RICHMOND — A New York-based seller of home warranty products offered and sold contracts to Virginians in violation of a Virginia insurance law that requires licensure by the State Corporation Commission (SCC). Earlier this year, the SCC penalized National Home Protection, Inc. $25,000 and directed the company to stop operating in Virginia as a home protection insurance company without a license.

National Home Protection offers contracts on a nationwide basis through a company-sponsored website. Despite the Commission’s “cease and desist” order, Virginia homeowners shopping for a home service contract may be unaware that the company has never been granted a license by the SCC.

Virginia insurance law regulates both home protection insurance contracts and home service contracts. Home protection and home service contracts provide coverage for the repair, replacement, or maintenance of a system or appliance that becomes inoperable.

The SCC’s Bureau of Insurance is warning consumers that a contract issued to a Virginia resident by an unlicensed company, such as National Home Protection, could lack certain coverages required by Virginia law. Furthermore, unlicensed companies may be unresponsive to Bureau inquiries regarding complaints it receives from homeowners.

The Bureau reminds Virginians to make sure that insurance companies, insurance products, and the individuals promoting them are licensed and approved. For more information, contact the Bureau in Richmond at (804) 371-9741 or toll-free (nationwide) at 1-877-310-6560 or visit: www.scc.virginia.gov/boi .

###

Case Numbers: INS-2008-00030