Certificates and The Agents Dilemma

It happens every day in the agent broker world. A client has signed a contract that requires terms and condition changes that the contract holder would like to see reflected on the certificate of insurance. The client tells the agent that he must provide the updated cert in order to get paid. The agent tells the client that he cannot make the changes because of a littany of reasons. Now you have a dilemma. This has become a universal problem for agents. Some States have enacted laws that prohibit changes to certificates of insurance. However most states have yet to address it. ACCORD, the entity that produces the certificates has made it clear that no changes should be made to their 2010 edition. So how are agents & brokers going to help their clients who continually get themselves into these contractual situations? The first remedy is education. Agents must educate their clients and make them aware of the problems surrounding certificates. The other thought would be to get rid of certificates and send copies of the policies. Years ago this would be very expensive and cumbersome, however in the electronic world, emailing policies is easy. The future surrounding certificate issuance is still cloudy. My thought is to get rid of certificates all together as they are only a representation of coverage not actual policies. Some courts have even ruled that certificates are actual policy language. So lets just stop all the madness and get rid of certificates. Let certificate holders get copies of the policies and read through them to determine if contract coverage and terms are met. Until next time be careful out there and know your risks. K

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