Kansas City, Mo. - Recent statistics show that while consumer complaints decreased for the third consecutive year, the reasons behind those complaints have remained relatively the same for the past five years: Consumers want faster customer service. According to data collected by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the top three reasons consumers filed formal complaints against their insurance companies in 2006 were delays, denials of claims and unsatisfactory settlement offers. Rounding out the top five sources of consumer complaints were policy cancellations and premiums/insurance rating issues. The NAIC maintains a centralized electronic Complaint Database System (CDS), through which states voluntarily report “closed” complaints. A closed complaint is a complaint that has been investigated and resolved to the satisfaction of the state or jurisdiction in which it is filed. First established in 1990, the CDS was significantly expanded in 1998 and now houses more than 2 million complaints. A total of 190,572 consumer complaints were reported to CDS in 2006, a 7.8% decrease from the previous year. This information is based on the submission of data to the NAIC from the state insurance departments. The NAIC does not collect all complaint data from all states. Aggregate data compiled from the CDS can be accessed on the NAIC’s
Source: NAIC
