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...ncy. Offering Life and Health insurance involves Errors & Omissions exposu...ection that Professional Liability insurance provides — and the security of E&O will help you p...

... O claims during the hard market. Here are some of the issues you might want to address: COVERAGE REDUCTIONS AND CARRIER CHANGES Coverage reductions required by carriers. Often, to keep a premium at competitive levels or (more likely) to limit loss exposures, an insurer might suggest coverage or limit reductions. Be wary of such new exclusions as terrorism and mold. It's critical to advise your insured of any coverage reductions before renewal. The same holds true if the carrier will only renew at lower limits and/or increased deductible ... others sometimes do crazy things to keep an account. Be sure to focus on areas that might increase the frequency and/or severity of E&O claims during the hard market. Here are some of the issues you might want to address: COVERAGE REDUCTIONS AND CARRIER CHANGES Coverage reductions required by carriers. Often, to keep a premium at competitive levels or (more likely) to limit loss exposures, an insurer might suggest coverage or limit reductions. Be wary of such new exclusions as terrorism and mold. It's critical to ... to a new insurer, watch for coverage reductions, especially when moving from one proprietary company package to another. Since these moves are often done at the last minute, make sure that nothing slips through the cracks by having more than one person review such accounts for errors or omissions. USING E&S , RESIDUAL, AND OTHER MARKETS In recent years, the E&S marketplace grew at a rate twice that of the standard market. Expect this rate to increase significantly during a hard market. Devote ample attention to E ...

...operly documented? Were insurance company underwriting guidelines and... an opportunity to address the problem and perhaps take steps to prevent simil...

...0 years ago courts did not treat insurance agents as professionals and as a re...olvencies will continue to be of major and immediate concern for agents during...

... thousands of articles, checklists, tip sheets, sales letters, and more! Communications Marketing Customer Service Planning Finance/Accounting Risk Management Human Resources Selling Legal and E&O Technology Life/Financial Services Glossaries Management Resources & Links Categories Popular Recent All Back Certificates Of Insurance, Binders And Evidences Of Insurance: What's The Difference?4/30/2013 12:00:00 AM by CompleteMarkets Editor , Chris Burand This content has not been rated yet. I visit many agencies and interview hundreds of customer service representatives, account ... . This is why many agency personnel use binders, certificates, and evidences of insurance almost interchangeably, which is a huge mistake. Because binders are contracts, the people writing the contracts absolutely must know whether they have the authority to do so. This is why carriers provide binding guidelines to every agency that has binding authority with them. Although some carriers have made it more difficult to find these guidelines in recent years, the guidelines still exist. I often find that less than 25% of an agency's staff has a copy ... the agency's binding authority. In some cases, agency management doesn't want the staff to know and simply allows them to write binders anyway. This is stupid. If staff and producers have authority from agency management to write binders, and assuming management wants the job done correctly, they must know the agency's binding authority! (" Guidelines" is a misnomer, because it's really a list of the agency's contractual binding authority by line.) . Some agency managers don't want staff to write binders, but fail to communicate this. ...

...hrough failure to renew expiring insurance (whether insured is contacted or no...g to an insured that you do not understand. Promise anything that yo...

Why Errors and Omissions Insurance Is Critical for Service-Based Busin...le to move forward with peace of mind and grow in the knowledge that, even if...

... have thousands of articles, checklists, tip sheets, sales letters, and more! Communications Marketing Customer Service Planning Finance/Accounting Risk Management Human Resources Selling Legal and E&O Technology Life/Financial Services Glossaries Management Resources & Links Categories Popular Recent All Back Selecting Insurance Companies 4/30/2013 10:35:26 PM by CompleteMarkets Editor , Carol Hammes This content has not been rated yet. SELECTING INSURANCE COMPANIES Agents' Responsibility for Company Insolvency by Carol Hammes Beware these warning signs of carrier financial instability. Financial stability ... one of the most important criteria for selecting and retaining an insurance company partner. The insolvency of a major carrier can prove disastrous, disrupting your agency, your reputation, and your insureds. And even if you survive the immediate crisis, the effects on productivity can linger for years, especially if you must defend E&O suits resulting from the carrier's financial difficulties. In the past 30 years approximately 650 P/C insurance companies have disappeared due to financial difficulties. More than half of these resulted from deficiencies in loss reserves ... generally the impact of poor management practices. Cash-flow underwriting and increases in short-term earnings intoxicated inexperienced management teams, who failed to recognize the dangers lurking in the quick fix. In the past, courts generally didn't regard insurance agents as professionals, thus absolving them of any errors & omissions exposures when a carrier became insolvent. With "professional" status came specific standards of conduct. Since 1975 the courts have required agents to have adequate knowledge of their companies and of coverages. If due diligence would have revealed financial difficulties before an agent ...

...'approved' by your Department of Insurance. Some risks might not be placed in ...are coverage reductions, lower limits, and higher deductibles, expect E&O claims and suits to increase. Proper documenta...

...n go unshod' could apply to many insurance agencies today. Thousands of agents don’t carry any E&O insurance at all, and many more might not hav...dures that will treat customers fairly and respect their intelligence and decision-making capabilities. Keep them informed of good news and bad in a timely manner. And meet their needs with courtesy and professionalism. A satisfied insure...