A.M. Best Rating

National Liability and Fire is rated A++/XV/Superior by A.M. Best Co.

Underwriting Guidelines

Underwriting Criteria

• Click here for list of eligible codes and classes.
• Risks with California-only exposures are eligible.
• Risks must develop $25,000 or more of estimated annual premium.
• Risks must be average to above-average in its class.
• Risks cancelled or non-renewed for underwriting reasons in the two years prior to the proposed effective date are in eligible.
• Risks must be in business with Work Comp history for a minimum of two years and must have current insurance coverage in force. New ventures and risks without prior insurance may be considered upon underwriter discretion.
• Risks must provide written description of any individual loss greater than $25,000, including nature of the injury, cause and current status. All loss data provided should be valued within the last 90 days.
• Risk Management must be:
  • Experienced in operation’s industry.
  • Safety-conscious and compliant with any and all loss control recommendations.
• Risks that are currently written by a sister company cannot be considered. Sister companies include:
  • Redwood Fire & Casualty Insurance Company
  • Cypress Insurance Company
  • Applied Underwriters/California Insurance Company

Policy Term

• All policies are issued as guaranteed cost for a 12-month term. Short-term policies may be available to coincide with a Normal Anniversary Date or as an accommodation to replace business midterm. Retrospective or Deductible programs are not currently available.

Binding of Coverage

• Underwriter will retain full binding authority. Producing brokers do not have binding authority.
• The producing broker may request to bind coverage upon receiving a written certified quotation.
• No verbal representations by any employee of underwriter are valid.
• Backdating is permitted up to 3 days. Day one is the effective date. A “No Loss Letter” signed and dated by the named insured warranting that there have been no known or reported losses or occurrences that may give rise to a claim covering the period of time between the effective date and the request date must accompany the request to bind.
• The producing broker is responsible for collection of the down payment amount as stipulated on the quotation for new business and renewals.
• A copy of the deposit check or confirmation of check by fax/e-mail must accompany the binding request.
• The actual deposit check must be received within 10 calendar days after the date the request to bind was made. If the down payment is not received within this timeframe, a Rescinding Bind Notice will be issued and the risk will not be re-bound without the underwriter's approval.

Certificates of Insurance

• Certificates of insurance may be issued by the producing broker on ACORD certificate forms only with a copy to be forwarded to underwriter for approval. Please do not strike any wording from the approved ACORD certificate form as it will be rejected. Department of Motor Vehicle filings will be generated by underwriter.

Waivers of Subrogation

• Subrogation entitles an insurance company to recover the amount due an insured from a third party who caused the loss. When these rights are waived the Company gives up this opportunity. Because the right of subrogation is important, we want to protect that right, however, we recognize that there are instances where contracts require the Insured to waive their subrogation rights as a condition of the contract award.
• Certificates Of Insurance that include request for waiver of subrogation will need to include the following information:
  • Length of Job, start to finish, if applicable.
  • Detailed description of work being performed.
  • Detailed description of Job Name/Job Number/Contract Number, Job Location, etc.
  • Name and address of party requesting the Waiver Of Subrogation.
  • Class codes applicable to the job, class descriptions and applicable payroll. Be sure that payroll is consistent with the description of job, insured’s operation and size of risk respectively.
• All Waiver of Subrogation endorsements are subject to the following charge:
  • For a specific per entity/per job, apply Class Code(s) Rate to Payroll for specific job and multiply the premium developed by 5%.
  • For a blanket basis, multiply the premium developed by 2%.
  • A minimum premium of $350 will apply to each Waiver of Subrogation endorsement issued.
• Backdating is not allowed. If back dating is to be considered then we must first obtain a “No Loss Letter” signed and dated by the named insured warranting that there have been no known or reported losses or occurrences that may give rise to a claim covering the period of time between the start date of the job and the date that waiver request is submitted.
• Blanket waivers may be offered upon underwriting evaluation.

Pro Rata Cancellation

• The policy is cancelled pro rata and the return or additional premium is rounded to the next higher whole dollar when cancelled for any of the following:
• Non-Payment of Premium.
• Non-report of payroll, failure to permit the Insurer to audit payroll.
• Material misrepresentation.
• Failure to cooperate with the investigation of a claim.
• Non-Compliance with loss control recommendations.
• Material change in ownership and/or operations.

Short Rate Cancellation

• The policy is cancelled short rate when cancellation is at the Insured’s request.

Reinstatements and Rescissions

• A policy that has had two cancellation notices sent for non-payment of premiums and/or non-reporting of payroll will not be reinstated, nor will the cancellation notice be rescinded should payment be received prior to the cancellation date unless approved by the underwriter.
• Reinstatements and rescissions may be allowed pursuant to the following guidelines and conditions, subject for approval by the underwriter:
  • Money is received bringing the account current. This may mean paying the past due installment, current installment, and next installment. Also, it may mean paying the balance of the policy premium.
  • Frequency of cancellations (one or less).
• No reinstatement will be allowed after the cancellation date unless the cancel was a result of a company error, and then coverage may be replaced by a new policy, subject for approval by the underwriter.
  Cancellation frequency may result in an increase on the renewal rates and/or deposit percentage and/or number of installments.
• The underwriter applies the following fees:
  • $19 late fee.
  • $47 cancellation fee.
  • $19 reinstatement fee.

