Cushing Residents Warned About Water Line Insurance Letters

Officials are warning about a letter that could show up in your mailbox. The letter seems to be telling citizens they don't have water line insurance, and at first glance, it looks like it may be from your local government.

This weekend, Cushing residents received the letters. Richard Green got one on Saturday.

"I opened it up and I could not believe you could insure your plumbing, what's the deal," Green chuckled.

The letter notifies the resident that "your property does not have water service line coverage," and the optional coverage is available for $4.99 a month.

"I think you could maybe misinterpret it from being from the city," Cushing Police Chief Terry Brannon said.

A county commissioner turned the letter over to Chief Brannon Monday morning. Brannon investigated if the letter was a scam and found that HomeServe USA is a legitimate company.

However, the Better Business Bureau has a list of more than 100 complaints about the company from across Oklahoma and the United States.

In addition, HomeServe USA had to pay $7,500 in Kentucky and $15,000 in Ohio after the Attorneys General in those states say the company's mailings contained false, misleading or deceptive representations.

It's all information Chief Brannon and City leaders want to make sure residents are aware of.

"We wanted to let them know the City of Cushing was not requiring this water line insurance," Brannon said.

The Cushing city manager says the city maintains the water lines from the curb to the water meter, residents are responsible to the house. If residents feel they need the insurance they can purchase it.

Green says he passed and threw the letter in the trash.

Chief Brannon says they had a problem with a similar mailing last year, and because they have a large elderly population, they wanted to take extra precautions to make sure no one bought something they didn't need.

News 9 did try to contact HomeServe USA, but were unable to reach anyone.