Good-bye to a Good Friend
It is with great sadness that we announce to the CFSIC community that our good friend and colleague Janet Grace, Program Manager of the Captive Insurance Division at the CT Insurance Department, passed away on June 11.
If it could be said that Rep. Jeff Currey is the father of CFSIC (and I think no one would dispute that), then Janet Grace was its mother. She and I collaborated on the business plan to form CFSIC. She was a tough regulator, and she sent me back more than once to the drawing board as I filed the business plan to form this captive insurance company. Once our license was approved, her support of CFSIC was unwavering. We communicated frequently about the status of CFSIC, our funding, and most importantly about the families whose homes we were restoring. She was a friend; she was a colleague; and she was a great supporter. She was endlessly sympathetic to our cause and knew that what we were doing was the ideal combination of private management and state support to fix what was a crisis affecting so many.
When we think about state government, and we think about the people who serve in state government, we sometimes forget that so many of these people have a heart, a mission, and wake up each morning wanting to do the right thing. Every time a foundation is replaced through this program, that homeowner needs to thank Janet Grace.
– Michael Maglaras
A Further Update: Transferring Your Claim
All CFSIC claimants will shortly be able to transfer their existing inactive and Pending claims to a buyer of their home, with this process taking effect on July 13, 2020, retroactive to June 1, 2020. On June 29, we will publish on this site:
– marked changes to CFSIC’s Underwriting and Claims Management Guidelines;
– a new subsection in the “For Homeowners” section of this site, which will detail how the process will work;
– a template Claim Transfer Agreement governing the transfer of claims;
– a new subsection in the “For Contractors” section of this site providing Claim Transfer Agreement information for contractors.
– an expanded claim transfer Q&A section of Latest News to assist our claimants.
Meanwhile, what follows is some helpful Q&A content, which will be augmented on June 29.
Question: Why are you making this change?
Answer: Because it’s the right thing to do.
Question: I’m a Type 1, severity Class 2, inactive claimant. If I sell my home and transfer my claim to the buyer, does that change the status of my claim?
Answer: No. The buyer gets the exact status you had at the moment of transfer.
Question: I’m in line for a Participation Agreement and have been in line for a while. I’ve been told that I may be in the next round of funding at some point after July 1, 2020, but I still plan to sell my house. Does my exact place in line for a Participation Agreement get transferred to the buyer?
Answer: Yes, if the buyer agrees to all terms and conditions of the Claim Transfer Agreement.
Question: Where can I find the Claim Transfer Agreement on this site?
Answer: It has not been posted yet. It will be on June 29. We will alert everyone in “Latest News” when that’s happened.
Question: I’m a Pending claimant, and I’m aware that, given current anticipated projected funding, I may never get my claim paid. If I transfer my claim because I sell my home, will the buyer be taking the same risk I am?
Answer: Absolutely. We may never have enough money to address any Pending claimants.
Question: Can I transfer my claim without selling my home?
Answer: No.
Question: Does this apply to condos? Does it apply to PUDs?
Answer: No for condos. (Remember that condo unit owners are not our claimants… associations are our claimants.) It applies to PUDs.
Question: I’m a Type 2 claimant. Does it apply to my claim?
Answer: No.
Question: Once I transfer my Type 1 claim to the buyer, can he or she re-sell the home and keep transferring the claim?
Answer: No. The transfer of a claim can occur only once…from the Original Claimant to a Transfer Claimant. It can never be transferred again by the Transfer Claimant.
Question: Will I be able to sell my home first and then transfer the claim at some point after that?
Answer: No. The Claim Transfer Agreement date can only be the same date as the date of the sale of the home or a date prior to the sale. It it’s prior to the date of sale, and for some reason the sale does not go through…then the transfer is voided as if it had never occurred.
Question: OK, but I sold my house in the middle of June…how will the retroactive June 1 date affect me?
Answer: As stated above, on and after July 13, 2020, the date of the Claim Transfer Agreement must be the date of the sale of the home or a date prior to the sale. It cannot, however, be a date prior to June 1, 2020. In your example, you would still qualify.
Question: So are you saying that if I sold my home on May 15, 2020, I’m disqualified?
Answer: Yes, that’s what we’re saying…besides, at the date of sale you ceased to be a CFSIC claimant, and the correct thing to do would have been to notify ESIS of your status. We are grandfathering this process back to June 1 as an accommodation only.
Question: Are you still going to stop the Pending application process on June 30 as previously announced?
Answer: Yes.
Pending Claimant Applications to Stop on June 30
As a reminder, we’ll be stopping the application process on June 30 for Pending claimants. If you’re still thinking about applying…even though you may not have a complete application and supporting documents ready yet…we encourage you to get in line by going to the “For Homeowners” section on this website for more information.
Once we stop accepting applications, we may not re-open for applications for a year or even two years from now.
Participation Agreement Suspension in Place
We have suspended the issuing of new Participation Agreements, and we will not resume Participation Agreement activity until at some point after July 1, 2020.
If you have not yet been provided with a Participation Agreement by the Superintendent’s office by now, you will not hear anything more about your Participation Agreement until we resume issuing them.
You are still in line. We haven’t lost you. We haven’t forgotten about you. We are all going to find out together and pretty much at the same time when CFSIC will be able to resume Participation Agreement activity. We are at a point within CFSIC where we must conserve our remaining cash until two things happen:
- we identify exactly how much funding CFSIC will receive from the $12 per homeowner policy surcharge; and
- we receive our next $20 million bond allotment from the CT Bond Commission.
Without knowing, with precision, the facts about when we will receive these two sources of funding, and in the case of the $12 homeowner policy surcharge, exactly how much we are getting, we will not be issuing any further Participation Agreements until this website announces further information.
The CHFA Credit Enhancements Program
You should go here to learn more about the CHFA credit enhancements program as it is now constituted. Please note that it currently does not apply to condominiums. CFSIC did not create and is not administering the loan program, and the ESIS claim team cannot advise you in any way about the terms and conditions of any aspect of the program. The link noted in this section will take you to an outline of the program, as well as to a section marked “Frequently Asked Questions.” We also recommend contacting the Homeowner Advocate using the contact information on the Department of Housing website for more assistance.
CFSIC’s Annual Report
CFSIC’s Annual Report can be viewed here.
CFSIC’s 2019 Audited Financial
View CFSIC’s audited financial report for the period ended June 30, 2019.
___________________
If you have any questions about the operation of the program, ESIS is your best source of information on your claim, and their phone number and email are shown below.
Phone: 844-763-1207
Email: cfsic@esis.com
As you work through the information and application process (understanding that we are in suspension for the taking of new applications), here’s how you can get help:
– Call ESIS (the claim adjuster) at: 844-763-1207
– Email ESIS at: cfsic@esis.com
– Email CFSIC at: info@crumblingfoundations.org
To view a video of how to complete an electronic application, go here.
To apply for a Type 1 claim, go here.
To apply for a Type 2 claim, go here.
To learn more about the program, if you are a homeowner, including application help, go here.
To learn more about the program, if you are a contractor, go here.