Does Anyone have am automated solution for payment reminders

[RiskManaged]

Does anybody have (or know of) an automated system that will email or text insureds payment reminders on a daily basis? Right now we actually do contact each one of our clients individually to remind them of overdue payments which I am seeing as an area which could be better managed through an automated approach, as it would save considerable time. I was trying to get creative and explored whether or not Mailchimp or Constant contact could be integrated in a certain way but came up short....there has to be something....anybody????? The icing on the cake would be a 3rd party system that would allow an insured to make a payment via a link included in the text or email (like you receive for a mobile phone payment reminder). Although this may be asking for a bit too much.....

[lonestar]

Once you step into this world, the minute a policy lapses and a claim happens, and you did not remind them of the payment due date, you can be brought in to court. My philosophy, if the client is not paying attention to the billing notices from the carrier, which normally are two to three before a policy cancels, do you really want them as a client?

[jobhunter]

Once you step into this world, the minute a policy lapses and a claim happens, and you did not remind them of the payment due date, you can be brought in to court. My philosophy, if the client is not paying attention to the billing notices from the carrier, which normally are two to three before a policy cancels, do you really want them as a client?

To me, it seems like, if you don't do reminders, you'll have a strong defense in court in the rare case of a lapsed policy with a claim, but in exchange you have to deal in some way with rewrite and reinstatement intervention requests - unless you're fortunate. That is, I think the volume of cancellations is lower for industry specialist agencies than generalists; and the average payment reliability of clients can vary from state to state or even from area to area within a state. A generalist agency in certain areas can see quite a high volume of non-pay cancels.

That said, I think it's very easy for agencies that see low cancellation volume to be against calling; or, even at agencies with a high volume, it can be very easy for agency owners and upper level managers that don't have to deal directly with clients to not see the issue here.

I guess my question would be, if you don't call, what kind of volume do you see in rewrite/reinstatement requests, and do you have a procedure on how to deal with them? Do you expect your CSRs and producers to make an effort on every rewrite request?

[RiskManaged]

I don't want to turn this thread into a debate on whether or not it's an appropriate practice or not...I can see the initial question getting lost in a much deeper debate. But that said, while we are aware of the potential E&O issue, we have definitely saved ourselves a lot of work. I don't think its entirely fair to ask whether or not we really want them as clients. I can see your point and it could indicate a deeper underlying issue at their company or it may not....sure, if there are notices going out every month, its an issue but some of our best clients receive notices time to time and could have very well cancelled creating a much bigger problem. Imagine the issue of letting a larger D&O account cancel for non pay potentially breaking continuity, requiring new warranty statements, etc. Let alone any premium increase if it has to be moved and how that will be perceived by the UW's. Personally, I think outsourcing this to an SAAS provider would leave less room for error (while potentially shifting some liability).

[mhutch69]

We are primarily non-standard auto writers.
While I am aware of the E & O exposure for contacting late or canceling clients, I hope I have a solution although untested at this point.
We have a "Confirmation of Coverage" Agency Signature two page document that Reviews the exact coverage that is being purchased and which auto coverage is NOT being purchased.
This Signature Document includes a "Disclaimer" stating that
DISCLAIMER: As the monthly billing for insurance coverage is directly between the insurance company and the insured, STI Insurance Agency cannot be responsible for any lapse in coverage resulting from non payment of premium. Although we may, but have no obligation to do so, alert you to the fact that the policy is cancelled or pending cancel, we cannot guarantee that we will continue to do so each time a notice of cancellation is sent by the insurer. Applicant understands payment of premium is entirely his/her responsibility and not that of STI Insurance Agency and agrees that the Legal Notice of Cancellation sent by the Insurer is the end of coverage. Please let us know if you would be interested in having future premiums deducted directly from a bank account through electronic funds transfer.

