Terminate Appointments

A termination is the ending of an appointment -- a state-acknowledged cessation of the business relationship between a producer and an insurer in a given state. A carrier may terminate its entire business relationship with the producer or only the authorization to sell specific product lines issued by one or more of the carrier’s appointing companies (also called “regulated companies,” “underwriting companies,” or just “writing companies”).

A carrier may decide to terminate all or any of a producer’s appointments for different reasons. The most common is when the producer does not sell enough of the carrier group’s products to justify the continued expense of maintaining the producer’s appointment. This situation often is referred to as “termination for lack of production (TLOP).” But other common reasons to terminate a producer’s appointment can include the loss of the producer’s license that supports the appointment or the producer’s departure from the insurance business.

Another class of termination reasons is referred to as “termination for cause.” The producer has violated a state regulation or law or has breached the terms of the business agreement with the carrier. States require special handling of “for cause” terminations, usually requiring a carrier to file additional paperwork or cooperate in an investigation of or regulatory action against the producer.

A producer appointment doesn't expire, per se, although most states require appointments to be renewed periodically. Many states automatically will renew a producer appointment and levy a renewal fee, unless the carrier or appointing company specifically informs the state that it wants to terminate the appointment and avoid the fee. Thus state renewal periods are the most common occasion for an insurer to submit a producer termination transaction.

Use the Terminate Appointments page to submit producer appointment termination requests to one or multiple states for one or multiple appointing companies. You also may use the Terminate Appointments page to manually terminate a "record-only" state appointment on a producer record.

The Terminate Appointments page uses a three-page, "wizard" process in which you select basic appointment termination information on the first page of the wizard, select additional information and submit the termination transaction on the second page, and confirm the termination transaction on the third page.

ClosedView screen capture of the selection of basic appointment termination information

ClosedView screen capture of the selection of additional information and submission of the transaction

ClosedView screen capture of termination transaction confirmation

To open the Terminate Appointments page, choose one of the following methods:

  • Click the Terminate button () in the Appointments data section of a producer record that is open on the Review/Update Producer page

  • From the Licensing menu, select Appointments, and then select Terminate Appointments. Then, perform a Producer Search to open the record of the producer whose appointment you wish to terminate

  • Click the Terminate Appointments link in the Task Links section of the Producer Manager Home page

  • Click the Terminate Appointments link on any workflow transition page

The Terminate Appointments page contains the following sections:

ClosedAppointee Record Summary

Fields and controls in the Appointee Record Summary section include the following:

  • Search Producer: Click the link to start a new search for a producer record. For more information, see Searching for Records.
  • [Producer Name]: Displays the name of the individual or firm producer whose record currently is open in theReview/Update Producerpage. An icon to the left of the producer name signifies the producer's entity type, either individual () or firm ().Click the producer name link to refresh the producer record that is currently open in the Review/Update Producer page or to re-open the producer's record in the Review/Update Producer page from any other page in the system.
  • Rating: If a producer has been assigned a productivity rating (no stars, meaning “not rated;” one star, “poor;” two stars, “satisfactory;” three stars, “good;” four stars, “outstanding;” or the symbol signifying a “Do Not Contract” alert), the display-only rating will appear to the right of the producer’s name.
  • SSN: Individual producers only. Displays an individual producer's Social Security Number. The Social Security Number can be set per security role to mask the first five digits and display only the last four digits. For more information, see Maintain Security Role.
  • EIN: Firm producers only. Displays a firm producer's Federal Employer Identification Number.
  • External System ID: Displays the producer's identifier code in the external system that has been Vertafore-configured as your company's "preferred" system. For more information, see External System IDs, Configuration Options, and Advanced Producer Search.
  • Active BU: Displays the short name of the business units to which a producer is actively assigned (sorted alphabetically). To expand the field to display all active business units, click the node ().
  • NPN: Displays a producer's unique National Producer Number, assigned by the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR).
  • Resident State/License: Displays the codes of the states that a producer claims as a resident state for licensing purposes (sorted alphabetically) and the producer's license numbers in those states. Includes active or inactive licenses. To expand the field to display all resident states and license numbers, click the node ().
  • Additional States/Licenses: Displays the codes of the states in which the producer holds non-resident licenses (sorted alphabetically) and the license numbers in those states. Includes active or inactive licenses. To expand the field to display all resident states and license numbers, click the node ().
  • Producer Contracting Workflow: If your company uses the onboarding and maintenance transaction component of the Sircon Platform, Producer Express, and a producer currently is associated with a request record in Producer Express, you can click the number in the field to launch Producer Express and view or work with the request record. (For more information, see the Sircon Producer Express Online Help.)
  • Missing Required Information Alert: Displays an alert that the producer record lacks information that has been configured to be required in your company's deployment of the Sircon Platform. A producer record deficient of required information is considered "incomplete," and appointment or termination requests may not be submitted for the producer until the deficiency is corrected. Review the Quick Links box to identify and correct the specific details sections in the record with missing required information. For more information, see Configuration Options.
  • CE Compliance: Display-only indication of a producer’s unfulfilled continuing education requirements. Indication will not appear if producer is current with continuing education requirements. Available by Vertafore configuration only; for more information, seeConfiguration Options.

