Simply-Easier-ACORD-Forms

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

How to Complete the ACORD 126 Limits Section

ACORD 126 Limits Section

LIMITS APPLY

The Limits section at the top of the first page of the ACORD 126 begins by asking you to fill in the General Aggregate Limit - see RED box below.

GENERAL AGGREGATE: IRMI has a good definition of General Aggregate Limits here.

To quote the first part of their definition " The maximum limit of insurance payable during any given annual policy period for all losses other than those arising from specified exposures. Under the standard commercial general liability (CGL) policy, the general aggregate limit applies to all covered bodily injury (BI) and property damage (PD) (except for injury or damage arising out of the products-completed operations hazard) and all covered personal and advertising injury."

Next there are four check boxes. Only one can apply. Example, if the General Aggregate applies per LOCATION, check the box to the immediate left of the word LOCATION.

There are 7 more lines where you can enter Limits.

PRODUCTS & COMPLETED OPERATIONS AGGREGATE
PERSONAL & ADVERTISING INJURY
EACH OCCURRENCE
DAMAGE TO RENTED PREMISES (each occurrence)
MEDICAL EXPENSE (Any one person)
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
BLANK LINE FOR FREE FORM ENTER OF OTHER

Enter limits only for coverage which is provided under this policy.

You can have all of these coverages, none of these or some of these.

The limits go in the row in the blue box in the above picture.

PREMIUMS

If this is an application for a quote, you will most likely be leaving the premium fields empty. You underwriter will be providing you with her premium quotations.

I hope this helps you learn how to complete the ACORD 126 Limits Section.

Monday, June 9, 2014

ACORD 126 Coverage Section

How to Complete the ACORD 126 Coverage Section

Coverages

The Coverages Section is made up of three parts. In this lesson we will discuss the Coverages and Other Coverages. Tomorrow we will discuss Limits.

The first area for coverages is a group of check boxes Two coverages are listed...

Commercial General Liability
Owner's & Contractors Protective

There is a check box next to a blank text entry field for you to enter other coverages.

Check each of these which apply.

There are two check boxes under the words "Commercial General Liability". One is for Claims Made, the other is for Occurrence.

You can only have one of these. This refers to whether the coverage is provided on a Claims Made or Occurrence format.

DEDUCTIBLES

The Deductibles section gives you three check boxes for coverages to which the deductibles apply. Check each that will have a deductible.

Clearly, each coverage can have its own deductible. Bodily Injury can have one deductible, or no deductible.

When I was still an underwriter, when we were still handwriting polices on stone tablets, adding a small property damage deductible to general liability coverage was a way to get a meaningful premium savings. Plus your competition hardly ever knew this was possible.

Check the Appropriate box to indicate whether the deductibles apply "Per Claim" or "Per Occurrence".

OTHER COVERAGES, Restrictions, and/or ENDORSEMENTS

Other Coverages, Restrictions and / or Endorsements is a free form text entry space.

If you run out of room, use the Remarks section.

NOTE: for hired and / or non-owned automobile liability coverage use the appropriate ACORD 137 state specific form.

WISCONSIN

Yes, Wisconsin just had to be different. Why they decided to include anything about commercial auto insurance is a commercial general liability form is beyond me. I cannot even begin to image the special interest and backroom politics which led to this. Where is the money?

Anyway, more seriously, if your are insuring a risk in Wisconsin and if non owned only auto coverage is to be provided under this policy, check all appropriate boxes.

I hope this helps you learn how to complete the ACORD 126 Coverages Section.

Friday, June 6, 2014

How to Complete the ACORD 126 Commercial General Liability Section

ACORD 126 Commercial General Liability Section

The ACORD 126 is attached or added to the ACORD 125 when the coverage for which you are applying is commercial general liability insurance.

DATE: In the top right hand corner of the form you should enter the date you are completing this form and sending it to your underwriters.

AGENCY / CARRIER / POLICY / APPLICANT INFORMATION

AGENCY: This is your agency's name. If you are using our Cap Dat ACORD system, this field will have pre-filled from the information in the ACORD 125 if you have combined these forms into a single form.

CARRIER: This is the carrier to whom you are sending the application. If you are sending the application to more than one carrier, you may leave this blank so you don't alert each carrier to their competition.

If you are using our Cap Dat ACORD system, this field will have pre-filled from the information in the ACORD 125 if you have combined these forms into a single form.

NAIC CODE: NAIC stands for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Here is their website home page...

http://www.naic.org/index.htm

You can learn more at this earlier post we made - http://simply-easier-acord-forms.blogspot.com/2014/03/what-is-naic-code.html

If you are using our Cap Dat ACORD system, this field will have pre-filled from the information in the ACORD 125 if you have combined these forms into a single form.

POLICY NUMBER: If you are sending in a new application you will not have a policy number so you will leave this blank.

If you are sending in a renewal application this will be the policy number for this policy's current term.

If you are using our Cap Dat ACORD system, this field will have pre-filled from the information in the ACORD 125 if you have combined these forms into a single form.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This would be the date you want this policy to begin. If you are using our Cap Dat ACORD system, this field will have pre-filled from the information in the ACORD 125 if you have combined these forms into a single form.