Final Audits

Introduction:

A good premium audit process is very important. Premium Audit goals are as follows:

• Timely and accurate reporting of payroll, premium and losses to the rating agencies.
• Fair, prompt and accurate billing of policyholders.
• Excellent customer service to policyholders and agents.
• Accurate information to underwriting.

In order to maximize accuracy, customer service, timeliness and underwriting information, we have standards based on premium size, but with the ability to make exceptions where necessary. Our standards are as follows:

Audit Selection By Estimated Annual Premium

• Accounts < $5,000 EAP will be completed by a Voluntary Report. Audit Manager will also pick a number of accounts for physical audit, randomly or those with potential inaccuracies.
• Accounts $5,000 – $10,000 EAP: Typically will have a Telephone Audit. All new venture accounts will be physically audited. Also, renewals will be physically audited at least once every three years. At the discretion of the Audit Manager, these may be done by a Voluntary Report.
• Accounts >$10,000 & <$16,000 EAP: Typically will be physically audited. At the discretion of the Audit Manager these may be done by Telephone Audit.
• All accounts >$16,000 EAP will be physically audited. This is per the current WCIRB requirement that all accounts > $16,000 must have an annual physical audit.

Audit Policies & Procedures

• The Audit Manager may assign a phone audit in place of a physical audit if, in his/her judgment, it is warranted.
• All Voluntary Audit Reports will be sent to the policyholder 10 days prior to expiration and due to the AARIS within 30 days post expiration. If billing is based on the Voluntary Audit, it will be billed within 10 working days of receipt of the audit.
• Physical audits will be assigned sixty days prior to expiration and completed (or turned back to the manager) within 55 days post expiration. Invoicing of premium adjustments will be completed within 15 days of receipt of the completed audit.
• Lack of cooperation from the policyholder may result in cancellation of the current policy (if any) and an estimated billing.
• All audits, whether voluntary or physical, will be reviewed by in-house audit reviewers for accuracy and adherence to rules. Also, they will verify the renewal policies are accurate.
• When there is a discrepancy of classifications, or payrolls resulting in 15% or more premium difference on the renewal, the reviewers will notify underwriting. The underwriting department will make inquiries and decide how the renewal should be endorsed.

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Submission Guidelines

The following are needed in order to expedite underwriting and provide the most competitive premium quote possible.

Required:

• Detailed description of the insured’s operations.
• Workers’ Compensation Application (ACORD 130). This form must be signed by insured in order to bind coverage.
• AARIS's Supplemental Workers’ Compensation Application. This form must be signed by insured in order to bind coverage.
• Four-year payroll history and hard copy loss experience (valued within 90 calendar days of effective date). NOTE: If using State Fund's loss runs, we need the "Loss Analysis Report" loss runs separated by each year.
• Description of any claim over $100,000.
• If contractor with split wage class code, current bureau XMOD worksheet.
• If mid-term replacement, annual payrolls as well as short-term payrolls plus net rates by code/class for current policy.
• Three-week lead time.

Desired:

• Commercial Insurance Application (ACORD 125).
• Five- year payroll history and hard copy loss experience (valued within 90 calendars of effective date).
• Current Bureau XMOD worksheet.
• Current CompLine XMOD history sheet.
• Target premium.
• Target quote date.
• Transmission of submission by e-mail.
• Four-week lead time.

Send submissions as follows:

E-MAIL TO:
submissions@singlepointins.com

FAX TO:
925.283.2051
Attention: Submissions Desk

MAIL TO:
Submissions Desk
Singlepoint Insurance Services, Inc.
3730 Mt. Diablo Boulevard, Suite A300
Lafayette, CA 94549

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Claims

Option 1: The insured has the option of calling in the claim to American Commercial Claims Administrators' 24/7 Toll Free Claim Reporting line. That number is 800.362.3555. Please have the following information ready when calling:

• Injured worker’s name, address, telephone number, social security number, date of hire, and date of birth.
• Date of injury and a description of the injury.
• Name and address of medical provider.
• Wage information.

Option 1 eliminates paperwork. Once the claim is set up the insured will be faxed or mailed a copy of the completed 5020 (Employer's Report of Injury).

Once the claim is set up at ACCA, the insured will be contacted by the Adjuster assigned to their claim. The insured may contact the Adjuster directly at 800.362.3555.

Option 2: If the insured prefers to fill out the claim forms they may fax these to 800.425.0352 or mail them to ACCA, P.O. Box 423870, San Francisco, CA 94102-4702.

Once the claim is set up at ACCA, the insured will be contacted by the Adjuster assigned to their claim. The insured may contact the Adjuster directly at 800.362.3555.

NOTE: ACCA (American Commercial Claims Administrators) has specified that there is to be no contact between adjusters and brokers. Therefore, all claim status and similar requests are to be channeled through Singlepoint and Singlepoint will reroute requests as necessary. Requests should be in writing and transmitted by mail, e-mail, or fax.

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