Tornado in Hawaii

You know things are getting weird when you see tornadoes in Hawaii.

YOUR ATTENTION NEEDED

We have been receiving a high amount of policies written that are listing wrong or incomplete addresses including even listing the wrong CITY!  We need all agents to please verify addresses before submitting.

Policies submitted with wrong or incomplete addresses will experience a delay in processing or rejection/cancellation for lack of underwriting information.

You can use one of many free websites to verify the address such as http://maps.google.com or any of the others.  Thanks!

Commissions

As a result of switching to Britecore as our new operating system, you will receive (up to)  two (2) Commission Statements and (2) Commission Checks per month.

Policies that have ‘renewed into’ Britecore will be on one Commission Statement which is automatically emailed to you (and looks VERY different from what you are used to seeing). Policies that have NOT renewed into Britecore will be included in on the old statement.

One change you will notice in the new system is that in order to include a commission on the statement the premium has to be paid AND the policy be effective. In the old system, commissions were paid solely of the occurrence of premium payment regardless of when the policy became effective.

This new accounting wrinkle (of which is based in the software) may reduce your commission amount for the first month or so until the accounting catches up with the premium flow.

Britecore Tutorial – The Dashboard

Once you sign into Britecore at https://meramec.britecore.com ,
you will notice the Dashboard offering you six choices:

1. QUOTES – This option at the present time will link you back to our quoting website at https://iwsquotes.com/meramec where you continue to
   1) quote and submit New Business,
   2) submit Endorsement/Change requests, and
   3) submit Claims.
   Eventually, all this will be integrated into the main Britecore site itself.
2. POLICIES – Here is where you go to view your policies that have ‘renewed into‘ Britecore with effective dates beginning July 1, 2011 and all New Business dated since July 1, 2011.
3. CLAIMS – As mentioned above, Claims are still submitted through the website at iwsquotes.com/meramec like in the past, but all claims associated with policies that have ‘renewed into’ Britecore will show up here.
4. PAYMENTS – Once your agency submits the proper paperwork to do Payment Sweeps, you will be able to do those in this tab. Individual Customer and Agency Payments by eCheck, Debit, and Credit Cards are still accomplished through the Payment page at iwsquotes.com/meramec as usual.
5. STATS – Here you can go to get information on Loss Ratio, Commissions, and Application Volume. Again, this will build over time as business is renewed into Britecore and claims associated with those policies merge in.
6. SETTINGS – This is where to go to change your Login Name and Password. Due to the sensitive nature of the information of your clients in Britecore, we recommend frequent changes to your password.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEzb9f4Nt3E

Some GOOD News!

With all the BAD news circulating about companies and countries, we thought it was time to spread some GOOD news.  As you know, Meramec Valley changed its entire company philosophy in 2002, charting a new direction. In September 2007, we went ‘online’ with the philosophy of doing everything we can to make it easy for agents to do business with us.

And, it  has worked.

• Since September 2007, we have experienced 53% growth in our total policy count.
• Since September 2007, we have increased Policyholder Surplus by 53% and Company Assets by 64%
• With a better experience with our reinsurer, our reinsurance costs are down to  24.2% of our Total Assessments (Premium) (down from 31% in 2000) and we have dropped our Total Expenses (as a percentage of Total Assessments) as well.

We are more financially sound now than at any time in our company’s history and are looking forward to many more years of solid growth!  Thanks to all the agents who have helped us by writing solid profitable policies.

Making Payments…

If you try to make a payment on the PAYMENT screen that has ‘timed out’, it may act erratic or just not accept the payment at all.

THE FIX?

When you want to make a payment and you are not signing on right then and there, we recommend you quickly log OUT and log in right before you make the payment.

We are talking to the programmers now to see if there is anything else we can do to remedy this situation. When we find this out, we’ll let you know.

If you do not get a CONFIRMATION screen pop up after making the payment, you cannot assume that the payment went through. Call our office if you have any doubts about the success of a payment.

IMPORTANT and URGENT! Please READ

For whatever reason(s), we have been receiving bound applications on properties and insureds with serious problems that obviously do not qualify for a policy with Meramec and should have never been bound. We hesitate to take drastic measures, but agents who continually bind properties in this manner will lose their binding authority.

Please do not do anything to jeopardize your binding authority. If you are unsure whether or not a property or insured qualifies, please contact underwriting. Send pictures and a description of what you are wanting to bind. They will be able to give you a good indication of whether or not the property is bindable.

