Today we want to bring to your attention one of the real heroes of our society, somebody who’s everyday work is making a difference in keeping you and your family safe in your neighbourhood.
Mr. Keith Greveling runs an organization called the BC Council of Insurance Ethics. It’s a group dedicated to exposing malfeasance in the property insurance industry. Its website can be found at www.ethicalinsurance.blogspot.ca and is well worth a visit.
Among the many fascinating stories he covers is one particularly bad situation whereby insurance underwriting firms underwrite gangsters and other criminals homes and businesses. Mr. Greveling has made it his cause to put a stop to this practice and has proved to be a real thorn in the side of the property insurance industry that make a lot of money off the proceeds of these arrangements.
The situation is so bad that not only has Mr. Greveling been attacked in the street, but even the authorities have apparently tried to stop him from protecting our families.
And that’s what he’s doing. He’s protecting our families. He understands that if a gangster can’t get insurance for his condo bought with the proceeds of crime, that gangster can’t move into your neighbourhood. And if the gangster can’t move into your neighbourhood then other competing gangsters won’t be coming around to commit acts of violence on your street. Where your children play.
And he is determined come hell or high water, abuse from insurance industry lawyers and corrupt officials notwithstanding, to put a stop to this cozy relationship between criminal groups and those willing to support them.
And it’s been working. We’ve been interviewing insurance brokers to see if they have changed their habits over the last couple of years and the ones that we’ve talked to confirm that they have been forced to look closer at the policyholder, especially if it’s a new policy, going online and doing searches to make sure that the new customer is not a known criminal or that the motorcycle repair shop is really a motorcycle repair shop. But they're not happy about it. We actually had one insurance manager tell us that it really wasn't their "responsibility" to care who they sell their product to.
And make no mistake about it. The industry can reject a potential policyholder if they wish due to the person in question being too high an insurance risk. Even if there are no criminal offenses due to gangland criminals having clever lawyers any insurance broker can deem the customer to be a bad insurance risk and reject them and their property. And in the case of most condominium properties insurance is a requirement of purchase. No insurance policy, no way to buy a unit in most any building.
So by all means visit the site and read all about it. It will make you think about your insurance policy and the impact that an inattentive and/or corrupt property insurance company can have on the lives of you and your family. And maybe give a thought to the man who works so diligently to ‘insure’ that your neighbourhood is safe from organized crime.
