Home Ownership Warranty Corporation Companies Payments to be Disbursed

At the International Builders' Show it came out that many members invested in a company called Home Ownership Warranty Corporation back in the 80s & 90s. It was a home warranty company that went out business and into receivership some time ago. To make a long story short, the company is going through the liquidation process and many of the original investors are entitled to a return of their capital contributions. The problem is that since so much time has passed, some of the contact information for builders is outdated.

NAHB has created a website to help our builders contact the administrator for HOW Corp and to update their address. There are essentially two links. The background page is available here.

There is another link embedded in the page above which takes you to another page that lays out how to update contact information. There is an April 15 deadline to submit information.

For more details, read the article below:

Twenty-two years after it went into receivership, builders who made capital contributions to the Home Ownership Warranty Corporation companies may be eligible to get some of their money back.

Home Ownership Warranty Insurance Company (HOWIC) was a risk-retention group under the Home Warranty Corporation (HWC). As the parent company, HWC owned all the shares of stock in its operating subsidiaries: HOWIC and the Home Owners Warranty Corporation (HOW), which managed the insurance operations. The three companies are collectively referred to as the HOW Companies.

In 1994, the HOW Companies were placed into receivership. The receiver has now moved forward with plans to liquidate the company and is preparing to distribute payments to former HOW builders with previously approved claims for capital contributions (in legal terms known as eligible Builders).

As part of the liquidation process, the receiver set a deadline of Jan. 12, 2009 by which all claims against the HOW Companies needed to be filed. Any eligible builder seeking return of capital contributions made to the HOW Companies was required to file a claim by that deadline, and many National Association of Home Builders members did so.

After the receiver returns capital contributions to eligible builders, the receiver, as a final step, will distribute residual assets to builders who were insured under unexpired HOWIC insurance policies as of Oct. 14, 1994 (in legal terms known as builder distributees). However, builder distributees do not need to submit claims for their share of the residual assets of the companies.

As a service to the Home Builders Association membership, staff is looking at ways to ensure that the receiver has the up-to-date contact information for all eligible builders and builder distributees, and has posted the relevant contact information on file with receivership staff.

If you are an eligible builder or builder distributee, please read the directions and additional information on this web page.