what an insurer owes.
  5. Final review. A last read looks for errors, gaps and anything that could mislead someone about their coverage, a deadline or a step in their claim. If it finds a serious problem, the page is fixed and reviewed again. We do not publish a page with a serious problem still open.

Each page ends with the date its sources were checked. No process catches everything, so please tell us if you find a mistake.

Our sources

Every day count, suit limit, cap, deductible rule, dollar figure, date and policy term links to a primary source at the claim: the named policy form and its edition, the state’s statutes and regulations in official text, the state insurance department’s own bulletins, orders and pages, the federal flood policy in the Code of Federal Regulations, the Federal Register, Fannie Mae’s servicing guide, HUD, the IRS and federal agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission. A state rule reaches a page only if we read it in the statute, the regulation or the department’s own text. If we cannot confirm something, we leave it out or say plainly that it is not confirmed. Our how we check page explains how each kind of fact is handled.

Insurer learning pages and blogs, agent, broker and quote sites, law firm pages, public adjuster pages, roofer, restoration and contractor pages, forums and commercial guides are never a source, not for a rule, a figure, an example or a statistic. Claims from sellers appear only as claims we have checked, without naming the seller. Where we quote a nonprofit policyholder advocate or an insurance trade group, we label it as that, and a trade group’s figures are labelled as published estimates.

Rules for every page

A wrong deadline or a wrong statement about coverage can cost someone their claim. So every page follows these rules:

  • A clear note near the top. Every page says it is general information, not legal or insurance advice, and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney, that your policy’s wording and your state’s law decide and both change, and where free help is.
  • The form, named. Policy terms come from a named form and edition, such as the ISO HO-3 specimen form (2011 edition, HO 00 03 05 11), and pages say each insurer’s own form and endorsements can differ. A specimen form is never called “your policy”.
  • No national rule that doesn’t exist. Claim clocks, suit limits, public adjuster rules, matching and hurricane deductibles are state law. We explain how policies usually work, then give only the state rows we have read.
  • Clocks with their units and triggers. Every day count says whether it is calendar, business or working days and what starts it, such as notice of claim or proof of loss, with its citation and the day we read it, in text, tables and graphics. Rows we have not read say “not confirmed” and link the state’s code.
  • No personal verdicts. Pages explain the policy terms, the rules, what each choice involves and who decides. They never say whether your loss is covered, what your insurer owes, what your claim is worth, what your deadline is, whether to file, whether to hire a public adjuster or a lawyer, whether to sue, or whether an insurer acted in bad faith.
  • Sums, not outcomes. Calculators say “estimate”, show their working and never say what an insurer will pay.
  • No average payouts without public data. We give no average, typical or usual payout, settlement or premium increase unless it comes from a dated public dataset, named with its years and limits, and never as what a reader can expect.
  • No claim questions, no referrals. We review no policies, estimates or denial letters, contact no insurer for anyone, and name no public adjuster, contractor, roofer, restoration firm, appraiser, umpire or lawyer as a recommendation. Where help matters, pages name the kinds of help: the insurer in writing, the state insurance department, legal aid and a licensed attorney, and the department’s own licence lookup and complaint pages.
  • Tax points carry their source. Where the IRS or the Code does not say something directly, we say so and send you to a tax professional.

What we do not claim

  • We are not an insurer, an agent or broker, a public adjuster or a law firm, and nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship.
  • We do not claim to have adjusted, inspected, filed or negotiated the claims we describe.
  • We do not invent authors, quotes, homeowner stories, claim results or reader comments.
  • We do not rank or recommend insurers, adjusters, contractors or lawyers, and we do not call anyone “best”.
  • We give no insurer denial rates, because we found no public data behind them.
  • Photos are stock images chosen to illustrate a topic. They do not show homes or claims we know of, and we do not use images meant to frighten.

Fairness

Insurers are neither villains nor friends, and a claim is a contract being carried out under state rules. Pages are written for anyone trying to understand a claim: homeowners, family members helping them, landlords and renters, and people who work in the field. We say what the policy and the law require of each side, including the policyholder’s own duties after a loss. Where a rule is unsettled or courts disagree, we show that and do not pick a winner. Sometimes the honest answer is that the policy’s wording, a court or a lawyer has to answer the question.

Calculators

Our calculators are formulas with named inputs and shown working, and each formula is checked against answers worked by hand before it goes live. They use the policy terms and state rules they name, with their dates, and the numbers you enter. Every default that is a rate or a rule says where it comes from, or that it is our assumption, and you can change it. We found no primary source for how long a roof or an appliance lasts, so any useful-life figure is yours to enter or labelled as our assumption. Results are estimates, never a statement of what an insurer owes.

Updates and corrections

State claim rules, policy forms and federal figures change, so pages are rechecked on the schedule set out on our how we check page, and sooner when we learn a source they rely on has changed. A page shows an updated date only when its content really changed. Errors are fixed and recorded on our corrections page.

Sister sites

We sometimes link to sister sites where a topic meets theirs: CostPlain on what home repairs cost, Lowest Floor on basement water and sump pumps, The Heat Pump Book on heating and cooling, and Injury Claim Handbook on injury claims. They are connected to us, which is why we call them sister sites. They are also funded by display ads, so a visit there can earn ad money too. None of them sells leads or makes referrals.

Advertising and independence

Display advertising pays for this site, and advertisers have no say over what we publish. We use no affiliate links, accept no paid placements, sell no leads, give no insurance quotes, and make no referrals to public adjusters, contractors, restoration firms or lawyers. Our about page has more on how the site works.