ACORD Certificates of Insurance – What Certificate Holders and Providers Need to Know

The Certificate and Evidence of Insurance forms which ACORD made effective in late 2009/early 2010 have raised alarm among insurance certificate holders and the insureds that must provide them. Unless insurers issue manuscript endorsements to their policies (which is unlikely), insurers no longer make any pledge that they will even attempt to notify most certificate holders if the policies are cancelled. The new certificate forms have eliminated the assurance that the insurer would “endeavor to mail __ days written notice to the certificate holder.” They simply state that “…should any of the above described policies be cancelled before the expiration date thereof, notice will be delivered in accordance with the policy provisions.”

What does that mean to certificate holders under standard insurance policies?

Liability and auto – Even if a certificate holder is an additional insured, it will not be notified if the policy is cancelled. Only the First Named Insured will be notified.

Workers compensation – Certificate holders will not be notified of cancellation, since the policy requires the insurance company to notify only the covered employer.

Property – Mortgagees and loss payees on standard property policies will be notified – 10 days before the insurer cancels for nonpayment, 30 days before it cancels for any other reason and 10 days before it nonrenews the policy (unless modified by state requirements). Other certificate holders, even additional insureds, will not be notified.

All policies – Certificate holders, even additional insureds, will not be notified if the insured itself cancels the policy.
How should insurance requirements in contracts be changed in order to respond?

Contract language requiring insurance certificates to state that “__ days notice of cancellation be given” and requiring that the “endeavor to” language in the certificate be deleted, is no longer applicable. Even if changes are made to the certificate, ACORD has made it exceedingly clear that changes to the certificate do not change the policy.

The contract should require that the insured party provide immediate notice to the owner, lessor, etc. if the insured entity receives notice of cancellation or nonrenewal from its insurer. This provision is especially important since many insurers will not be willing to comply with the recommendations below, especially for smaller insureds. Unfortunately, this has the obvious drawback of depending on the very party who is non-performing to report the non-performance.

Contracts should require that the insured’s policies be endorsed to meet the certificate holder’s reasonable requirements. (However, as stated above, not all insurers will be willing to cooperate.) If the insurer is somewhat cooperative, it may be willing to extending the same notification rights to the certificate holder that it gives to the first Named Insured. Below is sample manuscript endorsement wording that would accomplish that end. Very large insureds may be able to obtain even broader notification rights.
“If we cancel or elect not to renew this policy, we will give written notice to ____________ at the following address __________________. We will provide the same notice of cancellation and nonrenewal that is required by this policy to the first Named Insured.”

So if the certificate holder is given the same notice of cancellation and nonrenewal as the first Named Insured, what does that actually mean with standard policies?

Standard commercial insurance policies provide the first Named Insured with 10 days notice of cancellation for nonpayment of premium. If the insurer cancels mid-term for any reason besides non-payment of premium, commercial general liability, automobile and property policies provide 30 days notice of cancellation. Workers compensation policies, however, provide only 10 days notice of mid-term cancellation. If an insurer nonrenews a policy versus cancelling it mid-term, it may nonrenew a commercial automobile or workers compensation policy without any advance notice at all. Property policies may also be nonrenewed without any advance notice to the insured, but if there is a mortgagee or loss payee on the policy, they must be given at least 10 days advance notice. General liability policies may be nonrenewed with just 30 days notice.

State laws in most states change the above requirements, requiring more notice in many situations. For instance, Florida requires that carriers provide the first Named Insured with 45 days notice of cancellation in some circumstances. The provisions of the different state laws are often complicated, differing not only by line of coverage but also by length of time the policy has been in force, the specific reasons for the cancellation or nonrenewal, etc. The specific state requirements can be accessed through the IRMI Insurance Cancellation Guide published by the International Risk Management Institute.

The larger the insured client, the more likely that it will be able to obtain additional concessions from its insurer. If possible, those additional provisions should require:

Advance notice to the certificate holder even if the insured initiates the cancellation or nonrenewal and
Minimum cancellation and nonrenewal provisions, regardless of what is provided by the standard policies or various state laws.
Why not just require the old form?

