A vast number of flood insurance policyholders are unaware of the discount Community Rating System (CRS) offered through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) by FEMA; specifically, created to give participating communities direct discounts on policyholder’s premiums.
One designation of the FEMA created CRS was to be used as an incentive program for communities around the nation to participate with the NFIP in order to take a more proactive stance against potential flooding within certain flood zones, as well as, an over all aggressive approach to floodplain management.
There are full compliance eligibility requirements for communities to be accepted and verified as a participant.
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The CRS is based upon a credit and classification system. There are 10 different classifications and every community starts with a Class 10 rating. From there, the community begins to gain credit points based on 18 different activities. These 18 activities are divided into four main categories: Public Information, Mapping and Regulation, Flood Damage Reduction, and Flood Preparedness. FEMA sets the CRS classification based upon the credit points of each community. This classification determines the premium discounts policyholders are entitled to. The premium discounts which should be applied to every policyholder’s premiums range from 5 percent to 45 percent as recognition of the proactive floodplain management.
During this economic crisis, which everyone is experiencing a budget crunch; it would be prudent of each flood insurance policyholder to request from their local agent a detail analysis of their premium calculation. Once received, the policyholder can easily compare the premium calculation with the CRS table to locate the prescribed and mandated premium discounts.
This is just one avenue to investigate to make sure that you the consumers are getting the best from the NFIP.
For your convenience, the FEMA CRS link is provided below.