Insurance Complaints Drop in 2007

Insurance complaints dropped this year, while the most common types of complaints remain relatively unchanged according to new statistics.

According to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), insurance complaints decreased 3.6% in 2007 from the previous year's data.

The most common types of complaints were Delays (16%), Denial of Claim (14.7%), Unsatisfactory Settlement/Offer (9.8%), Cancellation (4.6%), and Premium and Rating (4.4%).

The most common complaints by types of coverage were Accident and Health (36.4%) and Auto (34.4%).

Other types of complaints by coverage include Homeowners (12.5%), Life and Annuity (9.0%), and Commercial Multi-Peril (1.8%).

NAIC collects the data from its Complaint Database System (CDS), where states report "closed" complaints voluntarily, and the NAIC does not collect data from all states.

A total of 222,814 consumer complaints were reported to CDS in 2007.