Carol Pope

Carol Pope is a licensed insurance agent and senior writer for LendingTree. She’s held her property and casualty license since 2010 and at one point was licensed in 36 states. Carol was an insurance writer for Bankrate before joining LendingTree in 2023.

Carol’s insurance roots started at Geico, where she was an auto insurance agent for 12 years. She spent time in customer service, sales, underwriting and quality monitoring. Working both with the public and with agents internally has given her a deep understanding of the insurance industry and the needs of policyholders across the country.

My insurance knowledge helped me avoid a scam. In my area, fraudsters sometimes target drivers by claiming their windshield is damaged and offering a “free” replacement. They pressure the car owner to sign paperwork that authorizes the fraudster to file an insurance claim on the driver’s behalf, even when no repair is actually needed. The fraudster then files the claim, gets shoddy work done (if work is done at all) and pockets the leftover claim payout.

One day, solicitors knocked on my door and said my windshield was cracked. It wasn’t. They told me they could connect me with a windshield repair company and help me get it fixed at no cost. Because this is a common insurance scam where I live, I recognized the warning signs right away. When I told them I was an insurance agent, they practically ran off my property.