Home is where the heart stays. In the world of inflation and recession, owning a dream house becomes next to impossible, but the financial institutions lend a helping hand in providing the required loan to acquire the property. With many difficulties after relentless survey, the loan approval process, credit score clearance, the much awaited home comes to hand. Now, this home contains the hard earned money, precious possessions and immense memories. It becomes important to save the home from various calamities by insuring appropriately.

An insurance cover for the home alone is not adequate; instead an accurate home insurance which covers all the possible liabilities is required. Very few Indians are aware of the home insurance policy that covers fire disasters and other hazards. Unfortunately, the majority of the home owners are ignorant of the benefits. Approximations of the National Disaster Management Authority, according to which about 60% of the Indian land mass, are prone to earthquakes, while 8% of the country is vulnerable to cyclones and especially Southeast Asia is more susceptible to disasters.

Advantages:

The benefits of home insurance are immense.

–         Can be applied and obtained online.

Home insurance is easy to apply either online or at the nearest branch office. Applying online reduces the hassle of visiting the bank, thus reduces the time.

–         Comes at an affordable premium package which can be selected according to the value of the house, where premium discounts are also offered on security features.

–         Easy settlement process.

–         Home Insurance has multiple cover options.

–         Provides low cost cover options for burglary including theft and larceny.

–         There is no upper limit for the sum insured either on the property or on the possessions.

–         Best part is home insurance comes with minimum documentation.

Know More About Home Insurance:

–         It becomes significantly important to safeguard the house from unanticipated occurrences that might stand out as a threat.

–         Home Insurance covers the property as well as valuable household materials such as clothing, carpet, linen, Artwork, furniture & fixtures, electrical & electronic items, domestic appliances, passport, valuable items, and jewellery.

–         The prime intention of the home insurance is to protect the owners from accidental damages and disasters from Fire, Storm, Hail, Lightning, Theft, Plate glass breakage, Explosion, Aircraft damage, Bursting & overflow of water tanks, Impact damage by rail, road vehicles, animals, Subsidence & landslides, Bush fire, Missile testing operations, Riot strike, malicious & terrorism damages, Vandalism and such related hazards.

–         To a great extent, the coverage is almost same for all home insurance policies, but may have slight variations depending on the area of operation as well as the bank policies.

–         Home insurance policy is strictly not applicable for wilful destruction of the property or any damage caused by the wear & tear, depreciation and any other consequential loss. Also not covered for any direct or indirect act of foreign invasion / enemies / rebellion/ revolution/ insurrection military/ usurped power/ civil war or any consequences of war.

–         Damages due to earthquakes and floods are not considered as these fall under the “Act of God”.

–         Also, there is some exclusion, where the policy is not covered for any loss due to war & allied perils and nuclear radiations & its effects.

–         Act of Terrorism is covered at an extra premium and with the sole acceptance of the lending institution.

–         Home insurance covers approximately 50 to 70% of the personal possessions and the sum insured covers the total cost of reconstruction of the property. The policy also provides the architect fee required, cost of obtaining any sanctions, regulations and also the cost of clearing the mess created due to the loss.

–         The reconstruction cost offered will be on the built up area and the amount would be based area-wise.

General claims procedure for the home insurance policy:

In any event of damage, the respective insurance company should be informed at the earliest through the customer care helpline. The complaint has to be lodged immediately for estimation. A surveyor will be sent to find out the causes, the authenticity of the loss and the type of loss.

Any damage due to fire should be informed to the fire brigade. FIR has to be filed as part of procedure. Policy claim document should be filled timely and it is advisable to keep the mentioned documents handy for quick verification.

Location of Damage, Information of the equipments damaged, cause of loss, amount of loss, policy reference number, type of policy and the registered complaints copy.

Always read the policy document to understand what is covered exactly; the turnaround time, the validity period, the premium tenure and also verify the hidden clause as well as the charges to avoid misconceptions. This homework provides the clearest picture of what isn’t covered and the unnecessary assumptions that might disappointment at the later stage. Hence, secure your home timely from potential losses with the home insurances available and live fearless.

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