Later I moved into a room in a house and again the landlord asked me to carry a policy but told me it was optional. So I opted not to. He could care less as long as my rent check came in each month. again, the perfect system. After 6 months he kicked us out of his house so a coworker would have a place to live. Bummer.
My two roommates and I decided to find an apartment together. The lease required that we carry renters insurance. Luckily it didn't state that we each had to carry a policy. My roommate Laquanda had renters insurance so I just forwarded the info to the leasing office and that was that. Another year I didn't have to carry a policy.
At the end of our lease we went our separate ways and I had to find another place to live. I found an apartment where they rented out the rooms individually. It was really cheap and I later found out why. The place was just on the border of being condemned. The price was right. They even had you buy a renters insurance policy instead of paying a deposit. I thought this was pretty crooked but it was cheaper than buying my own policy. It cost around $16 a month and this was nothing more than a worthless bill since I still have no possessions worth insuring at this point.
I only lasted 3 month in this dump before I couldn't take it anymore and leased my own apartment. It's very small but I am the only occupant. Which also means I have to carry a renters insurance policy according to the lease. I tried to avoid buying a policy again but then I was informed I would not be receiving the keys to my apartment without proof of a policy. I had car insurance through GEICO so I decided to go through them to buy a renters insurance policy. They even said I could get a discount on my auto insurance by bundling. Sign me up.
GEICO directed me to another company called Assurance. The policy was going to be $11 a month. Great. I bought it, moved in and forgot all about it.
After a few months I was reviewing my credit card statement and it said Assurance was charging me $16 a month. How could this be? I called the help line to get some answers. After navigating an extensive phone tree and being put on hold a few times I reached an agent. He told me that Assurance was allowed to charge me $5 a month to process my payment. I informed him that was not going to work for me an I needed to find a way to eliminate the fee or I would be canceling the policy. He laughed and told me that the only way I would be able to avoid the fee would be to pay the entire year in full and that in Texas this was a common practice. Then I laughed and told him that sounded like bull shit and I would be calling back in a few days to cancel this policy when I found a cheaper one that doesn't just steal money from its customers. He wished me luck.
After a little shopping around I found a policy with an online renters insurance company called Lemonade. It could be called Fake Insurance Company for all I care. All I want is proof that I have a policy since I never plan to make a claim even if all the filthy rags I call clothing end up getting stolen. $5.75 a month. Then even agreed to cancel my old policy so I didn't need to contact Assurance again. That is a savings of $10.25 a month on something I do not care about. Success.
The next step is to create my own fake insurance shell company based out of the Cayman islands. Then I can write a policy for myself that is just as valuable as the toilet paper policy I am currently paying for at no cost. Not a bad idea.
https://www.offshorecompany.com/company/cayman-islands/