West Virginia Changes Agent Licensing System

West Virginia is moving to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners state based system for issuing agent licenses in order to bring it in line with other states and streamline the licensing process.

Starting in February, agents will no longer need a West Virginia licensing number to do business in the state in exchange for obtaining a NAIC national producer number. The new licenses will be effective for two years and the expiration date will set at the last day of the agent’s birth month.

Regulators calculate that it will probably take two years before all the individual renewal cycles comply with the nationally accepted renewal dates.

Elizabeth Webb, director of agency licensing and education, said the changes will benefit agents by speeding up the processing and eliminating the need for duplicate licenses. “Most agents already have to juggle several licenses to do business in the region,” she said.

She said one major advantage of moving to the NAIC system is that it will allow independent agents quicker access to products by hastening their ability to contract with companies. Under the new licensing method, companies and consumers can check on an agent’s status by accessing their credentials through the National Insurance Producer Registry. Agents will also have immediate access to their licenses.

“Under the West Virginia system it could take a good day or so to get their license,” Webb said. “Under the NAIC system, within five minutes agents can print out their licenses which will allow them to speed up the appointment process with insurance companies.”

Webb said the change will also help the state monitor its agent force and improve its communications with agents. “We will get more accurate numbers and capture more information about the producers such as whether they are life and health agents or property and casualty,” she said.

Currently, the state has 8,700 licensed residential agents and 52,229 non-resident licensed agents.

The changes to the individual licensing procedures will also apply to viatical settlement brokers. However, the process of obtaining other licenses will remain the same. Insurance agencies will continue to be required to renew their licenses annually between March 1 and June 30. Surplus lines brokers, company adjusters, public adjusters and crop adjusters likewise will have to renew their license annually between March 1 and May 31. Webb said the entities still could use their state producer number, but the department will be encouraging them to obtain a NAIC NAP number.

Topics Agencies Virginia West Virginia