Ninety-thousand customers of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. are receiving what every Florida property owner wants: an invitation to lower insurance rates. However, not every recipient is jumping at the chance.

The invitation comes in the form of a letter from American Integrity Insurance Group of Florida, a new Tampa-based insurance company. The letter states recipients will be offered a policy with lower rates at the time of renewal. Their Citizens policies automatically will transfer to the new company unless they complete and return an attached form by Friday.

Consumer Wary Of New Company

Tom Hunter of Oldsmar said he is skeptical.

"It doesn't give any information about what the policy is, how much they'll insure you for, [whether it] is the same thing as with Citizens," Hunter said.

Providing specifics is unfeasible at this time, American Integrity spokeswoman Lisa Miller said.

"Assuming 60-plus-thousand policies is a mammoth task for any company, not just American Integrity. And in the short amount of time we have to meet regulatory guidelines, to physically underwrite price and give specific information about every policy on February 28th or March 2nd or March 12th would be physically … impossible," Miller said.

Citizens, the state's insurer of last resort, regularly transfers policies to private "takeout" companies, which, by law, must offer lower rates to policyholders who transfer to them.

This round of takeouts is part of the new law that resulted from January's special legislative session. It gives consumers the choice to stay with Citizens or go with a new company. Previously, customers didn't have the choice.

Miller said the policies selected by her company are spread across the state and were chosen based on an "insurance model that best tells the company what is the best geographic dispersion of risk."

The company is licensed with the Department of Financial Services' Office of Insurance Regulation, spokesman Bob Lotane said. He said consumers who go with American Integrity could see rates decrease 5 percent to 15 percent.

Hunter is concerned about the "newness" of American Integrity and asked why the letters didn't come from his insurance agent.

Miller said that by law, insurers must contact policyholders directly after receiving agreements from their agents.

For all of the problems Citizens has faced, "at least it's an established company," Hunter said. But because American Integrity is licensed, customers are protected by the state.

More Letters On The Way

More insurance customers may receive similar letters from other companies soon. Lotane said one company is under review, and a new company has made inquiries about the application process to write insurance business in the state. Questions about the legitimacy of an insurance company can be answered by the Department of Financial Services customer hot line: 1-800-342-2762.

Hunter has five more days to decide what he'll do.

"I don't know if we'll just let it ride and American Integrity will become our insurance or we'll send them the rejection letter. We don't know yet," Hunter said.

If you have a consumer question, call the hotline weekdays between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at 1-800-338-0808.