There seem to be quite a few misconceptions regarding how much claims adjusters earn per year.
Many people seem to think that their compensation is very low, when in fact the opposite is true.
How much does a claims adjuster really earn then?
The U.S. Department of Labor states that the average compensation was about 44,500 in 2005, this figure being an average between 27,000 and 72,000 dollars.
What immediately catches the eye is the disproportion between these two figures and which kind of claims adjuster earns the bottom figure and which is the top?
There are basically two types of claims adjusters, those who receive basic salaries and are in the insurance career and those who have their own personal business and work as third-party contractors for adjusting companies.
Another difference will be discernable depending on what kind of claim is handled as far as independent claims adjusters are concerned and the compensation they can expect to receive.
It is evident then that an independent adjuster is likely to earn much more than a staff adjuster and the difference can be quite striking.
An independent adjuster can earn more than 100,000 dollars per annum if there are many catastrophe claims, which are the ones that bring in more compensation.
Although staff adjusters have a reasonable constant salary, independent ones have a better opportunity to make good money, who gain compensation as a percentage of the amount of claim they are able to settle for.
This compensation is defined as a fee schedule and will be different with each insurance company and storm situation that has to be solved.
Each claim will bring a different compensation figure varying from 500 to 10,000, and a good claims adjuster can close up to four claims daily if she or he works well.
This means that an independent adjuster who works on catastrophe claims can make more than one thousand dollars every day, which added up can make a very large annual sum.
Although these figures are alluring, catastrophe claims are not all that frequent and there can be periods when there is little business and much competition when a claims opportunity crops up.
However, when a disaster does strike there is a huge opportunity to make quite a large sum of money.
Whatever type of claims adjuster you may think of becoming, both staff and independent claims adjusters can earn a good income and the latter can even bring in quite amazing compensations.