You may ask, “Why doesn’t the certificate holder simply require the insured and its insurance agent to provide the old certificate of insurance form?” What certificate holders and insureds should know is that if an agent does modify a standard certificate or signs a custom one that provides notice of cancellation, it is almost certainly doing so against the explicit direction of the insurance company. So while the certificate holder may have a paper in its hand which states that the insurance company will provide notice of cancellation, the insurer will not stand behind it. If coverage is cancelled, all that the certificate holder has probably gained is the right to sue the agent and its errors and omissions carrier. Since the agent is probably executing the modified certificate with the full knowledge that it is not authorized to do so, coverage under its errors and omissions policy is suspect. For a fuller understanding of why an agent executing modified certificates is engaging in a practice which may be unauthorized, deceptive and potentially illegal, please see the article written by Bill Wilson of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America at http://www.iiaba.net/eprise/main/VU/NonMember/WilsonCancellationNotice.htm.

Vendor solutions

I am aware of about 20 different vendors who provide some form of insurance certificate and verification service. I have found only one vendor that provides a certificate service that completely bypasses ACORD certificates and their problems. I pass on their information as a service to readers. Their name is Ins-Cert Corporation, and information on their services can be found by doing an Internet search under that name. Their system is Web-based and requires the agent/broker to agree to make a “good faith effort” to enter notices of cancellation into their system. The system then automatically sends cancellation notices to all certificate holders by email. Their system appears to offer a solution to both the problem of cancellation notices and also the problem of fraudulent ACORD certificates. From my investigation I believe they offer a legitimate service and are worthy of consideration. Readers of this paper who have found other workable solutions to this problem are asked to contact me.

Why the “Good Ol’ Days” Weren’t Really So Good -

Certificate holders certainly wish that the insurance industry would find a way to notify them when an insurance policy is cancelled. But in reality, they may not have lost much in this change besides the illusion that the insurer would notify them.

Many insureds have a “blanket additional insured” endorsement on their liability policies. That means that anyone that the insured agrees to name as an additional insured in a contract is automatically given that status in its insurance policy. But that also means that the insurance company does not obtain the names and addresses of those additional insureds, so the insurer does not know who they are or how to notify them.

Certificate holders would reasonably assume that as a matter of good faith, insurers would require that the agents/brokers send them a list of all of the certificates that they issued so that the insurer could “endeavor” to give notice of cancellation. Incredibly, that is not the case. Many carriers have explicitly told the agents/brokers not to send them copies of the certificates.
Since many insurance carriers have not made the good faith effort to comply with the notice requirements of the old certificate forms, not much is lost by eliminating the notice requirements altogether. At least false promises are no longer being made.

Closing thought

In writing about these changes on its own Website ACORD explained that it had to change its certificates because they sometimes contradicted or expanded the duties contained in the underlying insurance policies. Unfortunately, they were not able to cooperate with the other players in the insurance industry (the insurance companies, ISO and NCCI) to craft a solution which solved that problem while also meeting the legitimate business need of certificate holders to receive a cancellation notice. The outcry from the business community may need to get much louder before a better solution to this problem is reached.

The information presented here is necessarily general and is not intended as legal advice.

Brent Winans, CPCU, ARM is VP of Risk Management Services for the Plastridge Agency in Delray Beach, FL. He is available to give a humorous (Yes, humorous!) and informative presentation on this subject to interested audiences. He also provides assistance in drafting contemporary and achievable insurance and risk management language for contracts as well as providing other fee based (no insurance sales) risk management services.

See http://www.plastridgeinsurance.com/rics.htm

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Brent_Winans/977309

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An Inside Look at the Importance of a Smile in Sales

If you’re in sales, then you’ve probably heard all sorts of advice, from “don’t oversell” to “focus on solving problems.” However, one of the best pieces of advice that many forget is to smile! After all, your smile is one of the first features people notice about you, and it plays an essential role in the first impression you make. Keep reading to learn all about the importance of a smile in sales (as well as how cosmetic dentistry can help!).

Smile: Your Sale Depends on It!

Knowing your product and knowing your audience are key in sales. However, you don’t get far if your client doesn’t trust you or believe you. That’s why it’s so important to make a good first impression! Here are a few ways a smile can help:

• Smiling is more powerful than you might think – One study found that smiling has the same effect on our brain as $25,000 in cash!

• Smiling communicates your state of mind – Smiling is a non-verbal cue that you are happy to be where you are, that you are confident in your product, and that you are ready and willing to help.