ClosedEffective Date

Set the effective date for the termination of the selected producer's appointment.

Fields and controls include the following:

  • Effective Date: Required. May default to the current date. If you are submitting an electronic state appointment termination request, enter the date on which you are requesting the termination to become effective, subject to state backdating or system future-dating rules. Or, if you are terminating a record-only appointment, enter the date on which the producer appointment became inactive. Use the mmddyyyy date format, or click the Calendar button () to open a popup calendar from which you can click to select a date. Must be on or after the appointment'sActive Date.

ClosedSubmission Method

Choose the method by which you want to submit an appointment termination request or terminate a "record-only" appointment for the selected producer.

Note that if you leave the default Electronic Processing option selected, the system automatically will choose the best allowable processing method for each state, with the exception of Florida outsourced individual appointment terminations. (See Notes and Tips, below.)

Choose from among the following:

  • Electronic Processing: Default. Click the radio button to trigger the system to submit the termination request to a state electronically. The Appointments data section of the selected producer record will be updated automatically with system and state processing information, including state approvals, denials, and errors.

  • Paper: Required for Florida outsourced individual producer appointments only. SeeNotes, below. Click the radio button to trigger the system to send the termination request to a holding queue for processing by Vertafore Outsourcing Services.

  • Record Only: Click the radio button to trigger the system to only update the Appointments data section of the selected producer record with terminated (inactive) state appointment information. The system will not submit an appointment termination request to a state, and state regulators may not have a record of the terminated appointment.

ClosedAppointment Profile

An appointment profile is a pre-defined collection of state, appointing company, and appointment type criteria that you can apply to frequently-requested appointment termination requests, saving manual data entry. For more information, see Add Appointment Profile.

If no appointment profile is available, the following message will display "No profiles are available for the appointee's active license states."

Fields and controls include the following:

  • : Click to select the radio button to activate use of an appointment profile for the appointment termination, rather than use of the fields and controls in the States and Appointing Companies section.

  • Appointment Profile: Select from the dropdown menu the name of an appointment profile to apply to a manual termination request.

ClosedStates and Appointing Companies

Offers input fields to allow you to manually select one or multiple states and appointing companies to include in the termination request or "record-only" termination.

Fields and controls include the following:

  • States: Displays a table listing states in which the selected producer holds an active appointment and to which you may submit a termination request or for which you may terminate a "record-only" appointment.

Fields and controls include the following:

  • : For each state to which you want to submit a termination request or for which you want to terminate a "record-only" appointment for the selected producer, click to checkmark its corresponding checkbox. Note that the checkbox for the appointment state you selected in the Appointments data section is pre-checkmarked.

