Dear Bird Talk, We have owned a Park model trailer in central Florida for the past 12 years. We have carried homeowners’ insurance from the same company for the entire time and have never made a claim. This year, we received a letter from the insurance company stating that they will not renew the policy as they are “reducing their hurricane exposure.” I was wondering if the CSA has any advice on how to handle this situation, or affiliation with any insurance companies that would insure Canadian-owned assets in Florida. Thank you for your time and the work you do on behalf of Canadian snowbirds. Signed: “I wish I could limit my exposure to shady insurance companies.” David Anderson Owen Sound, ON Ed.: This is a difficult situation affecting many snowbirds in Florida, and elsewhere for that matter. Insurance losses suffered last year, and in many prior years, have forced several insurance companies out of the market. Hurricanes, floods and raging fires seem to be a normal occurrence now. It appears that Citizens Property Insurance Corporation may be the “only” choice available in Florida. Dealing with a local broker is really your only option in any Southern state – try several. Bird Talk Featuring the letters & concerns of our members SEND YOUR LETTERS TO Bird Talk, c/o CSANews 180 Lesmill Road Toronto, Ontario M3B 2T5 Online at www.snowbirds.org/bird-talk or by e-mail: csawriteus@snowbirds.org Bird Talk Dear Bird Talk, I’m hoping that you can answer a question that many, if not most, snowbirds have. Netflix is working on eliminating the number of accounts that have free riders. My understanding is that you’ll need to log in to your home Wi-Fi at least once a month in order to access your account. Obviously, they didn’t think through what that means for Canadian snowbirds. It appears that this could impact us as early as late February or March of this year. Would you be able to talk to Netflix and see if there is a workaround for those of us who are not cheating, but are away from home for longer than a month? (I tried their chat line with no success.) Shirley-Ann George Ottawa, ON Ed.: Some have suggested cancelling your Canadian Netflix account and opening a new account in the U.S. during the winter months. We believe that such steps should not be necessary. The Canadian Snowbird Association has been in contact with Netflix Inc. to try and remedy this issue and push for a password-sharing policy which is snowbird-friendly. Dear Bird Talk, My I94 indicates that we can stay until June, but the rolling year puts us at ‘over by five days’ in February 2023 for the 8840. Why the discrepancy? Which should I use? Anyone got any insights? Martha Beach Calgary, AB Ed.: Trust your own day count for border crossing and the 8840 form. The 8840 form is an IRS tax form counting the days that you spent in the U.S. in previous calendar years. The I94 is for customs and border protection, different formulas for different purposes. Dear Bird Talk, I have a personal-use condo in Florida which I have had now for seven years. I have a U.S.-dollar mortgage on this condo which is with a U.S. branch of RBC, and they sent me a written request to fix an ITIN mismatch with their records and the IRS. I do not have an ITIN number and my question is whether it’s advisable to get one now – which will be required at some point when I sell – or wait until I sell. Having such a number may benefit me when obtaining U.S. credit cards as well as fulfilling the bank request. The bank has not pushed the issue with me since I have had the mortgage. Larry Billard Pembroke, ON Ed.: It is difficult to obtain an ITIN unless you have an immediate need. Persons who had numbers but had no need to use them had their numbers cancelled and had to reapply when they needed a number for tax purposes. Thus, it is probably best to wait until you have a tax reason to apply for a number, such as when you sell your condo. We use a U.S. bank and debit cards which work amazingly well. Dear Bird Talk, We have had our NEXUS renewal applications submitted and paid for since August 2022. Our current cards expire in August 2023. We have not heard anything from the Canadian or American border people. Is there any group or government representative we can contact to follow up on our renewal status? Gordon & Mary Dolling Cochrane, AB Ed.: If you have not already, you can check for updates on the status of your NEXUS application on the Trusted Traveller Program website, https://ttp.dhs.gov. If your application status is “Pending Review,” then your application has been received and is being processed. Please note that processing times vary by applicant. CSANews | SPRING 2023 | 9
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