Good morning, PIBBERs!  For those of you that are studying for your Illinois insurance license, we have some news for you.  The Illinois Department of Insurance has changed the pre-license rules in several different ways that affect anyone in the middle of preparing for their insurance examination.  Please read on for details. Read the rest of this entry »

Hello Pibbers!  Some time ago, I wrote an article on the use of credit scoring in insurance and it generated a slew of responses.  Most of the comments were directed at the state and their authorizing carriers to use credit as an initial underwriting tool.  Since that legislation was signed into law, there have been some instances of insurers, well, not playing by the rules!  (shock!)  To read the previous post, click HERE.  Read on for information concerning the scofflaws (read “insurer”) that blamed their “error” on a computer glitch! Read the rest of this entry »

Good Day PIBbers!  The State of Oregon has enacted new legislation that governs how financial services professionals are regulated regarding the use of professional designations and other certifications.  To quote the Oregon Insurance Division website:

These rules set forth standards to protect consumers from misleading and fraudulent marketing practices with respect to the use of special designations and certifications in the solicitation, sale or purchase of, or advice made in connection with an insurance product or in providing advice as to the value of or the advisability of purchasing insurance.

To link to the Oregon Division rules page, click HERE

To link to the specific rule, click HERE

The State of Oregon Insurance Division has announced that effective September 1, 2009 there is a new fee that will be required to be paid when submitting your initial individual insurance license application form.

In addition to the fees that have been historically required ($30 application fee + a $45 license fee), there is an additional fee of $47.25 that will pay for the federal and state criminal background check that is required to be performed before a license can be issued.    This fee must be included when you pay for the “other” required fees.  Read on for more! Read the rest of this entry »

The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) has changed the fees that are charged for both initial and renewal insurance licenses.  Following the path of many other states that are running into budget difficulties, the increase (thankfully for our Colorado folks) is not substantial.  Some of the highlights of the fee increases are as follows:

• For Initial Licenses:
  • Resident Producers (per line):                            Currently:  $52           As of 7/1/2009:  $71
  • Non-Resident Producers (per line):                    Currently:  $93           As of 7/1/2009:  $112
• For Renewal Licenses:
  • Resident Producers (per line):                           Currently:  $13           As of 7/1/2009:  $32
  • Non-Resident Producers (per line):                   Currently:  $41           As of 7/1/2009:  $60

Click HERE for DORAs file that details all of the changes!

To all of our PA students- the examination content outline is changing effective July 1, 2009.  There are not many changes, but we want to make sure that you are aware of these changes.  ProSchools‘ tradition of staying current rolls on!  Click on the following links to access your new content outline, and please make sure that you continue in this post for the additional material and their explanations:

For life insurance only candidates: click HERE

For accident and health insurance only candidates:  click HERE

For life and accident and health candidates:  click HERE

Read the rest of this entry »

To all of our Nevada prelicense students:  the fees for obtaining your insurance license have been increased.  Please read the following statement issued by the Nevada Division of Insurance:

“Effective July 1, 2009, an additional assessment of $60.00 is now added to each new license application and license renewal, and will be applied to the Division’s Insurance Administration and Enforcement Account. This fee and the Insurance Administration and Enforcement Account were created by the Legislature as a result of Senate Bill 426 which was signed by the Governor on May 29, 2009. This additional assessment is separate from and in addition to any business entity affiliation fee indicated in a license application or license renewal, or the fee to add an additional line of authority. “

Please click HERE for the link to the Nevada DOI for further clarification!

One of the things that we pride ourselves at ProSchools is our ability to keep current with the changes that affect our students, and the changes that are happening in Washington are no exception.  Effective July 1, 2009, the state of Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) is making significant changes to the prelicense education mandates and rules.  If you would like to view the actual rule changes, click HERE for the text version of the legislation.  This information is critical to those prelicense students who are either currently enrolled in a ProSchools program or are planning on obtaining an insurance license in the near future.  This absolutely affects you if you are in Washington and are studying for your insurance license, so please read on for the changes! Read the rest of this entry »

For all Oregon insurance prelicense students who have taken (or will take) our insurance prelicense classrooom program- you are no longer required to have your online final exams proctored!  ProSchools has received authority to eliminate the proctoring requirement for all classroom prelicense students in Oregon!  Read on for more! Read the rest of this entry »

Good afternoon, all.  Oregon’s insurance test content outline is changing effective as of March 1, 2009, and we here at the PIB wanted to make sure that you have all of these changes at hand and are ready to go for the test changes.  ProSchools has the changes made and will make sure that the online and print editions of the material reflect all of them!

First of all, the good news!  There are no new additions to the Property and Casualty exam- there are only deletions!  For the Life and Health exam, there are 3 very minor additions and a couple of areas that have been deleted from the test.  The percentages of each section on the content outline have changed as well, and we have detailed this information for you as well.  Read on for specific details! Read the rest of this entry »