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Consumer Services
The Office of Consumer Services provides assistance to consumers on a wide range of insurance claims and policy issues. The Consumer Services staff responds to consumer needs relating to auto, health, homeowners, and life insurance; provides consumers with market assistance by helping to identify hard-to-place insurance coverage within the insurance market; and assists consumers following a catastrophic event.
File a Complaint
- Online Consumer Complaint Form
- Consumer Complaint Form (PDF Version)
Important Note for Consumers Represented by Legal Counsel
If you are represented by an attorney in the subject matter of your complaint, you must provide written authorization from your attorney in order for us to intervene in the matter. You may provide this authorization by: (1) including a letter of authorization with your complaint that is signed by your attorney on their letterhead; or (2) having your attorney co-sign the complaint form and including their phone number. Alternatively you may elect to have your attorney file the complaint on your behalf.
One of the primary missions of the South Carolina Department of Insurance is to serve and protect the insurance consumer. To fulfill that mission, the South Carolina Department of Insurance provides the valuable service of working with consumers and insurers to address consumer complaints. Complaints provide a great deal of information about the industry, individual insurers, and real-time consumer concerns, including emerging issues in the marketplace. The complaints received by the Department are analyzed, recorded, and tracked. The South Carolina Department combines the yearly complaint activity for consumers in the Consumer Complaint Summary.
The Consumer Complaint Summary is an annual report that provides a list of companies with more than $100,000 in written premium by line of business, the total number of complaints received by our Department, the number of confirmed complaints analyzed by our Department, the confirmed complaints as a percentage of total complaints, and the U.S. Market Share. If you have questions regarding a company not listed, please contact the South Carolina Department of Insurance.
Consumer Complaint Summary Definitions:
A complaint is defined as any written communication that expresses dissatisfaction with a specific person or entity subject to regulation under the state’s insurance laws. An oral communication, which is subsequently converted to a written form, will meet the definition of complaint for this purpose.
A confirmed complaint is defined as a complaint where insurers, licensees, producers, or other regulated entities committed any violation of:
- An applicable state insurance law or regulation;
- A federal requirement that the state department of insurance has the authority to enforce
- The term/condition of an insurance policy or certificate
- The complaint and entity’s response, considered together, indicate that the entity was in error. The determination as to whether a complaint is confirmed or not is made as a part of the analysis of the complaint filed by the SCDOI Office of Consumer Services staff.
Confirmed Complaints as a % of Total Complaints is the Confirmed Complaints divided by the Total Complaints, then multiplied by 100.
U.S. Market Share is calculated as the premiums or the number of policies written nationwide for the company divided by the total of premiums or the number of policies written nationwide. The market share assists the consumer in identifying the companies with the most impact on the market and the degree of competition in the market.
When shopping for an insurance policy one factor you may wish to consider is how one company’s number of complaints relates to those of other similarly sized companies. However, remember this is only one of the factors to consider when selecting a company to provide your insurance needs.
The following links provide the Complaint Summaries by type of coverage:
Auto Insurance | Homeowner's Insurance | Title Insurance | Workers Comp Insurance
Group Accident & Health Insurance | Individual Accident & Health Insurance | Group Annuity Insurance
Individual Annuity Insurance | Group Life Insurance | Individual Life Insurance
The SCDOI’s Office of Consumer Services can help answer your questions.
Email: consumers@doi.sc.gov │ Call: 803-737-6180│ Toll-Free: 1-800-768-3467
Mon -Fri 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
If you would like to report suspected insurance fraud, please visit our Fraud Division page and file your complaint through our online complaint form.