Questions about making money

[BrandiM]

I am not licensed to be an insurance agent, but have a couple of questions.
My resident state is Florida. I would start there and end up in other states.

I own a couple of companies that would benefit from selling professional liability insurance. I know I would need to be an agent and to take money the company would have to be registered as an agency. I would then need to connect with a insurance company that offers the policies and determines the premium.

So my question is, and the reason why I am asking is I truly do not know if this is legal or ethical or not:
Say the insurance company charges $100 for a policy and this is what we would have to pay them. Can I charge $120 to my customer since it is part of my other products or even if it wasn't, is this okay to do?
So basically take our money off the top instead of getting commission from the insurance company?

So in my ideal world the flow would look like:
My website > Take money from customer say $120 > Pay $100 premium to insurance > Customer gets policy > Direct customer to insurance for claims > Renew & Repeat (No money from insurance company comes to us, only us pay them)

Is this legal or okay. It sounds like it would be, but I truly have no clue, hence my question.
Thank you in advance for your answers.

 

[goillini52]

I am not licensed to be an insurance agent, but have a couple of questions.
My resident state is Florida. I would start there and end up in other states.

I own a couple of companies that would benefit from selling professional liability insurance. I know I would need to be an agent and to take money the company would have to be registered as an agency. I would then need to connect with a insurance company that offers the policies and determines the premium.

So my question is, and the reason why I am asking is I truly do not know if this is legal or ethical or not:
Say the insurance company charges $100 for a policy and this is what we would have to pay them. Can I charge $120 to my customer since it is part of my other products or even if it wasn't, is this okay to do?
So basically take our money off the top instead of getting commission from the insurance company?

So in my ideal world the flow would look like:
My website > Take money from customer say $120 > Pay $100 premium to insurance > Customer gets policy > Direct customer to insurance for claims > Renew & Repeat (No money from insurance company comes to us, only us pay them)

Is this legal or okay. It sounds like it would be, but I truly have no clue, hence my question.
Thank you in advance for your answers.

Don't think so. Why wouldn't you want to run it through the insurance company and let them do the bookkeeping?

Sounds fishy to me.

 

[DHK]

Study the laws in your state regarding being an insurance broker. Brokers work FOR their customers to shop out insurance coverage. Often they can charge a fee.

However, I would suspect there would possibly be a conflict of interest between you and the other companies you own.

Get licensed and ask your instructors.

 

[indienoise]

If your state allows broker fees, why not charge the fee plus receive commission?

 

[goillini52]

If your state allows broker fees, why not charge the fee plus receive commission?

I thought I read that you can't do both?

 

[Markthebroker]

I thought I read that you can't do both?

You can do both. If it gets excessive you can get in trouble. When I get below standard commission on a policy, I tack on a broker fee to make up the difference. Once or twice someone has asked about it. I just say "that's how I get paid for my work". Once I say that, no one ever has a problem with it. I'm not excessive or aggressive with the amounts either, though.

 

[VolAgent]

You can do both. If it gets excessive you can get in trouble. When I get below standard commission on a policy, I tack on a broker fee to make up the difference. Once or twice someone has asked about it. I just say "that's how I get paid for my work". Once I say that, no one ever has a problem with it. I'm not excessive or aggressive with the amounts either, though.

I suspect your services are more than merely having a website and deflecting all customer service to the carrier.

I have no idea of Florida's laws on broker fees on commercial policies, but the idea sounds DOA simply because there are plenty of other agents who will sell it without the broker fee, if you can even charge it.

 

[atthewood]

I don't know about P & C but in health, FL law states that if a company is not paying commissions (as in ACA plan) you may charge a fee if you disclose the fee in advance and if you end up getting commission you must refund the fee to the client.