The current state of the trucking and transportation insurance financing market is very challenging to say the least. In order to try and help our clients, we have put together some tips that may help you navigate when putting together deals or programs in this space.

According to various industry resources (CRC, Insurance Journal) inflation, driver shortages, high fuel costs, supply chain problems, among other issues, have come together to make the trucking industry a very difficult one to operate in today. This can all lead to difficulty in finding insurance and doing so at an affordable price while providing flexible payment options to the insured. As a result of these difficulties, many insurance agents and brokers are having to shop new and different insurance carriers, MGA’s, wholesalers and even Risk Retention Groups to find insurance options for their insureds. This can also affect premium financing options.

When working with new or different insurance markets, be sure to get familiar with all of the terms and conditions of the proposed policy including any minimum earned premium clauses. Minimum earned premiums are important factors to consider when presenting insurance options to your insureds and also when requesting a premium finance agreement. All premium finance companies will want to know if there is a minimum earned premium and if so, how much it is. The finance company will also want to know if any of the policies are subject to State or Federal filings, so please be sure you have that information as well. (Insurance filing requirements)

If you are seeking financing of a Risk Retention Group policy, be mindful that not all premium finance companies will finance all or any Risk Retention Group policies. More time and effort may be needed to secure a premium finance agreement for these policies so be sure to factor that in to your insurance presentation. Additionally, you may want to check your agency E&O policy to make sure that you are covered when writing with a Risk Retention Group.

If you are working on a large account or are in need of special terms for the financing, you will want to request financial statements from the insured to help complete the underwriting package and assist with the credit evaluation on the insured by the finance company. Also keep in mind that premium finance terms an insured may have received in prior years may not be a realistic expectation for the current year due to all of the previously mentioned challenges in the marketplace.

Now more than ever it is critically important for you to be working with experts in the premium finance industry and that is where Premium Finance Brokerage can be your ally. We work for YOU and not for the premium finance companies. We are seasoned premium finance experts with decades of experience in underwriting, credit, sales support and creative financing along with access to multiple premium finance companies that will allow us to assist you in obtaining the best payment options for your insureds.

Is your current premium finance company not financing smaller policies? Have they increased their minimums recently? Will they turn away personal lines policies? If so, Premium Finance Brokerage (PFB) can get all of these financed for you!

PFB has programs that provide financing for property and casualty policies of all sizes. We have financed amounts as small as a few hundred dollars all the way up to several million dollars and everything in between. Our decades of experience helps us to find a home for most policies and premium sizes which can save you a lot of time and energy while also meeting the cash flow needs of your insureds.

PFB works for YOU and we will never stop our pursuit of providing the best possible experience with the highest degree of integrity.

At Premium Finance Brokerage, we strive to deliver the best premium finance experience in the industry. We do that by offering the most competitive markets, industry leading services and support while providing value-added products, including agency lending.

Insurance agency lending can take the form of different loans and purposes. Agency acquisitions, building upgrades, technology purchases, and buying books of business are some of the common requests we see. We have several funding options available for these loans with all different terms, structures and pricing.

If you have the need for an agency loan, please discuss your specific need with your Premium Finance Brokerage Sales Executive or contact PFB at 866-381-6501 or info@premiumfinancebrokerage.com.

Cyber Security insurance is one of the fastest growing segments in the insurance industry. Annual premiums have reached an estimated $10 billion and are expected to grow to nearly $23 billion by 2025, according to Fitch Ratings. Also, composite cyber insurance pricing increased 48% in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2022, continuing to outpace other products, according to Marsh’s Global Insurance Market Index. Companies of all sizes are looking to add or increase coverage in this area and Premium Finance Brokerage can help get the premiums paid for.

If you are not talking about cyber insurance with your clients, someone else probably is. With recent cyber attacks in the news and the threats ever increasing, it is in your best interest to educate yourself and your agency staff on cyber insurance. According to the FTC (Cyber Insurance | Federal Trade Commission (ftc.gov)), it is important for cyber policies to include among other things, data breaches, cyber-attacks on data held by vendors and other third parties and cyber-attacks that occur anywhere in the world, not only in the United States.

For your clients protection and improved agency performance, we urge you to embrace cyber-security insurance. When seeking payment solutions for these policies, please contact your PFB representative or get in touch at 866-381-6501 or info@premiumfinancebrokerage.com.

At different times throughout the year, particularly now, you can run across seasonal policies or businesses that need financing. If so, please don’t get frustrated or intimidated by these accounts. Although different, they are not outside of the realm of premium financing and PFB is here to help.

Some of the more common examples of seasonal policies or business include snow removal, ski resorts and golf courses. Each one can present unique challenges with placing the insurance as well as finding payment options for the insured. PFB can help you obtain payment options for seasonal business or policies.

Payment options can include the insured paying in full if they have the substantial funds on hand to do so. Absent that, PFB can help arrange for premium financing. Premium financing can involve setting up a customized payment schedule to align with the revenue stream of the insured so that payments are easier to afford when insured cash flow is highest. In some cases, the premium may be fully earned or the policy may have an unusually high minimum earned premium component. In these cases, PFB can work with you to develop a customized financing option that can work for the insured, agent and premium finance company. PFB has the experience, creativity and resources to get most of these policies financed and paid for.

