CFSIC’s Commitment to Privacy
CFSIC’s commitment as a federal tax-exempt to transparency is clear.
CFSIC’s 2019 audited financial and its annual report are on this site. The 2020 audit is now complete, and once CFSIC’s board approves it…it too will be up on this website for the public to see. Additionally, the 2020 annual report will be up at the same time, with a town-by-town description, as we did last year, of the work we have done and the work we will yet do.
We regularly update the public on this website (and if you look further down you’ll see another example of how we communicate the work we are doing with full transparency).
That transparency stops with individual claimant information.
CFSIC’s management believes strongly in the idea that, when you complete one of our applications, you are entrusting us with information about your home and its condition. It’s information that you may not have shared with other family members. You may not have shared it with your neighbors. You may not have shared it with the bank holding your mortgage or with an insurer currently insuring your home. You may not want the world to know that if you’re a severity Class 3 foundation owner, as much as 60% of the equity in your home has just disappeared.
You have a right to privacy. CFSIC is a private corporation. We enforce claimant privacy vigorously.
Every CFSIC applicant has signed an attestation at the end of the application agreeing to tell the truth in the application under severe penalty of law. CFSIC’s management believes that, in return for that attestation, we owe you the dignity of privacy. There are a few people, primarily concrete activists, who don’t believe in and don’t understand that commitment to privacy. There have been attempts (very recent attempts) to obtain claimant information…including direct contact with CFSIC’s board. We want to make certain that the public understands, and particularly that our claimants understand, that on the current Superintendent’s watch the release of claimant information is just not going to happen. To be clear, claimants include individuals and claimants also include condominium associations. People have entrusted us with their information. If a condo association president signs an application, he or she is attesting to the truthfulness of what is in that application, and the same courtesy of privacy extends to that condo association president as it would extend to any individual claimant. As long as the current management of CFSIC is in place, CFSIC will respect the claimant right to privacy.
Information is regularly published on this website, revealing the total amount of construction we have committed to, and revealing where claimants live (by town; never by address). We know it is not enough for certain concrete activists who believe that CFSIC’s management and in fact its volunteer board are hiding things from the public. We are hiding nothing, and every aspect of the financial operations of CFSIC are now up on this website and will be renewed with fresh data by the end of September.
If you choose to reveal on social media that you are a claimant, that’s your choice, and we respect it. However, revealing who you are or where you live…and most importantly the extent of the personal financial information contained in your application and the proposals you have received to remediate your foundation…will never be released by the current management of CFSIC to anyone without a need to know.
Only a handful of people get to look at your application. Only a handful of people understand the extent of damage to your home. Only a handful of people have been entrusted with your personal information. We’re going to see that it stays that way.
Where We Are
As of Friday, September 4, here’s the state of play with CFSIC:
– CFSIC is entering into Participation Agreements and will be doing so for claimants in the Participation Agreement line up to and including February 26, 2020. Once we reach that date, we will stop, and we will shut down the PA process until the receipt of more funds, which we expect to happen in late June of 2021 with the receipt of the next tranche of Healthy Homes funds, followed by the last $20M installment from the CT Bond Commission.
– CFSIC currently has registered 1,644 claimants. Of these claimants, 1,036 are Active, 171 are Inactive, and 437 are Pending.
– To date, CFSIC has paid out $44,264,349 in total construction, inclusive of deposits and progress payments for Type 1 claimants, as well as reimbursements for Type 2 claimants.
– Through the Participation Agreement process, CFSIC has committed an additional $23,908,795 in future construction and reimbursements.
– To date, CFSIC has received $90,601,209 through a combination of its CT Bond Commission allotments and its first tranche of Healthy Homes surcharge funds.
– On an annualized calendar year basis, CFSIC’s expenses average 3.6% on an accrual basis of calendar year revenue received each year of its operations.
– CFSIC has claimants in 40 towns in the NE Corner. These include stand-alone homes, condos, and PUDs.
– CFSIC has begun the process, over the last six weeks, of assisting homeowners who want to sell their homes while holding an Active, Inactive, or Pending claim on that home. CFSIC has greatly assisted the real estate market in the NE Corner by facilitating the claim transfer process, from claimant seller to buyer, which means that no one buying a home, where an existing claim is registered, has to go to the end of the line.
A Friend Needs Help…
If you own a home resting on one of the 176 foundations we’ve replaced to date, or if you’ve been the recipient of some of the $6.8 million in claim assistance we’ve provided to reimburse for foundations already replaced…some originally replaced as many as 17 years ago…then we are asking you to help a special friend.
