The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has approved revisions to Citizens’ personal lines underwriting manuals, effective April 1, 2017. Citizens revised the manuals to achieve a more consistent format and to consolidate and reorder rules and rating tables for ease of use.
Each underwriting manual now will be separated into two segments: Underwriting Guidelines and Rating Steps and Factors. The most significant changes in these two segments are outlined below.
There are no rule changes associated with the revised underwriting manuals.
Underwriting Guidelines
All underwriting rules and guidelines now will be included in the smaller, more consolidated Underwriting Guidelines segment of the manual.
Newly Combined Rules
Newly combined rules include:
Applications, Quotes, & Policy Period
Premium & Payment Options
Loss History & Credit Reports
Construction Definitions & Single Building Definition
Optional and Additional Coverages
References to default limits for Coverage B and C have been removed.
Rating Steps and Factors
All premium calculation steps and rating factor tables now will be included in the Rating Steps and Factors segment of the manual.
All rating steps and factor tables are reordered to follow the steps of the premium calculation worksheets.
New Business Capping Ratio has been renamed to New Business Capping Factor. Note: This change is to differentiate between the New Business Capping Factor and the policy’s Capping Ratio, which are two different values displayed on the premium calculation worksheets.
Territory Definitions and CAT protection surcharges are moved to the end of the rating section.
Website Updates
Updated underwriting manuals are located in the Personal section for each line of business on the Agents site of the Citizens website.
Citizens provides agent communications online for historical purposes only, and the communications have not been updated to include any changes that may have been made after publication. Agents can find the latest information by reviewing the applicable underwriting manuals, and by logging in and accessing our FAQs, which are available from the top of any page on our website.