Financing seasonal policies can be a challenge and require a little more effort in order to secure but PFB has the solutions for these types of situations. Please contact your PFB representative or get in touch with us at 866-381-6501 or info@premiumfinancebrokerage.com.

Does your premium finance representative work for you or for the premium finance company? At Premium Finance Brokerage, we work for YOU!

• Like independent insurance agents, we work for our clients and represent multiple providers. This enables us to provide the most competitive financing program for all of your business.

• We offer a unique program called Concierge Service PLUS to help you manage your premium finance accounts. It means less work with better results for your agency.

• Our independence and industry expertise empowers us to provide flexibility and creative solutions to premium finance challenges.

Premium Finance Brokerage, a better way to premium finance. We work for YOU!

In the world of commercial insurance, you are almost certain to run into a Risk Retention Group (RRG), a liability insurance company owned by its members, or an unrated carrier, one that does not carry an insurer ‘financial strength rating’ given by a rating agency like A.M. Best. Both can pose challenges when it comes to insurance premium financing.

While RRG’s and unrated carriers are slightly different types of entities, they both need special attention when financing their insurance premiums. First, you need to check with the finance company to see if they have already approved the RRG or carrier in question. If so, you should confirm that the finance company has sufficient capacity to finance your account(s).

If the finance company has not approved the RRG or carrier, then you will need to have them become approved before you can finance the premiums. This will likely entail having the RRG or carrier provide a complete set of financial statements or their “Yellow Book”, which is the annual reporting forms used to file with the state insurance departments, to the finance company. The finance company may possibly ask for a narrative about your accounts or program that you will be financing and may also ask to speak with the CFO or other knowledgeable party at the RRG or carrier in order to determine what, if any, capacity amount the finance company might be willing to approve.

While the approval process may not be quick or easy, don’t let that deter you from considering financing the premiums in these cases. Our experts at Premium Finance Brokerage (PFB) can help you every step of the way! Just contact your PFB Sales Executive or contact PFB home office at: info@premiumfinancebrokerage.com or 866-381-6501 and we will be more than happy to guide you and make the process less challenging.

Could your agency benefit from any of the following?

• A premium collection and financing tool all in one

• Reduce time spent on premium collection

• Eliminate paper and time wasted handling documents

• Ability to collect down payments immediately when financing

• A FREE tool to help manage all of this

If you answer YES to any of these, Premium Finance Brokerage (PFB) has a solution for you!

Now you can automate all of your premium collection and premium financing in one place with a free agency tool! PFB works for YOU and represents finance providers that offer the newest technology that will allow insurance agencies to improve their efficiencies, reduce costs and make the process of doing business with them easy. The new premium collection and financing tool is the cutting edge of insurance payments and provides a superior user experience that will make your customers’ and your agency’s lives easier.

Contact PFB today for more information on this exciting new tool! Call 866-381-6501 or email us at info@premiumfinancebrokerage.com.

Providing good service isn’t an option these days, it’s a requirement. Although many companies say they provide good service, what does that actually mean and how does it benefit the customer? With Premium Finance Brokerage we can answer those questions.

Premium Finance Brokerage is committed to the strictest ethical and service standards while offering the most competitive markets in the premium finance industry. It is our sole objective to provide our customers the best possible experience with the highest degree of integrity. We provide many services with specific benefits including:

• Concierge Service Plus suite of services to minimize cancellations, assist with the quoting process and maximize your premium finance assets
• One source and one point of contact for all your premium finance needs simplifies the process for your agency
• Access to several National and Regional providers to ensure you are getting the best offerings for your insureds
• We work for YOU and represent the finance providers so you have a team of industry veteran experts working for you throughout the entire premium finance process
• If our customer service does not meet your standards, we will refund 100% of our gross profit on that particular transaction. 

If you haven’t worked with us recently or ever, we would love the opportunity to earn your business. Please contact us at info@premiumfinancebrokerage.com or 866-381-6501 to see how we can help you streamline your premium finance process and maximize your agency’s potential. We work for YOU!

If you write trucking accounts, specialize in transportation or have any commercial business with endorsements you know how challenging those accounts can be. Premium Finance Brokerage (PFB) has solutions for you! One of them is the ability to finance additional premiums with no additional down payment.

By not having to collect an additional down payment (limitations apply) you can simply add the entire additional premium to the existing financed account. This will make the process of paying for the additional premium easier and eliminate the need to wait for the insured to cut a check or deal with ACH or credit card payments to come in. This will require less time and effort by the agency thereby making the process more efficient and reducing expense related to servicing the account.

With zero down payments, our proprietary Concierge Service Plus program and our associates working for YOU, managing your premium financed accounts has never been easier. For more information, please contact your PFB Sales Executive directly or inquire with us at info@premiumfinancebrokerage.com or by phone at 866-381-6501.

