"Most lenders require you to place them on your auto insurance policy as an loss payee so that the insurer will issue any check for repairs (or the totaling of the car) to both you and your lien holder.
To cash a claim check made out to both of you, normally you’d endorse the check and send it onto the lien holder, who will may require you send documentation that the repairs were made to the vehicle (such as a copy of the repair bill and photographs of the repaired car) before they will sign over the check to you or a repair shop.
If you cashed a check made out to you and the lien holder without their endorsement (or by forging their signature), then this could be considered fraud and get you into a lot trouble.
If the check were made out only to you, your finance agreement would still normally require you to notify your lien holder about the damages and insurance payout. Most lenders would mandate you to use the money for the needed repairs; however, you can discuss the issue with your particular lien holder.
If the hail damage isn’t that extensive and your loan is almost paid off, or if you plan on using the claim money to pay off the loan, then your lien holder may not require you to get the repairs made. Don’t be surprised, though, if they demand that you fix the car."
That would defeat the purpose of the check being strictly used to get the house or car fixed wouldn’t it.
Second who says they have an account with the mortgage company besides their mortgage. I only have a mortgage with Citicorp. All my other accounts are with a credit union.
I agree with that…even said so in an earlier post.
I’ve made a couple claims on cars and homes over the years…NEVER EVER was the check made out to anyone but ME. No other name was on the check. My son made a claim on his car when he was in college in Arizona…Again check made out to him…no mention of lien holder. I work in MA and people here never heard of that either. Many family in NY and CT…they never heard of that either.
If an insurance company made out a check to me and my lien hold on my mortgage for a claim…that would be the very last transaction I did with them.
Not to be a broken record @GTZaskar but a mortgage means that you own the property and the deed is issued to you but the mortgage acts as a lien against the property. Right, you can’t do anything with the property such as sell it without satisfying the mortgage but you do own the property. There are special statutes for mortgage terms and conditions. Now a contract for deed is different where you are contracting for the deed after the terms of the contract are met.
Its an important distinction because there are lots of protections for a person with a mortgage but not so for a contract for deed.
First time, my car parked on a country road (whilst I decamped to go biking), come back a huge dent (likely a rock fell off a truck) smashed into my C pillar. Nice! Got $500 or so from the insurance co, after deductible.
Second time my car parked, someone pulls in next to me and scrapes the daylights out of my front fender, dislodging it. They were nice enough to tell me, got $250 (uninsured motorist insurance, the quote was $900 she stopped paying the insurance company, long story), glued it back on and it looks pretty good (20 years later).
Third time car parked and someone backed into me. They were nice enough to leave me a note, they kind of dislodged the bumper a bit and the fender which I had to reglue, but got $400, no real damage.
Eventually I’ll have the initial price of the car paid in insurance settlements. Interestingly enough, I was never actually in the car when it was hit.
Every mortgage I ever had came with a condition that they be named as the payee on the insurance policy.
I’ve never had an auto loan so I can’t speak to that.
One example:
Reimbursement as Loss Payee
When damage occurs to your property, the loss payee clause gets your lender paid first. When you file a claim that’s approved, the insurance company will cut a check payable to both you and the lender. You will endorse the check and present it to the mortgage holder. The lender will inspect the property and make sure the damage and subsequent repairs match the claim. Once satisfied, the lender will endorse the check and disburse the funds to you.
I guess it depends on your definition of own. If you had said own outright, I’d agree with that. Even though I have a mortgage, I still own an equity stake in the property. If the home is foreclosed and sold, and the sale proceeds exceed the loan balance, I get that leftover portion. For example, I have about an 80% ownership stake in the value of my home right now. So I not only own something, I’m the majority stakeholder
I was driving in the aisle of a parking lot in my 28 year old Oldsmobile and a woman backed into me. I got out to check the damage and the woman screamed at me to get out of her way and took off, clipping another vehicle as she exited the parking lot. I did get the license number of her car. The manager of the Hobby Lobby came running out of the store. He was chasing the woman because she had stolen a dozen candles from the store. He told me to wait for the police so a report could be filed. The police officer informed me that I had to report the incident to my insurance company. I protested because I had neither collison or comprehensive insurance on the car. I only had liability. The officer told.me I had to report the incident to my insurance company anyway. I did comply. The company called me back a couple of days later and told me that the party that hit me didn’t have insurance, but I had uninsured motorist cover and a claims adjuster was on her way to my house to check the damage. The claims adjuster arrived and immediately cut me a check for about $250. I figured she had declared the car a total loss. I said I would go in the house and get the title. Mrs.Triesaq had been nagging me to get rid of the car so I decided that I now had a chance. I told the claims adjuster that I would go in the house and get the title and sign it over. She then replied “Not on your life, buster. I don’t want your heap. Here is your check. Fix your car or buy yourself some beer. I don’t care what you do with the check”. I decided I didn’t care about the dent in my car and used the money for beer.