• Smiling creates a ripple effect of positivity – Have you ever seen a friend yawn and done the same? Or seen someone take a sip of water and immediately realized you’re thirsty? Thanks to the mirroring neurons in our brains, we naturally mimic the behavior of those around us.

But What If You Don’t Like Your Smile?

If you don’t like your smile, don’t worry – that’s where cosmetic dentistry comes in. Whether you’re struggling with misaligned, misshapen, cracked, or otherwise imperfect teeth, your smile goals aren’t out of reach. The first step? Scheduling an appointment with a skilled cosmetic dentist. For both my father and myself, providing high-quality, personalized, and judgment-free dentistry is a passion. There’s truly nothing better than seeing someone walk out of our office with a dazzling, confident smile! So, don’t wait to make your dream smile a reality – it could make all of the difference when it comes to your personal and professional life!

The Best Job In The World?

1999 was probably the worst year of my professional life. Unsatisfying office jobs followed by long periods of unemployment and claiming benefits. I’d also missed out on an opportunity to train as a Microsoft certified programmer because I was unable to find a placement. The dream of making my way into the world of employment had turned into an absolute nightmare, at times I felt like a total failure.

Towards the end of 1999 an opportunity arose for me to work in a casino. I’d always loved card games after seeing the glitz and glamour of casinos in James Bond movies. Dissatisfied with life in Northern Ireland, at the age of just 20, I packed a couple of suitcases and ended up going to the Isle of Man to train as a croupier (casino dealer) in January 2000. 18 months later I was working on my first cruise ship, and 18 months after that I was boarding the QE2 (the most famous ship of them all) to do a world cruise.

For a young man from a housing estate in Antrim, Northern Ireland this was beyond even my wildest dreams. On a ferry from Belfast to Liverpool in 1997, I’d once seen a pontoon table and croupier and dreamt what it may be to work as a casino dealer on the high seas.

Everything aboard the QE2 was as you would expect, starting with Captain Ron Warwick, who looked exactly what the captain of the QE2 should look like (Google the name if you don’t believe me). Passenger facing crew were immaculate in their appearance. I could probably have shaved with the crease on my pressed tuxedo shirts, and on a number of occassions when I had been sunburnt in port, I could feel the creases cutting into my tender skin as I dealt the cards that evening in the casino.

The great thing for croupiers on cruise ships is that they only work when the ship is in international waters, in port, the casino must close, and casino staff are free to do pretty much whatever they want. Casino staff have a cabin steward who cleans their cabin and takes away their dirty laundry and brings it back fresh each day. We did a 103 day world cruise which included stops in places like Hong Kong, Sydney, Cape Town, Hawaii, Mauritius, Nagasaki, Tahiti and Singapore to name a few. I managed to do some amazing excursions like diving in the great barrier reef, quad biking in the Namibian desert, and dining in all sorts of fine restaurants, trying delicacies like Springbok, Kangaroo, Crocodile and Kobe beef. We made stops in 5 continents, crossed the equator and even experienced living a Tuesday in consequetive days when we crossed the world timeline. Imagine that, you go to bed on Tuesday night, wake up the following morning and its Tuesday again, but this was far from groundhog day.

The role in the casino was not about taking passengers’ money like in a land-based casino, it was about providing them with fun and entertainment. The passengers were friendly and pleasant, many of them being extremely successful people (I understand the lowest cabin cost for a world cruise on the QE2 was about $50,000 in 2003). A lot of the passengers had never played in a casino and were fascinated to learn and experience the one onboard. Just getting to know some of these people was an experience in itself, and a large part of the role in the casino was simply to entertain them whilst they were in the casino.

There were also celebrity passengers. We would finish work and go to the crew/members bar where we would have guest entertainers like the late Des O’Connor and the magician, the late Paul Daniels down to have a drink. God bless them both.

Was my job the best job in the world? Maybe not for everyone, but it was beyond even my wildest dreams and the 6 month experience, as well as the amazing people I met will be something I treasure forever. I was very lucky to have lived this experience and will always be incredibly grateful for it.

Many years have passed since then and I’ve always missed the buzz of casinos which is how Fun 21 Casino Hire was created in 2021. My celebrities now are anyone who hires the No Money Fun Casino that I provide for parties and celebrations, and I aim to give the same experience that you would expect onboard the QE2.