Meramec strives to be your partner for placing good risks, not as a dumping ground like some other mutuals have the reputation of being.  Thanks for working with us.

Some reminders from Underwriting:

• Meramec Valley does not accept risks that have swimming pools with diving board(s) and/or slides.
• Risks must show pride of ownership. Risks with debris scattered about in the yard will be rejected immediately.
• Risks with derelict and/or multiple unlicensed vehicles are a high liability risk and will not be accepted.
• Dwellings must be occupied. Vacant and/or unoccupied dwellings are not acceptable under any of our programs.
• All outbuildings must be stable and in good condition.
• Roofs must be 10 years old or less. Roofs should not not have ANY missing, broken, curled, or cupped shingles.

IMPORTANT – Rate Change

We’ve had to make a couple of adjustments to our rates to correct a situation and will make a few more over the next week or two. Check back with your rate before you ‘sell’ it to your client. You may see a different rate.

New Contact Information Page

We’ve updated our Contact Information Page. You may find the printable PDF form on the REFERENCES section under Office Contact Information.

If you haven’t already, please make note that to reach Underwriting we prefer that you dial them direct at 866-533-6789.

Pay It Forward

Meramec Valley has the best agents anywhere. That’s why we’d like to hear from you about how you ‘Pay it Forward‘.

How do you make your world a better place?  What special thing have you done for another to ease a burden or help in some other way?

 

YOUR Missouri Agent’s Association….

Press Release

6/12/2010

Meramec Valley Mutual Insurance Company is excited to announce that we are a major sponsor at the Missouri Association of Insurance Agents’ Leadership Conference, July 21-23, at The Lodge of Four Seasons, Lake Ozark, Mo.

We will also be exhibiting at the trade show on both Wednesday and Thursday. Meramec Valley Mutual will join in the company prize drawings at the close of the trade show. We hope that as an appointed Meramec Valley Mutual agent, you too will attend this conference to visit with our representatives and possibly learn even more about our products and services.

Remember, if you register soon you will receive “early-bird pricing” (through Monday, June 21). Registration for the Leadership Conference is available on the MAIA website, www.missouriagent.org. We look forward to seeing you at the Lake in July!

Senate Vote Keeps Flood Program Waiting

NU Online News Service, June 16, 4:00 p.m. EDT

Hopes the insurance industry had of politicians putting disagreements aside to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) were dashed today in Washington, as the Senate voted against legislation to restart the program.

The NFIP expired May 31, marking the third lapse of the program this year.

Industry trade organizations said politicians are scrabbling over certain provisions in the bill unrelated to the NFIP.

These provisions in the “tax extenders bill” would allegedly add to the federal deficit, those against the measure claim.

“We cannot afford to have political disagreements get in the way of protecting millions of Americans from flood losses,” said Jimi Grande, senior vice president of federal and political affairs for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. “The lack of action by Congress is unacceptable.”

Complicating matters is the fact hurricane season began June 1 and an active season is forecasted. The only way for homeowners to get flood insurance is through NFIP, but right now no NFIP policies can be written or renewed, which also prevents real estate closings from occurring if a property is in a floodplain.

The program protects about 5.5 million homeowners.

“If nothing else, we have to immediately address the coastal homeowners who are preparing for the hurricane season now,” said Ben McKay, senior vice president of federal government relations for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

Even if today’s bill was passed, NFIP policies would not be active until mid-July because of a current 30-day waiting period from when a policy is bought, insurance representatives said.

The Senate could approve an amended version of the bill it voted down today.

It would then go back to the House.

Submitting Claims

When an insured wants to turn in a claim, please DO NOT TELL THE INSURED TO CALL US DIRECTLY. Please use our Claims submission form online to turn in the claim.  Doing so:

1. Gives you a level of protection in the event of an E&O Claim by logging in the exact time and date of the submission.
2. Gives you control to advise your insured. Many times we get claims submitted that are below the insured’s deductible. This is a waste of time for the insured and it immediately causes them to lose their CLAIMS FREE DISCOUNT.  This causes insureds to get very angry at you, the agent, for not warning them when they get no payment and then get surcharged on top of it.
3. Gives us a level of protection as well and allows us to closely document times by which we are expected (statutorily) to comply.
4. Immediately informs our Claims Manager via Text Message of your claim submission. We have many instances where the insured was contacted within moments by our staff AND many have been seen the VERY SAME DAY. This provides immediate service that is second to NONE in the insurance industry.

