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Nationwide to drop 60,000 Florida policies

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By SHANNON BEHNKEN

sbehnken@tampatrib.com

Published: October 8, 2009

TAMPA - Nationwide Insurance Co. said Wednesday that it plans to drop the homeowners insurance policies of about 60,000 Florida customers.

Only customers with multiple Nationwide policies - such as auto, commercial or power sports - will be kept, said Nancy Smeltzer, spokeswoman for the company. The company has indentified 45,000 of those customers.

"This is part of our efforts to manage risks, maintain viability and remain in a strong position to serve our policyholders that we do have in Florida," she said.

Notices will be sent to customers in January. Customers with policies set to expire in July will be the first affected. The process will take two years as policies come up for renewal.

Nationwide has identified an alternative for customers: the Tower Hill Group, a Gainesville-based insurer.

In August, one of the nation's top insurance-rating agencies raised doubts that Tower Hill could pay claims if more than one major hurricane were to hit Florida this year. Tower Hill officials disagreed with the assessment.

After the nonrenewals, Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide will have more than 275,000 policies in Florida. Policyholders will not be affected during the 2009 hurricane season, Smeltzer said.

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