  • Select All States: Click to checkmark the checkboxes of all states displaying in the States section.

  • Unselect All States: Click to uncheckmark the checkboxes of all states displaying in the States section.

  • Appointing Companies: Displays a table listing the names of your carrier group's appointing companies.

Fields and controls include the following:

  • : For each appointing company for which you want to submit a termination request or terminate a "record-only" appointment for the selected producer, click to checkmark its corresponding checkbox. Note that the checkbox corresponding to the company with which the selected producer is appointed in the selected state is pre-checkmarked.

  • ID: For each appointing company listed, displays its Producer Manager company record identifier.

  • NAIC ID: For each appointing company listed, displays its National Association of Insurance Commissioners identifier.

  • Company: For each appointing company listed, displays its name as a blue hyperlink. Click the hyperlink to open the appointing company record in the Review/Update Company page.

  • Select All Companies: Click to checkmark the checkboxes of all appointing companies displaying in the Appointing Companies section.

  • Unselect All Companies: Click to checkmark the checkboxes of all appointing companies displaying in the Appointing Companies section.

ClosedCurrent Appointments

Displays a table listing existing appointment information for the selected producer in the selected appointment state.

Verify that the appointment listed is the correct appointment that you wish to terminate.

Fields and controls include the following:

  • NAIC ID: For each appointment listed, displays the appointing company's National Association of Insurance Commissioners identifier.

  • Company:  For each appointment listed, displays the appointing company's name.

  • Appointment Type: For each appointment listed, displays the state-specific description of the appointment type.

  • Tied to an Application:  For each appointment listed, displays a checkmark if the appointment is related to a state license application for the selected producer. Displays no checkmark if the appointment is not related to a state license application.

  • Status: For each appointment listed, displays the current status of the appointment. Verify that the value of an appointment that you wish to terminate is Active.

ClosedSelect Appointments to Terminate via [SubmissionMethod]

Displays a table listing appointments that are available to terminate for the selected producer in the selected appointment state, based on the option you selected in the Submission Method section. Click to checkmark a selected appointment to proceed with its termination.

Fields and controls include the following:

  • Select All (): Click the checkbox in the header row to checkmark the checkboxes corresponding to all appointments displaying in the section. Click again to clear the checkmark from all checkboxes corresponding to all appointments displaying in the section.

  • : For each appointment listed, click to checkmark to select it for termination. Click again to de-select it.

  • NAIC ID:  For each appointment listed, displays the National Association of Insurance Commissioners identifier of the appointing company with which the selected producer is appointed.

  • Company:  For each appointment listed, displays the name of the appointing company with which the selected producer is appointed.

  • Appointment Type: For each appointment listed, displays its state-specific description.

ClosedCost Center

Offers edit fields you can use to select a cost center to which to assign the cost of an appointment termination request submitted to a state. (Note that many states do not assess a fee for an appointment termination; however the transaction will incur a Sircon transaction fee.)

Fields and controls include the following:

  • State Cost Center: From the dropdown menu, select a cost center to which to globally apply the costs of all appointment termination  requests that you are submitting to the selected state in this transaction. Your selection will automatically populate the Cost Center fields displaying in the Companies sub-section. If only one cost center has been configured in your user account for the producer's business unit, it will display as the only option.

  • Companies: Sub-section displays a table listing all appointing companies selected in the Appointing Companies field in the State and Appointing Companies section. Fields and controls include the following:

  • NAIC ID: For each appointing company listed, displays the appointing company's National Association of Insurance Commissioners identifier.

  • Company: For each appointing company listed, displays its name.

  • Cost Center: By default, displays the selected value of the State Cost Center dropdown menu. If multiple cost centers have been configured in your user account for the producer's business unit, you may override the default selection on an individual appointment basis by selecting a different option.

