Unfortunately, some advisors hear this from our agency or other BGA’s on a too frequent basis, and after some research and data mining, we have determined the reasons that most of cases do get a postponement.
Believe it or not, most of it is as a result of lack of good solid information that should have been submitted in the early stages of the case in order to give the underwriters a sense of comfort, especially on a complicated or large case.
We have found that over 88% of postponements are a result of lack of good, third party financial information, inaccurate financial information, lack of candor during an inspection report and most important, a very good and detailed cover letter that should have been submitted by the advisor at the time the app was submitted.
While we try our best as a BGA to assist our advisors in this area, it is always better for a cover letter to come directly from the client’s advisor.
Here are our recommendations of what to include in the cover letter and package when submitting a case. The cover letter should always mention the name, dob, tin, etc. of the insured and owner.
Here are the details that should be included in each cover letter:
- Occupation of insured and relationship to owner
- Ownership – how was this established
- Beneficiary –relationship
- Insured income- earned and unearned as well as net worth
- Negative financial implications of the case
- Health of the insured – details
- Insurance inforce and will any be replaced?
- Total line of insurance?
- Hobby’s and Avocations?
- Travel and Residence that may affect the outcome of the application
- Family History and Smoking History
- For Personal Insurance – Third Party Balance Sheet and Income Statement
- For Business Insurance- Third Party Balance Sheet, Income Statements and other information on business
- Public Information on the insured
I believe that if you follow this outline and submit cover letter’s to us with your cases, not only will the underwriting process be smoother but you should also see better and faster results on the approval of your cases with ASG.
Gary Bleetstein, Principal