Insurance underwriting is the process of determining whether or not a potential customer is eligible to be insured for a particular reason and, if so, assigning a monetary value to the insurance. There is a wide spectrum of possibilities for what someone can be insured for, and it is up to the insurer to use the many tools at her disposal to determine the right cost for her business, as well as the terms of the insurance agreement. Examples of risks an underwriter may assess are automobiles, property, disease, sports, and life, each of which can vary greatly depending on many factors.
The main tool used in underwriting insurance is a computer, which can be used in many ways to try to ensure that a policy does not result in a loss. One of the ways this is done is by examining large amounts of data on past policies and comparing it to information on the current insurance applicant. If the risk to a client is particularly high, for example, a computer program will determine a premium to apply, or simply deny the client a policy if it is too risky. Computers are also used to access many online databases that may carry information about a specific client’s history or previous records of similar cases, as well as the success rates of those insurance policies.
While there are many categories and subcategories of insurance, an insurance underwriter will generally work in one of four categories: property/casualty, life, health, or mortgage. Several varieties of these types of insurance may also cover group policies, which can make underwriting difficult because more people must be insured. One risky person in a group can increase the premium for the entire policy, and it is often up to the insurer to interview everyone involved in the potential policy. An insurance underwriter will often be responsible for learning about all the different categories of insurance, especially when your employer offers umbrella policies that may insure a client for a “package” of risks rather than just one.
Insurance underwriting does not require any formal training, although most insurance companies will require a prospective underwriter to have credentials such as a bachelor’s degree or several years of prior underwriting experience. The inexperienced underwriter will require training under someone with experience. Even an experienced insurance underwriter starting at a new company will require training, due to specialized software and techniques that vary between companies. Since there are constant technological advances, insurance underwriting generally requires continuing education and up-to-date knowledge of the field. An insurer may also obtain a state license and use the knowledge of that license to work as an agent or broker who sells insurance policies.
What is an insurance policy?
An insurance policy is a contract in which two parties, one of which is the Insurance Company, define the terms and clauses relating to the insurance you are taking out.
There are mandatory policies – such as car liability or medical professional policies, for example – and optional policies, which cover an increasingly broad spectrum of our relationship life.
The policy details the rights and duties of the two parties, the amount of the premiums, and the events for which sums will be paid (also as compensation if the policy covers damages).
Who is the policyholder of an insurance policy?
The word “contractor” helps us immediately to identify the first subject. It is in fact the one who signs the contract, signs it, together with the insurance company: both are contractors.
The policyholder is therefore the one who agrees with the Insurance on the conditions of the policy, accepting all the clauses and conditions, and undertakes to pay the premium, in a lump sum or with periodic deadlines.
In a nutshell, the contractor:
sign the insurance policy;
pays the agreed premiums.
It can be a natural person but also a legal person, a company: it depends on the contract you are going to sign.
The policyholder could also be the insured and the beneficiary of the policy at the same time or not, depending on the cases that are taken into consideration. If the three individuals do not coincide, it will be necessary to specify it in the contract, indicating the insured and beneficiary.
The classic example is that of the insurance policy for the child’s moped in which the policyholder is the father.
Attention! In the case of car and motorcycle liability insurance, the risk certificate (the document that defines the risk class on which to calculate the premium) concerns the owner of the vehicle and not the policyholder.
If the owner and contractor are not the same people, the premium will be determined on the basis of the owner’s data (merit class, age, physical condition, etc.).
The subjects of an insurance contract
There are terms that may seem synonymous with each other, but which in the face of a contract can assume significant differences.
In an insurance contract, one party is the insurance company which, against the underwriting of a policy and the payment of insurance premiums, guarantees certain benefits upon the occurrence of the events listed in the contract. On the other hand, there are three subjects who could be represented by the same person, or they could be two or three different individuals. Thus, terms matter to define who we are talking about.