ClosedLicense

For a state that requires license information to be included in an appointment termination request, displays a table listing one or multiple licenses held the selected producer in the state to which you are submitting a termination request. Allows you to select the state license you wish to include in the termination request. If the selected producer has only one license in the appointment state, it will be selected by default and cannot be unselected.

Fields and controls include the following:

  • : Click to select the radio button that corresponds to the license you wish to include in the termination request. Maximum one license per termination transaction.

  • License: For each license listed, displays its description.

  • Status: For each license listed, displays its current status on the producer's record in Producer Manager.

  • Status Date: For each license listed, displays the date on which the value of the Status field last was updated.

  • License Number: For each license listed, displays its license number.

ClosedLicense Category

For a state to which you can provide a state-specific license category to be included in an appointment termination request, offers an input field in which you can select a license category.

Fields and controls include the following:

  • License Category: Click the radio button () corresponding to the state-specific license category that you want to include in the termination request.

ClosedShared Appointment

Available for a firm appointment termination request to a state offering shared appointments and requiring the designation of an affiliated individual producer on the request.

Displays a table listing all individual producers affiliated (associated) with the selected firm producer. (For more information, see Associations.)

Fields and controls include the following:

  • : For each affiliated individual producer, displays a radio button to the left of the producer name. Click the radio button associated with an individual producer who shares the firm appointment that you wish to terminate.

  • Associated Producer: For each affiliated individual producer, displays the producer's last, first, and middle name.

  • Association Type: For each affiliated individual producer, displays the relationship the individual producer has with the firm producer.

  • Begin Date: For each affiliated individual producer, displays the date on which the individual producer's affiliation with the firm producer began.

  • End Date: Inactive affiliations only. For each individual producer with an inactive affiliation with the firm producer, displays the date on which the individual producer's affiliation with the firm producer became inactive.

ClosedTermination Reason

Set the state-specific reason for the appointment termination.

Fields and controls include the following:

  • Termination Reason: Required. From the dropdown menu, select a state-specific reason for the appointment termination.

ClosedComments

Offers an input field to enter a free-form text comment.

Fields and controls include the following:

  • Comment: Enter a text comment. Maximum 2000 characters.

ClosedPage Controls

Fields and controls include the following:

  • Save and Continue: Click to save a record-only termination or submit a state appointment termination request. The termination confirmation page of the "wizard" will open.

  • Skip State: Click to cancel termination processing for the state for which you are currently entering data.

  • Refresh: Click to reload the Terminate Appointments page to review an update in termination processing status.

  • Next: Click to validate data entered on the current page and open the successive page in the "wizard." If you selected more than one appointment state, then the available appointments to terminate for each state will display in sequence based on alphabetic order.

  • Return: Click to open the Producer Manager Home page.

Warnings

Vertafore PLM Producer Manager does not generate paper appointment or termination forms. Unless your company subscribes to Vertafore Outsourcing Services, the system will ignore any appointment or termination request with aSubmission Methodof "Paper." For more information, seeNotes(below) and Approve/Deny Appointments.

Notes

Note: The following states have proprietary transaction processing systems with which PLM Producer Manager cannot process electronic termination requests: Massachusetts (all termination requests) and Arkansas (termination requests for firm producers). To process terminations in these states, you may subscribe to Vertafore Outsourcing Services. If your company subscribes to the outsourcing service, you can submit termination requests to these states through Producer Manager as you would normally for any other appointment state. Choose a Submission Method of Paper or Electronic Processing; the Request Type field on the confirmation page will display "Paper." Vertafore’s outsourcing team will intercept the requests and submit them to each state’s proprietary transaction processing system on your company's behalf. If your company does not subscribe to the outsourcing service, use Quick Terminate to terminate a Massachusetts or Arkansas firm appointment on a producer record using a Submission Method of Record Only, and then process the producer termination on the state website. For more information about outsourcing services, please contact your Vertafore representative.

