Community Associations Crime Insurance
Coverage for financial losses related to business crimes.
Protect Your Clients Funds
Protect your association clients against financial crimes. In the event of employee dishonesty, computer fraud, forgery, or theft your Community Associations Crime Insurance ensures your association will be protected against financial loss.
With flexible limits that range from $10,000 and up to $5M, you'll be able to get the coverage that addresses your client's specific needs.
Easy and fast online Submit-Quote-Bind.
$5M
Up to $5M in Limits
Available in all states except Illinois
Online Submit-Quote-Bind
what kind of Association?
The Community Associations Crime Program was designed for:
- Condominium Associations (COAs)
- Homeowners Associations (HOAs)
- Planned Unit Developments (PUDs)
- Cooperatives (CO-OPs)
- Property Owners Associations (POAs)
- Commercial Condominiums
- Mixed-Use Condominiums
Not For Profit Associations
Electronic Banking
Claims Free For 5 Years
Comprehensive Coverage.
This program includes coverage for criminal activity including employee dishonesty, forgery or alteration, computer fraud, theft, and more. Your clients can rest assured their funds will be protected from a wide range of unlawful acts.
Online Submit-Quote-Bind.
With our online portal, you can submit, quote, and bind at your convenience. Everything you need is available at the click of a few buttons. And if you need support, we're here for that too.
Industry-leading Expertise.
We've been serving associations almost as long as they've been around. You'll be able to rely on our experience and expertise to build your specialization and win accounts in this market.
Superior Claims Service.
We hear from our brokers how important and valuable our dedicated claims management is for both them and their clients. When it counts, we'll be there.
Features
- Discovery Form
- Flexible limits options for each insuring agreement
- A managing agent endorsement
- Financials are not necessary to bind
- One step, online quoting and policy issuance
- Limits start at $10,000 and can be increased up to $5M
- Various deductibles are available, including high-deductible options allowing our policy to sit above another
- “Cafeteria Style” option to choose a different limit and deductible for each insuring agreement
Available in all states except Illinois
Designed For:
- Condominium Associations (COAs)
- Homeowners Associations (HOAs)
- Planned Unit Developments (PUDs)
- Cooperatives (CO-OPs)
- Property Owners Associations (POAs)
- Commercial Condominiums
- Mixed-Use Condominiums
First-Party Coverage – Fraudulent acts committed by board members, employees, volunteers, or property managers.
- Employee Theft
Third-Party Coverage – Fraudulent acts committed by perpetrators not employed or associated with the association.
- Forgery or Alteration
- Inside the Premises - Theft of Money & Securities
- Inside the Premises - Robbery or Safe Burglary of Other Property
- Outside the Premises
- Computer & Funds Transfers Fraud
- Money Orders & Counterfeit Money
The coverage information outlined here is a guideline only. Please refer to the actual policies for full terms, conditions, exclusions, and limitations. In the event of a conflict between this document and the actual policies, the policies will control.
- Berkley Insurance, A.M Best Rating A+ XV
Community associations are typically required in their bylaws to carry Crime and Employee Dishonesty (Fidelity) insurance to protect the money an association has in its operating and reserve accounts. The Employee Dishonesty portion of a Commercial Crime policy covers employee theft; for a community association, this should not only cover board members but also volunteers, community managers, management company agents, and temporary and leased employees. In order for coverage to kick in, an employee dishonesty claim must be deemed a theft; i.e., embezzlement, check fraud, invoice padding, etc. Coverage would not be provided for loss of funds that were simply “lost” by an employee without the requisite intent to steal.
It’s also important for insureds to understand that Commercial Crime insurance is not designed to cover a loss that is known before coverage is obtained, nor, similarly, a loss suspected beforehand. If an association suspects ongoing employee embezzlement and then purchases coverage, losses incurred prior to the policy being in place will not be covered.
Why are community associations targets of employee theft?
Many associations have a significant amount of money set aside for future capital expenditures including for improvements. Oftentimes, the associations are less active and have fewer eyes on this money, which makes them an easy target. There have been instances where the reserve account was split between different banks, CDs or other interest-bearing accounts. Individuals have submitted false or padded invoices, created false bank records, income statements, and used associations debit or credit cards for non-association purposes. In one case, for example, a former HOA manager in collusion with her ex-husband stole $3.8 million using falsified invoices for construction work.
Mitigating crime losses
There are steps an association can take to protect itself from employee theft and other types of commercial crimes that you can share with your insureds, including:
- Segregation of duties surrounding tasks such as deposits, bank reconciliations, check signing, inventory/property control, and wire transfer approval;
- Having annual comprehensive audits performed by an outside party (CPA firm);
- Countersignatures for checks;
- Use of “Positive Pay” or similar online banking control tool;
- Implementation of computer protections such as password controls and encryption of data;
- Physical access controls surrounding high-value property; and
- Procedures surrounding the approval and setup of vendors and client accounts.
The more communication and “checks and balances”, the better associations will be able to mitigate employee theft exposures.
Ready To
Submit?
It's easy. Just go to our online portal and get started. If you haven't registered as a broker, you'll need to do that first. And if you need any help, we're here.