We also include this disclaimer on each EMAIL and TEXT Reminder sent to the insured if necessary. By making it very clear that we TRY to contact the client but can't guarantee we will catch each and every late notice, I hope to avoid being named in a lawsuit for a claim which occurs after the coverage ends.

This responsibility is certainly that of the client, but courts will drag anyone possible to provide coverage when possible.

Non-standard auto is high frequency cancel and reinstatement business. Without contacting the client about a pending cancel notice, our retention would be even worse than this business typically provides.

I would appreciate other agency opinions on whether this will work or just bury me deeper when the lawyer contacts my office!!??

I am just trying to provide a service to our clients. I cater to a more affluent non-standard client and hope a more responsible client in the event of a serious event.

For over 35 years I have notified clients of pending or final canceled policies in an effort to re-start or reinstate coverage.
When does the coverage actually stop and the insured is responsible for making the payment to continue coverage?

Just saying.

[Big Dog]

What happened to people being responsible for their own actions/inactions?

[d's insurance store]

For anybody still around, here's what happened in my smaller agency this past week.

Non standard auto client with 2.5 years of tenure. Somehow, this client had migrated into the category of continuous late pay/cancel notice. Over the entire life of the client relationship, only the very beginning payment had been made without agency reminding/prompting. Original client relationship was established with 'promise' of cross line property business that never materialized in spite of multiple requests for quoting or BOR opportunity.

Risk also had multiple losses during policy tenure.

Auto policy was to renew this past weekend and payment was not received. On Tuesday an email was sent to client stating that policy had lapsed, but could be reinstated with a payment...but the email went on to say there would be no more 'every payment' reminders due to Agency liability concerns, and that at least 3 or 4 payments would have to be made voluntarily or automatically before agency reminders would renew. The auto pay option was offered, as was the 'suggestion' that if the new 'rules' were found to be offensive, then a policy could likely be re-written by the property agency, as they would be incentivized to keep on the insured for payments as they would not have extra premium.

Thus, the client was 'fired'.

As I've become older and crankier, and have been forced to recover signature documents in adversarial confrontations with low performing clients to show agency compliance, I've lost the incentive to coddle the low performing element within the agency. This becomes in most cases, addition by subtraction, as the labor intensive, loss prone find other outlets for their issues, and my agency can devote the time to those who at the very least, require limited intervention to maintain a policy. To the occasional late pay client, this agency will make the effort to engage and capture a payment, but I never, as agency owner, want to face a former client in court with their attorney grilling me on why the agency didn't pursue a payment outside of the normal notices, resulting in a coverage lapse and uncovered loss, when the client has been 'trained' for years to make payments only when the agency called.

Let my competition deal with this element in the market place. I'm just not that hungry any more.

[lonestar]

D, you are spot on once again. When I went from a captive company of 11 years to an IA 6 years ago, one of the things I learned as a captive is 20% of your clients can take up 80% of your time... the old 80/20 rule. So when I started over, I only offered EFT / bank draft on monthly billing options. Here I am 6 years after the new agency, and I only have maybe 4 households total, that pay monthly by "bill by mail." The rest of my clients are on EFT monthly, or they pay in full. One of the best things I have done as an agency owner in my life, no joke. Retention is better, I have very few "stop the presses, we have to reinstate and take a payment" moments. Do not miss those moments at all. Now, I realize some agencies are not top heavy in preferred business, and the sub standard market, should one choose to dabble in it, has it's own client payment preference challenges. But my agency does not solicit non standard clients, nor do I accept cash payments or checks made payable to my agency. If the client cannot pay with a credit / debit card or bank draft, we just do not mess with them. If a client is habitually late on paying, and does not pay their renewal premium, after 2-3 notices from the company, then they need to lapse. My credit card company does not call me if I miss my payment deadline. They just cut off my ability to use the card. If the client calls us to reinstate, we will consider it. But I frankly do not have time to baby sit these types of customers, as I have other quotes / service work / marketing I need to get to.