Note: You may submit a Florida individual producer state and county termination request through Vertafore Outsourcing Services for expedited processing. If your company subscribes to the outsourcing service, select a Submission Method of Paper. Otherwise, for a regular Florida individual termination request submitted through PLM, select a Submission Method of Electronic Processing. Please note that unlike for electronic appointment processing, there are no restrictions on electronic appointment terminations in Florida based on producer residency. For more information about outsourcing services, please contact your Vertafore representative.

Note: By default, the Effective Date field is populated with the current date. However it is Vertafore-configurable to contain no default value, using the APPT_TRMN_DFLT_EFF_DTE_IND business rule.  For more information, see Configuration Options.

Note: You may request a "future-dated" termination by entering a date in the Effective Field that, by default, is no more than 12 months subsequent to the current date. The system will hold the termination request until the specified date, at which point it will submit the request to the selected state. The system is Vertafore-configurable through the FUTR_APPTTRMN_EFF_DTE_IN_MNTHS business rule, however, to allow entry of a future date that is more or less than 12 months. For more information, see Configuration Options.

Note: If you overwrite the default, current date value in the Effective Date field with a future date, a popup box will display with the following message: "You have entered a future effective date. Do you want to proceed?" If you wish to proceed with a future-date termination request, click the OK button. If the future-dated request is for termination of a state-verified appointment, the system will hold the termination request until the specified date, at which point it will submit the request to the selected state. However, if the future-dated request is for termination of a record-only appointment, the record-only appointment will be inactivated immediately with the requested future date inserted as the value of the Status Date field. If you did not intend to submit a future-dated termination, click the Cancel button to close the popup box and return to the Terminate Appointments page, where you can enter a non-future date in the Effective Date field.

Note: You may use the Abort Appointment Request page to cancel any termination request (including future-dated) that the system has not yet passed to the Vertafore PLM transaction engine (Compliance Express) for subsequent submission either to the NIPR Gateway or a Sircon State database. Such requests will bear a status in the Appointments data section of "Inactive-Pending Submission."

Note: A value entered and saved in the Comments section is viewable in the Comments data section of a producer's record open in the Review/Update Producer page. Note that a commentwill notbe submitted to a state with the termination request, and so you cannot use theCommentfield to transmit an explanation to a state for a "for-cause" termination. You must provide documentation regarding a "for-cause" termination separate from a PLM electronic termination request to any state that requires it.

Note: You need only terminate a Florida state appointment to also terminate all related Florida county appointments. No separate county appointment termination request is necessary. However, you may terminate one or multiple county appointments independent of the state appointment using the Terminate Appointment Counties page.

Note: The License Category section displays only for an appointment termination request submitted to South Carolina and is a required field. However, South Carolina does not require a license category to be included with a termination request nor apply a license category fee.

Note: If an individual producer has an active shared appointment, the appointment will be marked as unavailable for termination.

Note: A business rule, TRMN_BU_APPT_IND, can be Vertafore-configured to prevent a user from terminating a producer's appointment, unless the user shares all of the producer's business units. For more information, see Configuration Options.

Tips

An appointment or termination request submitted to certain states using an electronic submission method is routed directly to the state's department of insurance regulatory management system. A request to one of these states, referred to as a "Sircon State," will result in a rapid state response (i.e., "real-time" response) and can offer significant business advantages. A transaction request submitted to all other states, however, goes first through a third-party, electronic interface and then to the state and can vary in response time. Ask your Vertafore representative for more information and for the current list of "Sircon States."

You can set the system to send one or multiple recipients an email alert whenever a state responds to an appointment or termination request. For more information, see Producer Manager Message Center under Express Services.

State regulations or internal policies may require your company to issue a letter informing a producer about a terminated appointment. Although not available in PLM Producer Manager, automated correspondence capabilities are available through the Bulk Appointment Terminations utility in PLM Producer Express. For more information, see Producer Express Bulk Processing Module User Guide or contact your Vertafore representative.