Insurance coverage protects us from financial harm when we experience certain covered events, like burglaries and natural disasters. When someone breaks into your home and steals a bunch of electronics and jewelry, you can file a claim and receive money to replace these items. But what happens when you have a large amount of cash stolen in the same incident? Does insurance cover theft of cash, and how much can you expect to be reimbursed?
Most standard homeowners policies include personal property coverage to help pay for items that are stolen from your home. But these coverages typically come with limits that restrict how much of a given item an insurer will reimburse you for in the event of a loss, and many of these limitations are placed on specific types of items, such as jewelry and cash. To get around these limitations, you can often purchase additional riders for high-value items or increase your general personal property limit to compensate for higher amounts of valuables.
Homeowners insurance also frequently covers items in storage, such as a safe deposit box or an attic crawl space. So, if you have cash stored in one of these places, it might be worth adding an endorsement to your policy. It is also possible to add an additional rider for specific items such as guns and cash. This can be helpful to individuals with expensive collections or businesses who store a lot of cash.
Renters insurance, on the other hand, may not offer as much protection for cash. Most renters policies only cover a limited amount of stolen cash, usually no more than a few hundred dollars, even when their personal property limits are tens of thousands of dollars. This is due to the fact that it would be easy for a renter to make a false claim about having a lot of cash stolen in a burglary, so these policies are written to discourage false claims.
Another factor that can impact the amount of a payout for stolen cash is whether the policyholder has actual cash value or replacement cost value coverage. Most standard home and renters policies reimburse for personal property on an actual cash value basis, meaning the insurer will only give you what your item was worth when it was stolen – taking depreciation into account. However, you can usually add an endorsement to a renters policy that will pay on a replacement cost value basis instead of actual cash.
If you suspect that your money has been stolen, contact your insurer right away. They can have you fill out a form or questionnaire and assign you a representative who will walk you through the process of filing a claim. They will probably ask for documentation of the stolen items, such as receipts and photos. This process can be time-consuming, but you can minimize delays by being organized and providing as much information as possible. You can often contact your adjuster via phone, text, email or web portal, and you should be kept up to date on the status of your case.