Latest News…November 4, 2019

Where We Are

CFSIC remains in suspension for the taking of new applications. It will be in suspension for months. We do not know when it will come out of suspension, but we will keep the public informed of what we know and when we know it.

CFSIC is rationing its existing cash by limiting the number of new Participation Agreements signed to no more than three per week. The rationing will continue, at a minimum, through February, in order to conserve cash on hand, pending the receipt of funds from the Healthy Homes surcharge (most probably in June) and our next $20M bond allotment to be received after that, at some point between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021.

Here are some recent facts and figures regarding CFSIC:

– To date, CFSIC has received information on 1,197 claimants.

– Within that number, we have 922 active Type 1 and Type 2 claimants combined.

– To date, CFSIC has committed $44.4 million in construction and reimbursement through the signing of Participation Agreements. Of that amount, $19.6 million has actually been paid to date, with $15.6 million of that paid to replace foundations.

– CFSIC has recorded 566 severity class 3 claimants. We carry $99.1 million of reserves on our books for those claimants.

– We have 77 severity class 3 claimants whose claims are inactive either because they are in litigation or because their acceptances/denials from commercial insurance companies are pending.

– To date, we have put 52 families back in their homes, with many more on the way.

We have 112 recorded severity class 2 claimants. We carry $22.9 million of reserves on those claimants. Within this number are 100 claimants who are active, but who are not yet in line for Participation Agreements, because of the availability of funds to complete severity class coded 3 foundations.

To learn more about what we’re doing with severity class 2 claimants, scroll below, where we continue our message on this subject from Monday, October 28.

The Credit Enhancements Program

We have seen a draft press release to be issued on this subject. Based on what we have seen, we expect this press release to be issued this week. When it is issued (by the CT Bankers Association) we will immediately post it on Latest News, and will post a link to the program for the benefit of our claimants. Again, the credit enhancements program has not been designed by CFSIC, and we are not responsible for its content or its terms and conditions. As in all matters dealing with issues not covered by CFSIC’s guidelines, we refer claimants to the Homeowner Advocate within the CT Department of Housing. The Homeowner Advocate’s contact information can be accessed by going on the CT Department of Housing website.

The 1099 Issue

We expected, based on early information we had received, that the IRS might be issuing a Private Letter Ruling on this issue within the past two weeks.

We await news on the IRS’s position.

A Message to Severity Class 2 Claimants (Originally Posted on October 28)…

As of last Friday, CFSIC had registered a total of 556 Severity Class 3 claims.

Inside this number are 35 claimants actively in litigation against their insurers, which means they are inactive claims. In addition, 33 claimants await word from their insurance companies as to their claims pending…which means they too are inactive until they are accepted or declined by those insurers. Lastly, 37 claimants remain inactive for other various reasons.

Of the 556 Severity Class coded 3 claimants noted above, when we deduct those claims that are incomplete, are awaiting word from their insurers, or are in litigation with their insurers…CFSIC has 451 Severity Class 3 claims that are active right now.

In turn, of these 451, 50 homes have been completed though our program. Of the 401 remaining as active Severity Class 3 claims, the Superintendent has countersigned 241 Participation Agreements, making those homes ready for remediation at some point, subject to homeowner/contractor construction timing agreement.

In summary, we have 160 remaining active Severity Class 3 claims, which are ahead of any Severity Class 2 claim, and we can’t get to those yet because we are rationing the last $20M in revenue received from the CT Bond Commission.

Now we get to Severity Class code 2 claims.

Behind the 160 current active Severity Class 3 claims we can’t yet get to, because we are rationing cash, we have received 105 Severity Class 2 claims, of which 93 have been moved to active status, and where these claimants will eventually be in process with CFSIC.

These claimants are known to us. Their claims are registered, and the reserves for these foundation replacements are recorded on our balance sheet…which means that CFSIC’s financials record that these 93 active Severity Class 2 claims exist and that, once we have access to additional funds, we will get to these claimants…but we can only get to these claimants after we get through processing the 160 known active Severity Class 3 claims noted above.

To be clear…we can’t now move any Severity Class 2 claims into line for remediation…which means the payment of funds…until we provide Participation Agreements to all existing active Severity Class 3 claimants.

As claims become active, they move up in priority with respect to access to available claim adjustment funds, but always in the order of severity: Class 3, followed by Class 2, followed by Class 1. Due to the prioritization system, active Severity Class 3 claim contractor proposal review will always take precedence over the review of active Severity Class 2 foundation replacement contractor proposals.

This is all about money…the way we receive it and the uncertainty of the timing of when we will receive the last two tranches of $20M.

The very good news is that one major potential stumbling block to our progress was removed when Governor Lamont recently went on record that CFSIC would in fact receive its last two $20 million bond installments. Up until that time, CFSIC had never been told that this would, in fact, happen with certainty, despite what is provided for in the original enabling legislation.

So, here’s what we know…and here’s what’s important for Type 1, Severity Class 2 claimants to know.

At this point we do not know when our next fiscal year bond allotment will be given to us. CFSIC is not due any additional bond funding until some point on or after July 1, 2020. We could get the next $20M on July 1 of 2020; we could get the next $20M on June 30, 2021; we could get the next $20M at any point in between those two dates.

What follows is a brief Q&A on Severity Class 2 claim status:

Question: I submitted my claim on January 10. I’m a Severity Class 2. How come I don’t have claim priority even though I submitted my application on the very first day?

Answer: You don’t because of the number of active Severity Class 3 claims ahead of you. Remember something else: of the $20M in bond funding CFSIC got in late September, more than $15M of it has already been committed to Severity Class 3 replacements.

Question: If a newly-active Severity Class 3 claimant submits proposals after I do, will that claim jump ahead of mine?

Answer: Yes. Based on the CFSIC prioritization of claim payments, an active Severity Class 3 claim will always jump ahead of an active Severity Class 2 claim.

Question: Okay. But when will I receive a Participation Agreement?

Answer: We don’t know. The issue at this point is the way in which funds are being disbursed to CFSIC. As stated above, we do not know when our next fiscal year bond allotment will be given to us. An educated guess would be that we are about a year away from being able to get Severity Class 2 claimants a Participation Agreement.

Question: But when will you actually get to reviewing the contractor proposals I sent you months ago?

Answer: We are starting that process next week. What we’re going to do is begin to review contractor proposals for Severity Class 2 claimants even though we can’t start the remediation process yet, because of the long line of Severity Class 3 claims still to be put into process. It’s going to take us a while, because we have a backlog of 93 active Severity Class 2 claims.

Question: Great news. So what happens after that?

Answer: Once we review proposals as part of our underwriting process, we will alert you if these proposals are valid and have met our criteria. You will then be able to make a choice of contractor, with the understanding that we can’t make a deposit to that contractor until we can put you in place for a Participation Agreement…which can only happen once we have issued Participation Agreements to all existing active Severity Class 3 claimants.

Question: I received my contractor proposals several months ago. Will they still be valid?

Answer: That’s between you and your contractor. We have asked all contractors who have provided proposals to claimants to hold their pricing for the job at exactly what was proposed…regardless of the amount of time it will take to schedule the project. However, we do not control contractor pricing. That is between the claimant and the contractor. CFSIC controls what costs are allowable, and all those costs are in turn controlled by the cap.

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.

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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 (once we are out of suspension for the taking of new applications), go here.

To learn more about the program, if you are a contractor, go here.