Just to let everyone know: the
Wall Street Journal has removed the misrepresentations
about independent insurance agents in its Personal Finance article about buying
homeowners insurance and issued corrections,
admitting they were wrong. These were the
corrections requested by PIA National President Fred Thomas in his April 13 letter
to the WSJ. The publication admitted that the earlier version of the article incorrectly
stated that independent insurance agents' prices will be higher than direct writers
or captive agents; and made other key corrections.
Correction: An earlier version of this article made incorrect and unsupported
characterizations of the three categories of sellers of home insurance:
direct sellers, captive agents (who were incorrectly identified as "sponsored agents")
and independent insurance agents. The earlier version made an unsupported claim that
direct sellers are very selective about who can sign up, and it incorrectly implied
that direct sellers are the only sellers that may disqualify applicants based on
where the they live or some other aspect of the application. The earlier version
also made the incorrect claim that sponsored agents are often better than independent
agents because they can be more inclusive about who gets covered. Finally, the earlier
version incorrectly said that independent insurance agents. prices will be higher
than direct sellers or sponsored agents.
WSJ's edited version & correction:
http://guides.wsj.com/personal-finance/insurance/how-to-insure-your-home/.