Yes, we do have a market that will finance your watercraft insurance premiums! These types of accounts have some special needs and unique nuances so it is important to work with insurance markets and premium finance sources that have the experience and capacity to handle your accounts professionally and expertly. Whether your insured has a sailboat, yacht, personal watercraft or dinghy, we have an experienced market that will offer very competitive rates and terms to provide premium financing to your insured which is extremely important during this time of a hardening market for these types of coverages.

For more information, please contact your Premium Finance Brokerage Sales Executive directly or contact us at 866-381-6501 or via email at info@premiumfinancebrokerage.com.

Writing an insurance account can be very difficult, so it’s important to keep that account from canceling unnecessarily. Premium Finance Brokerage, LLC (PFB) can help you manage your accounts and assist in cancelation avoidance.

Being premium finance experts, PFB can provide tools and resources to help you maximize the profitability of your financed insurance loans. Some of the tools and resources are as follows:

• Setting the appropriate payment due dates when quoting. This is an often-overlooked aspect in avoiding cancelations. Your insured may receive revenue at certain times of the month or year. You may want to schedule payments so that insured revenue collection coincides with premium finance loan payment due dates. Please think about this factor and consult with your PFB representative so that the proper payment due dates and payment schedule can be created at the time the premium finance agreement is provided to the insured for signature.
• Receiving pre-cancelation reports. PFB can send you your list of accounts that are getting close to canceling. This would give you a heads-up on them and allow you to contact the insured for payment or take other action should you choose to do so.
• Cancelation hold requests. Your PFB representative will work with you to see if there are accounts on your pre-cancelation report that are in need of a hold in order for a payment to be made and the cancelation avoided. If approved by the premium finance company, the hold would provide a few extra days for that payment to be made.

The bottom line is, when a financed account cancels, we all lose money! If you would like to learn more about how PFB can help you manage your premium finance portfolio and maximize your revenue, please contact your PFB representative or contact PFB at info@premiumfinancebrokerage.com or 866-381-6501.

When it comes to premium financing, working large accounts can be very different from working smaller accounts.  Here we share some tips on how you can effectively handle large accounts and introduce you to the PFB Power Play.

The PFB Power Play is a team of industry experts that help secure the best possible outcome for your client.  We will do a thorough evaluation of the credit risk, insurance policies and any other mitigating factors that determine the amount of exposure a finance company may be willing to assume.

The first tip is not unique to large accounts (those accounts generally over $100,000) but it becomes even more important when working on them and that is to ensure you have all of the policy information accurate and complete.  Having accurate effective and expiration dates, a breakdown of premiums, taxes, fees and minimum earned premium percentages or amounts will be essential in obtaining an accurate premium finance agreement.  Other policy specific details like if there are any seasonal or hurricane earning provisions, if an auto related policy has filings or if a work comp policy is guaranteed cost coverage or not should be disclosed when requesting the premium finance quote.

The next tip is to inquire with your insured if financial statements are available in case the finance company requests them as part of their underwriting process.  This can help manage the client’s expectations that they may be needed as part of the underwriting process.  If complete audited financial statements are not available, unaudited statements, internally compiled income statements and balance sheets and even more basic profit and loss statements may be helpful for the loan underwriter.

The final tip is to be sure to understand what loan terms may be best for your client.  Some clients may need a low down-payment while others may benefit more from an additional installment or a customized payment schedule to meet certain operational or cash flow needs.  Talk with your clients about this.  Understanding your client and discussing their needs with your premium finance partner during the submission process can make the difference in getting the best premium finance quote for your client or not and possibly writing the client or not.

In summary, be sure you have all the account information and detail available when beginning the process of obtaining a premium finance quote for your large accounts.  The process and end result will be smoother and more productive for you.  We at Premium Finance Brokerage have large account expertise for accounts in all industries and we are ready, willing and able to help you when your next large account arises. Please feel free to contact us for assistance at 866-381-6501 or info@premiumfinancebrokerage.com.

With hurricane season right around the corner, now is a good time to think about possible hurricane provisions on your insureds’ commercial property risks.

You may or may not know that many insurance companies include hurricane or seasonal earning provisions or endorsements in some of their commercial property policies. The endorsement will change the standard premium earning of the policy. It is important to note that they may not be limited to traditional hurricane areas such as Florida, Texas or the Southeast coastline. It is critical to review the policy language carefully, even when quoting a renewal as policies can change from year to year.

The Hurricane minimum earned premium endorsement generally runs from June 1st to November 1st. If you cancel a policy that has this endorsement, remove a location or reduce the amount of Insurance on a location, and coverage existed any time during the period of June 1st to November 1st, the amount of unearned premium returned will be significantly reduced based on an earnings chart provided in the policy/endorsement. Typically, the minimum earned premium amount with this endorsement is 75% or 80%.

A very important point to remember is that just because a policy might have this very high minimum earned premium doesn’t mean that the policy can’t be financed. It very well may be depending on the amount of the premium, any other policies being financed, the financial strength of the insured and several other factors.

The bottom line is to be aware of the potential for the hurricane or seasonal earning premium endorsement in your insureds’ policies and don’t rule out premium financing as a payment option for your insured. If you would like any assistance with your situation, please contact us at 866-381-6501 or info@premiumfinancebrokerage.com.