[RiskManaged]

I hear what many of you are saying, BUT.....for those of you primarily in personal lines, I think you're missing the MUCH bigger message....each time a company like Geico includes more convenient features which make things easier and quicker whether it be quote-bind-payment-service-claims-etc....you begin to look more like an antiquated service that has little to offer. Hate what im saying but its true. Im focusing commercially here and still concerned about this. As much as it may sting to hear, i dont believe "knowing the product better" will be enough to separate your agency in the near future (especially when it comes to more standardized products like auto insurance). You either try to stay ahead of the curve or you realize you're too far behind to catch up. Things are moving quickly in this industry and they are only about to accelerate. You can let your competitor worry about the bad payers but not adapting and making an effort to provide the best/most convenient solutions for your clients can result in a much greater cause to worry about. Its not just about payments, since we're on the topic, if anybody knows of any services that digitally streamline ANY of the processes (applications, claims reporting, general remindrs, etc) I'd love to know about those as well. This is actually an area I would like to see IIAA put a little more emphasis on.

[Shawna64]

Can you say "TCPA"? The minute you start automated communications you open yourself up to class action TCPA lawsuits. Calling and doing reminders for late pays and cancellations may be a good practice for your agency, but with the E&O issues, you have to run a super tight ship and those I know running personal lines mills, that's simply not the case.

So you have super expensive TCPA class action lawsuits on one hand, heavy personnel costs and risk of E&O on the other. Personally, I won't be calling our late payers anytime soon.

[d's insurance store]

I hear what many of you are saying, BUT.....for those of you primarily in personal lines, I think you're missing the MUCH bigger message....each time a company like Geico includes more convenient features which make things easier and quicker whether it be quote-bind-payment-service-claims-etc....you begin to look more like an antiquated service that has little to offer. Hate what im saying but its true. Im focusing commercially here and still concerned about this. As much as it may sting to hear, i dont believe "knowing the product better" will be enough to separate your agency in the near future (especially when it comes to more standardized products like auto insurance). You either try to stay ahead of the curve or you realize you're too far behind to catch up. Things are moving quickly in this industry and they are only about to accelerate. You can let your competitor worry about the bad payers but not adapting and making an effort to provide the best/most convenient solutions for your clients can result in a much greater cause to worry about. Its not just about payments, since we're on the topic, if anybody knows of any services that digitally streamline ANY of the processes (applications, claims reporting, general remindrs, etc) I'd love to know about those as well. This is actually an area I would like to see IIAA put a little more emphasis on.

Referring strictly to the small, Personal Lines/Small Commercial type of shop/business model...I'm already on record in a bunch of postings here saying I don't forecast a rosy future for that operation niche. Frankly, for what I see as the bulk of the personal lines marketplace going forward, the 'big boys' satisfy much of the market and do it better than my agency can. For better or worse, tempered by my age and legacy as an agency owner, I've read the tea leaves and don't see much in the way of growth with the exception of the very high value segment that continues to want a 'touchy-feely' experience managing their personal lines risks.

I don't believe the system of the 'main street, trusted insurance advisor' will collapse immediately, but if I'm still around, let's see what I'm posting in five years or so.

Personal lines products are almost completely commoditized and with the assumed future of computer assisted driving or even driverless vehicles, those bumps and crashes may not be as common as today. People that I'm in contact with don't want or need the constructive conversations about the appropriateness of '25/50/25 or 50/100/50'...they either have an asset base that requires protection or they don't. Propsect's own a home? No one asks me any more about a Standard as opposed to a Deluxe HO3 form.

So, back to the original premise of late payer's and whether or not to chase the low performing element for payments...I still vote NO, even though it impacts my short term bottom line. I'm not their mother and have often rhetorically asked: "Is it just the insurance bill that you refuse to pay on time or at all...or do you do the same with the cable, phone, electricity, rent, car payment, credit card, etc.? And does your VISA bank call you each month before interest charges kick in to remind you to pay?