Social media 'could raise home insurance cost'

By Marianne Straker, Fri 19 Feb 2010 - Published in Home Insurance

People who use social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook could see their home insurance premiums rise, it has been predicted.

Darren Black, head of home insurance at Confused.com, pointed out that social networking is rapidly growing in popularity and more applications used on the platform contain information about the user's location.

"Criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their information gathering even using Google earth and street view to plan their burglaries with military precision. Insurance providers are starting to take this into account when they are assessing claims," he explained.

Mr Black suggested that home insurance providers will start to factor a policyholder's social media use into their pricing and this could cause some people to see premiums rise by up to ten per cent.

In addition, the expert said insurers could turn some claims down based on what information people post on social networks, such as their home address and if they are holiday, should they conclude that the customer to be negligent.

Last month, Sainsbury's Home Insurance reminded people that they could invalidate their policy if they leave their house vacant for more than one month.

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