So, please do NOT have the insured call our office. As you can see, using our system benefits everyone and speeds up the entire process.

Thanks for working with us in this matter.

New Underwriting Manual for 2011

Please find below a link to view or save the updated Underwriting Manual for 2011.

• To view, simply left-click and it will open up in this window.
• To save it to your computer, right-click and “Save As” onto your computer for future reference….

2011 Underwriting Rules

This PDF file is also available on the page above under the REFERENCES tab.

INTERVIEW WITH SETH STEIN, AUTHOR OF DISASTER DEFERRED: HOW NEW SCIENCE IS CHANGING OUR VIEW OF EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS IN THE MIDWEST

The following is an interview with Seth Stein, author of Disaster Deferred: How New Science is Changing Our View of Earthquake Hazards in the Midwest.

Q: What’s wrong with the stories we hear about the 1811 and 1812 New Madrid earthquakes?

Seth Stein: A lot of what you hear is hype. For example, you hear that these were the biggest earthquakes that ever hit the U.S. In fact there are about 15 earthquakes of the same magnitude somewhere in the world every year. Similarly, the story that they rang church bells in Boston isn’t true. Actually, there’s no record that anyone in Boston felt them. There’s also the story that the Indian chief Tecumseh predicted them. Actually, after the earthquakes he told his followers that they proved that the Great Spirit was on the Indians’ side.

Q: The government says that earthquakes will again happen in the Midwest and cause a huge natural disaster unless we start preparing now. Why do you disagree?

S.S.: Twenty years ago every geologist thought that. We knew there had been big earthquakes in 1811 and 1812, and geological studies showed that there had been earthquakes in about 1450 and 900 AD. So it looked like earthquakes happen about every 500 years. We couldn’t test that idea until about 1990, when the Global Positioning System–GPS–came along. That let us put markers in the ground and measure the position of the Midwestern fault lines using a fancier version of the GPS systems used in cars and cell phones. Geologists started making measurements near faults all around the world where there was a history of earthquakes. They discovered you could measure the ground moving as it stored up energy for a future earthquake. To our surprise, measurements at the New Madrid earthquake zone showed that the ground wasn’t moving. We concluded there is no sign that a big Midwestern earthquake is on the way.

Q: Don’t the small earthquakes happening in the Midwest today prove that a huge one is coming? S.S.: Our results show that most of those small earthquakes are aftershocks of the big earthquakes from 200 years ago. It makes sense because they happen on the faults we think moved 200 years ago.

Q: How can it be that the New Madrid fault is no longer active?

S.S.: The idea that faults can turn on and off seems surprising, but it’s catching on quickly for a couple of reasons.

First, it explains a lot of the puzzles about New Madrid. We know that the faults at New Madrid are hundreds of millions of years old, but throughout their history they haven’t moved most of the time. If faults move a lot they make topography like mountains, and the Midwest is some of the flattest land in the country. It didn’t square with what we see.

Second, once geologists started looking, we realized that faults within other continents–China, Europe, and Australia–also switch on and off.

Q: Knowing this, how can the government claim that the Midwest is in as much earthquake danger as California?

S.S.: That conclusion made sense with what we knew 20 years ago, but we know so much more now. Now it looks like the danger of earthquakes in the Midwest is about 1/10th that of California’s. Of course, we’ll keep studying the area, but from what we know there is no point rushing into expensive California-level preparations. More modest preparations would cost less and let resources be used other ways that do more good.

Q: Even if the risk is much less than the government says, doesn’t it make sense to prepare

S.S.: Remember President Reagan’s line that the scariest phrase in the English language is “we’re from the government and we’re here to help.” The problem is that the preparations the government wants communities and business to take are very expensive. Bringing one hospital in Memphis up to California standards cost about 100 million dollars. Bringing all the buildings in the area up to this standard would take billions of dollars. Spending that money on other social needs would do a lot more good. Similarly, requiring businesses to spend money this way is a huge tax with little benefit. It’s likely that many buildings in California will be seriously shaken by an earthquake during their lives, while a building in the Midwest is very unlikely to be.

Q: So, what’s your overall advice about Midwest earthquakes?

S.S.: We should keep learning more about them, but don’t need to rush into expensive precautions. The government is pushing communities to spend money that can be better utilized elsewhere for greater social good. As the old joke goes, “do you want it right or do you want it now?”

 

Changes/Endorsements

We’ve added another service to help you.

Now, when you make a Change / Endorsement to a client’s policy, you will receive a return email outlining the changes you’ve requested.