20230905 - Property Insurance Clearinghouse Transition for Renewing Policies - Public
As announced in the July 5, 2023, Personal Lines Bulletin, Citizens has transitioned away from the previous system used for the Property Insurance Clearinghouse that helped establish eligibility before placing or renewing a policy with Citizens.
In addition to the previously announced new-business process, there is a new process for renewal activities. The process changes are outlined below for renewals effective October 22, 2023, and after.
As a reminder, agents are required to attempt to move their Citizens policies into the private market before each policy’s renewal. To assist agents in doing so, Citizens will now send an activity to those policies for which there is a high likelihood of coverage being available in the private market. However, not receiving an activity does not eliminate the agents’ responsibility to remarket all Citizens policies prior to renewal.
Note: Citizens will monitor agent remarketing activity and report the results to the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR).
New Activity to Agents
A Renewal Remarketing activity will be issued to the agent of record 51 days prior to the policy expiration date, advising them to look for private-market coverage. The activity will be issued only for policies with risk characteristics typically desirable to private-market insurers, such as year built, age of roof, mitigation features, claim history, etc.
Figure 1: Renewal Remarketing activity
- Agents should use a comparative rater or a quote from their appointed carrier(s) to determine if the customer has an opportunity to be placed in the private market.
- If a private-market offer is received, the agent should offer it to the customer, who may choose to move their coverage. The agent should submit a cancellation request from their customer and supporting documents.
- If an agent determines the risk is eligible for Citizens’ coverage under the no-offer-of-coverage or the 20% rule, Citizens will proceed with renewing the policy.
New Cancellation Reason
Beginning September 7, 2023, a new cancellation reason will be available to agents that will allow them to indicate the policy is being cancelled at the insured’s request as the result of the agent’s successful remarketing of the Citizens policy.
If a private-market offer is received and accepted by the policyholder as a result of renewal remarketing, the agent should cancel the existing Citizens policy using the newly created Insured Request – Renewal Remarketing reason from the drop-down list on the Start Cancellation screen:
Figure 2: Insured Request – Renewal Remarketing cancellation reason
Note: The effective date of the new private-market policy should be the expiration date of the existing Citizens policy. Policies should not be cancelled mid-term.
Resources
Citizens-appointed agents received an email notification on August 16 from LMS@citizensfla.com to complete a new Clearinghouse Interim Program Solution training module via Citizens Learning Center (CLC), which included instructions for launching the module. This course is strongly recommended but optional.
Credentialed agency staff can log in to the Agents site to access the module. If the module is assigned, it will appear in your To-Do list. If not, you can locate it by following these steps:
- Select Citizens Learning Center from the Systems menu at the top of the webpage
- Enter the session name in the search box at the top of the CLC homepage and press Enter
- The search results will display all available training related to your search criteria.
Credentialed agency staff can log into the Agents site to access the following resources to assist them with servicing their customers. Select:
- Programs > Clearinghouse to view recently updated information about the clearinghouse program
- Training > Webinar Recordings to access Navigating Interim Changes to the Clearinghouse Program recorded webinar
- Training > Personal Job Aids to access:
- FAQs on the top menu and enter +clearinghouse in the Search field.
The following public services can help consumers and agents identify available private-market coverage:
- Florida Market Assistance Plan (FMAP)
- Florida Office of Insurance Regulation's CHOICES Rate Comparison Tool