APPLICANT / FIRST NAMED INSURED: This is the applicant name from the ACORD 125. If you are using our Cap Dat ACORD system, this field will have pre-filled from the information in the ACORD 125 if you have combined these forms into a single form.

I hope this helps you learn how to complete the ACORD 126 commercial general liability section.

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Thursday, June 5, 2014

Table of Contents Overview How To Complete the ACORD 125

Table of Contents of Posts on ACORD 125

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

ACORD 125 Signature Section

How to Complete the ACORD 125 Signature Section

At the top hand corner of the signature section of the ACORD 125 commercial insurance application is a check box you need to check to state that you have given this insured a copy of the Notice of Information Practices form.

This is the ACORD 38 form for most states. The following states have their own form as of this writing...

ACORD 38AR - Arkansas
ACORD 38AZ - Arizona
ACORD 38CA - California
ACORD 38CT - Connecticut
ACORD 38DE - Delaware
ACORD 38GA - Georgia
ACORD 38IL - Illinois
ACORD 38MT - Montana
ACORD 38NH - New Hampshire
ACORD 38NJ - New Jersey
ACORD 38NV - Nevada
ACORD 38OR - Oregon
ACORD 38RI - Rhode Island
ACORD 38VA - Virginia
ACORD 38WA - Washington

Not all states require a notice. Check with an experienced agent at your agency or with your underwriter.

In the bottom left hand corner of the first section of the Signature section there is a place to get your insured to initial. Don't forget this.

At the very bottom of the 4th page is a place for the Applicant's Signature and next to it a space to have the insured date their signature.

Next to that is a spot for your - the agent's - signature.

Finally there is a box for your National Producer Number if your agency has one.

If you are using our Cap Dat ACORD services we have an electronic, or e-signature, feature available to you. You can add this to the signature box and email a link to the form to your insured. They can then review and sign the form on a tablet, smart phone or most current browsers. This gives you an extra level of legal documentation on the time and date of the signature. It can also save time.

I hope this group of posts have been helpful in your learning more about how to complete the ACORD 125 commercial insurance application.

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Tuesday, June 3, 2014

ACORD 125 Loss History Section

How to Complete the ACORD 125 Loss History Section

If you have historical loss runs you can attach, then you really do not have to complete any more of this section.

Normally larger accounts with frequent claims will have loss runs available.

LOSS HISTORY

Generally underwriters want 3 to 5 years of loss history. This space only has room for three losses. The ACORD form references two additional forms to use if you need more space. The LOSS SUMMARY and the ADDITIONAL LOSS INFORMATION form. These are not ACORD forms. I suggest you just use a blank piece of paper or the ACORD 101 Additional Remarks form.

NO LOSSES CHECK BOX

Just to the right of the title LOSS HISTORY is a check box you need to check if there are no claims to list.

Immediately under the Tittle LOSS HISTORY is a blank space in the sentence where you should enter the number of years your loss history covers.

At the far right hand side of this section is a box asking you for the TOTAL LOSSES: $. Enter the total dollar amount paid. No need to include amounts reserved for future payments here.

INFORMATION FOR EACH LOSS

DATE OF OCCURRENCE - This is the date of the event, or series of events which caused a claim to be filed.

LINE - The line of business the claim has be filed under. Example: Workers Comp or Auto or General Liability.

TYPE / DESCRIPTION OF OCCURRENCE OR CLAIM

Very brief free form text field.

DATE OF CLAIM - This is the date the initial claim was made. The date of claim may be the same as the date of the occurrence, but for products or completed operations claims that is not likely to be the case. Remember you can have a Claims Made or an Occurrence policy.

AMOUNT PAID - The amount that has actually been paid as of the date you are sending in this application.

AMOUNT RESERVED - This is the amount the carrier may have set aside for future payments.

SUBROGATION Y/N - Subrogation is the assignment of the insured's rights to collect the amount of a loss from the liable party from the Named Insured to the insurance carrier for the coverage type. You should indicate whether this claim paid amount might be able to be recovered using the subrogation clause in the policy.

CLAIM OPEN Y/N - If the claim is closed there should be no amount in reserves.

Monday, June 2, 2014

ACORD 125 How to Complete the Remarks and Prior Carrier Section

How to Complete the Remarks and Prior Carrier Section of the ACORD 125

REMARKS / PROCESSING INSTRUCTIONS

Very little space is given here. Remember you can always use the ACORD 101 Additional Remarks for for more space.

This is a free form text entry box where you can add any information you wish. I recommend you use it for things you may have put in your cover letter to the underwriter. That letter will likely get lost somewhere, but the application will remain for years.

PRIOR CARRIER INFORMATION

This Section is continued on the next page with room for two more years of prior carrier info.

For each of the lines of business listed - General Liability, Automobile, Property and Other - enter the...

Year - I know that you are also asked for the effective and expiration dates. If your policy covers two calendar years show the year the in the effective date.

Carrier - The name of the specific company in the group. Example list Charter Oak instead of Travelers.

Policy Number

Premium

Effective Date

Expiration Date

Some underwriters appreciate having copies of the actual declaration pages of previous policy. You can scan and attach those to the application.