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Agent Training May Earn CRS Credit

Does the department of insurance in your State mandate flood insurance training for agents? If so, your community could be earning points that will reduce insurance premiums for local NFIP policyholders.

A number of State Departments of Insurance now mandate flood insurance training for property and casualty agents so that property owners will be given correct information, before a flood occurs as well as after, about purchasing financial protection against flood losses and filing claims if a loss occurs. Numerous states also offer continuing education (CE) credit to agents who attend flood insurance training or successfully complete an online course, and some states include questions about flood insurance in their agent licensing examinations.


Points for Protection

The NFIP's Community Rating System (CRS) awards points to participating communities that engage in floodplain mitigation activities beyond the NFIP's baseline requirements. When a CRS community increases the number of points it earns by documenting enough creditable activities, residents receive a reduction in their annual NFIP premiums.

Sometimes, State legislators put into place disclosure, training, or additional floodplain management requirements that make communities within that state eligible to receive CRS points. Now, as more states are mandating flood insurance training for their agents, CRS communities within these states are able to apply for credit in the CRS "Higher Regulatory Standards" category of creditable activities, which recognizes the benefit received by the NFIP for a state-required measure that is implemented in both CRS and non-CRS communities in that state.

Communities can earn up to 45 CRS points just by documenting that their state has mandated regulatory standards. If the state mandates that property insurance agents must attend at least 3 hours of flood insurance training per year as a condition of obtaining or maintaining their license, CRS communities within the state can earn as many as 20 points. A community can receive 10 points for 2 hours of required training and 5 points for 1 hour of required training.

For more information about how to apply for this credit, contact the CRS field representative for your region. Contact information is available in Appendix G of the CRS Coordinators Manual, available online under "Resources" at the CRS Resource Center.
 Last updated on February 1, 2007