Selling your home can be emotional, particularly when it holds decades of memories. When a South Florida man sold his, his old insurance company kept charging him. After trying to fix it on his own, he turned to Help Me Howard with Brandon Beyer.<\/p>\n
Eugene Boykins Jr. spent 30 years building a life inside his Miami Gardens home. Over that time his family filled it with joy and heartache too.<\/p>\n
Eugene Boykins Jr.: \u201cI raised my children there. My wife died in it \u2026 Great memories.\u201d<\/p>\n
But rising costs eventually forced a tough decision.<\/p>\n
Eugene Boykins Jr.: \u201cI downsized plus the mortgage was getting so high. So I sold it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just over a year ago, he downsized and moved into a rental. Adjusting to a simpler life on a fixed income. Looking back through old photos the emotions come right back.<\/p>\n
Interviewer: \u201cSo you did have a lot of great memories there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eugene Boykins Jr.: \u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interviewer: \u201cAnd you don\u2019t miss it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Eugene Boykins Jr.: \u201cNo because my wife\u2019s not there so I don\u2019t miss it.\u201d<\/p>\n
While his living situation changed, something else remained: charges tied to his old home.<\/p>\n
Eugene Boykins Jr.: \u201cI sold the house 13 months ago and I\u2019m still paying insurance on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says $600 a month kept coming out of his bank account. The company who insured his home was still charging him.<\/p>\n
Eugene Boykins Jr.: \u201cI mean it\u2019s just like me throwing my money up in the air, they just take it and I ain\u2019t get nothing for it. I don\u2019t feel I should be paying insurance on a house I don\u2019t live in.\u201d<\/p>\n
He called to cancel his policy when he sold the home, but the withdrawals continued for over a year. And by the time he caught it thousands were gone. He contacted the insurance company but says he was told refunds would only go back a few months.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when he called Help Me Howard.<\/p>\n
Eugene Boykins Jr.: \u201cI thought maybe you could help me get my money back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Howard, the insurance company was billing him for a home he no longer owned, can they avoid a full refund?<\/p>\n
Howard Finkelstein: \u201cNo, you don\u2019t have to pay insurance on a home you no longer own. However, it is important to cancel the policy the correct way. It needs to be in writing to avoid a situation like this. In some cases, even if you don\u2019t cancel properly, you can still get that money back.\u201d<\/p>\n
We contacted the insurance company and mailed to them a letter on Eugene\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n
A few weeks later, the charges stopped and a full refund arrived in the mail.<\/p>\n
Eugene Boykins Jr.: \u201cIt was the most beautiful thing ever. I received my money like I talked to the lady in charge. She sent both checks to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eugene Boykins Jr.: \u201cHelp Me Howard is the one to call.\u201d<\/p>\n
Howard says if you do cancel something by phone, make sure you get confirmation in writing. Ask them to send an email or letter or even a text.
And follow up if you don\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n
Got a problem? Need a hand? Here\u2019s how to reach us below. It\u2019s Help Me Howard, I\u2019m Brandon Beyer, 7News.<\/p>\n
CONTACT HELP ME HOWARD Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/p>\n \tJoin our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Selling your home can be emotional, particularly when it holds decades of memories. When a South Florida man…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-223069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Email:\u00a0helpmehoward@wsvn.com<\/a>
Reporter: Brandon Beyer at\u00a0bbeyer@wsvn.com<\/a>
Miami-Dade: 305-953-WSVN
Broward: 954-761-WSVN<\/p>\n