Rep. Jeff Currey is in Stage V kidney failure.
He needs a new kidney, and he needs it now. No one is more responsible for the existence and the success of CFSIC than Jeff Currey…and we mean no one…inside or outside of state government. It’s time to give back, and we do it by action, not by words.
There’s a match out there somewhere. We need to find him or her.
To learn more, and more importantly to help, go to:
Transferring Your Claim
All CFSIC claimants (not just active claimants) will be able to transfer their existing inactive or Pending claims to a buyer of their home effective July 13, 2020, retroactive to June 1, 2020. Today, we are publishing on this site the following:
– red-marked changes to CFSIC’s Underwriting and Claims Management Guidelines;
– a new subsection, subsection 20, in the “For Homeowners” section of this site, which will detail how the process will work, inclusive of Q&A;
– a templated Claim Transfer Agreement governing the transfer of a claim in the “For Homeowners” section;
– a new subsection, subsection 11, in the “For Contractors” section of this site, providing claim transfer information for contractors.
What follows is an expanded (expanded from last week) Q&A about this important change.
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 and give up my claim. 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 a sample of the Claim Transfer Agreement on this site?
Answer: View a sample of the Claim Transfer Agreement here (PDF)
Question: I’m a Pending claimant, and I’m aware that, given current anticipated projected funding, I may never get my claim paid unless CFSIC gets more money. 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 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 technically not our claimants… associations are our claimants, because it is the association that owns the foundation.) 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 transfer the claim again?
Answer: No. The transfer of a claim can occur only once…from one Original Claimant to one 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 anyway, and the correct thing to do would have been to notify ESIS of your status so that someone else could have access to your funds. 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. We have already done so.
Question: I’m a Type 1, severity Class 3 active claimant. So if I transfer my claim to the buyer of my home, what am I really doing?
Answer: Looks like you don’t have a Participation Agreement yet, based on the question. So, what you’re doing is transferring almost every right, obligation, and duty you had for your active claim to the buyer of your home, who then agrees to take over those rights, duties, and obligations.
Question: But I’ve got a signed contract and am in line for a Participation Agreement. What happens if the buyer and the contractor can’t agree on the terms of the original contract or, alternatively, the contractor simply backs out of the arrangement?
Answer: The buyer can seek the required two proposals for construction services from CRCOG-approved contractors to substitute for the original contractor, one of which will eventually substitute for the original contract. CFSIC will keep an active claim “active” for a period of 180 days from the date of the Claim Transfer Agreement in order to allow time for this to happen. If it isn’t accomplished by then, the claim is removed from our system, it is no longer active, and the buyer is no longer in line…and must therefore start the process all over again as if the claim had never transferred. If we are not accepting applications at the time that happens, then the buyer may have to wait for years to reapply, or may never get an opportunity.
Question: Who is responsible for contacting ESIS ProClaim to tell them about the sale of a home?
Answer: Only the original homeowner (Original Claimant). ESIS will not accept communications of any kind from real estate agents or from Transfer Claimants (home buyers) regarding a claim transfer.
Question: Okay…what happens then?
Answer: When you provide ESIS ProClaim with your claim number by phone or email and indicate that you want to transfer your claim to the buyer of your home, they will provide you with a Claim Transfer Data Form to complete. You will send it back to them completed. The Superintendent’s office will then contact you and send you a Claim Transfer Agreement, which will require your signature and that of the buyer, as well as separate witnesses. You will return the fully-executed Claim Transfer Agreement back to the Superintendent’s office. Once this agreement is fully executed and received in the Superintendent’s office, the transfer of the claim can occur, and the permanent records of the claim are changed with regard to who the claimant is.
Question: I’ve already signed a proposal with a contractor. Who is responsible for telling the contractor that I’m selling my home?
Answer: You are. It is not ESIS ProClaim’s responsibility or CFSIC’s responsibility to do this. It also cannot be the real estate agent or the homebuyer. If you want to transfer your claim, you have to do this yourself.
Question: What will CFSIC accept as evidence that the Original Claimant has transferred the home to the Transfer Claimant?
Answer: A copy of the recorded deed.
Question: But I have a CHFA loan agreement that I’ve just entered into. What happens to that?
Answer: You have to address that with CHFA.
Question: My contractor started work on my foundation last week. Can I still transfer my claim?
Answer: No. Once work starts on your foundation, you have to see it through, or you terminate your construction contract. We cannot permit a claim to transfer if even the most preliminary part of the remediation process has begun.
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.
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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, go here.
To learn more about the program, if you are a contractor, go here.