Carrier Certifications- Exchange of Information between ClaimSmentor members and participating adjusting firms

We have postings in our carrier certification forum on ClaimSmentor up now that we are approaching the beginning of the peak months of hurricane season for participating adjusters to reply to each topic by carrier if they have obtained the certifications for various carriers so our participating 72 adjusting firms can go directly to a pertinent carrier’s forum topic to download resumes of those now qualified to work claims for a carrier.

 We hope this exchange of information between our member adjusting firms and participating adjusters (now at 1150 plus members!) will be a valuable exchange of catastrophe assignments for the adjusters and a pool of candidates for participating adjusting firms as we begin the busier months of hurricane season!

Thus far we have up a forum topic to post if you offer certification testing for a firm or have certified with a firm for the exchange of info on the following carriers:

Allstate, American Family, Citizens of FL, Farmers, Homewise, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, NFIP, Royal Palm, State Farm, Tower Hill,  TX Windpool,  and USAA (alpha order). If you know of others requiring certification training or firms offering any of the above, please let us know for the most valuable exchange of info between independent adjusters and independent adjusting firms. Thanks!

If you are not yet a  member of ClaimSmentor, you can join us today once we receive the required registration information found here:

http://www.claimsmentor.com/register.php

We have received numerous registration requests while we were closed the month of July 2009 and will be getting those all caught up by Monday so there is no need to send a duplicate request if you already sent your information in. You will receive an email confirming your registration along with a private login id to participate once we have registered you.

Citizens of FL Board approves selection of 30 adjusting firms for 2009-2012 See website links here

 We have posted numerous updates on our blogs about the Citizens of FL Request for Proposal (RFP 08-0016 last rebid in September 08) which was rebid several times in 08 as Citizens of FL cancelled the RFP several times in 08 taking one year from the initial bid process in January 08 to finally announcing the final selections in December 2008 and January 2009.

This caused an impossible situation for the adjusting firms and if you track the rebid posts and claim committee and Board of Governor meetings notes posted on their site, you’ll notice they selected different vendors several times which is quite confusing for independent adjusters as well as the independent adjusting firms who were trying to build rosters of adjusters and plan training sessions. It has been a very rough process and quite expensive for the adjusting firms bidding as well as the RFP documents they had to supply to Citizens changed throughout the year and required many copies of their documents be turned into Citizens to be in compliance with the bidding process. If you follow the document and meeting tracks, with each rebid….less firms applied and you cannot blame them!

 They confirmed with the Citizens Board of  Governors meeting in a January 2009 meeting the selection of 30 adjusting firms selected  to use for  2009- 2012 when workload requires use of independent adjusters.  There were 58 firms that applied on the latest RFP and 30 firms selected. The committee notes post two lists. The first is the 30 firms selected and the second list is called “remaining list” which is the adjusting firms who applied but were not awarded contracts.

You can view the Claim Committee and Board of Governor Meeting notes on these links where this was announced  in a  12/12/08 Claims Committee meeting (see minutes of meeting notes in January 09 and approved by the Board of Governors on 1/29/09 on this  link to all past Board of Governors meetings and Claim Committee meeting notes:

https://www.citizensfla.com/about/past_boardmtgs.cfm

You can view the entire RFP to include the evaluation scoring information sheet in their archived RFP information here (just scroll down and look for RFP 08-0016 which includes the fixed fee schedule, the scoring evaluation criteria and other important information independents should know about the expectations of adjusters and adjusting firms processing their claims):

https://www.citizensfla.com/about/purchasing-solicitations.cfm?type=closed

While these meeting notes do list the adjusting firms, they do not list their websites. You will also see the listing here on their Adjuster Resources page:

https://www.citizensfla.com/adjuster/index.cfm

**see link in top right corner to Awarded Competitive Solicitations link which lists the 30 adjusting firms.

You will find the list again in their meeting documents along with the “remaining list” for firms that applied but were not awarded contracts to service their claims on the past meeting link above by looking at the Board of Governors meeting in January- search the documents in  the left column for all lists and the claim committee presentations and info at those meetings.This is public information posted on their website. 

We have located the websites for adjusters to contact these firms about their upcoming Citizens of Florida required carrier certification training. It is our understanding many of the firms are already hosting the daily (non catastrophe) training right now and that the independent catastrophe training will be held beginning April 2009. It is best to check with them as we are not a Citizens vendor but simply provided much needed information for independent adjusters looking for the firms designated to handle their claims.

We post ALL adjusting firm training classes we learn about on our  site at ClaimSmentor  in our Carrier Certification forum for participants on our site. Before you pay to attend any of these sessions make sure to note that a large number of those hosting the classes are hosting them FREE so  be sure you check around for those classes. There are so many going on, it will not be difficult at all to find one in a location near you. The majority of advertisements we see for these are being held in popular locations in Florida and Texas. Now if we can just get them to hold some of them in the central of the US like here in Nashville, TN!!

If you are an adjusting firm wishing to post information about your classes, please contact Debbie@Dimechimes.com for more information about joining ClaimSmentor or posting your class information here on our Adjuster Information blog.

Here is the list of websites for the 30 selected firms. Be sure to ask the firm before you sign up with them if they are one of the firms that did agree on their response to the RFP to offer Citizens a 5 or 10% discount off of their fixed fee schedule. Citizens used an evaluation criteria where each firm applying got X number of points if they offered Citizens a discount.

 I had significant concerns about this as an inexperienced firm could gain points almost forcing them to offer a discount on the fee schedule to be competitive on the evaluation criteria. Other concerns I had/have are:

1)  How would this work with independent adjusters working side by side and some making 10% more than other independents if they happen to be working for one of the firms offering the discount?

2) Would this reduction in fee schedule cause a poor selection of adjusters sending the more experienced adjusters running to other carriers where they can earn a larger fee since they incur significant travel expenses when they work out of town to begin with during catastrophes?

3) Would this run off  excellent firms who are not interested in working for reduced fees when they can service claims for other carriers at greater fees? (When you look at the remaining list on the link above you’ll wonder too!)

The information I have gathered from some of the adjusting firms participating in the RFP is that even when they did offer the 10% discount to Citizens they did not plan on passing those discounted fees on to the independent adjuster. Instead, they plan to absorb that 10% from their portion of the fee bill. Thus for example if the adjusting firm agrees to a fee split of 60/40 with the independent adjuster, the adjuster would still get their 60% of the fee schedule, the adjusting firm 30%, and adjusting firm absorbs 10% of what they would have gotten had they not agreed to the 10% fee schedule discount. Just check with the adjusting firms you apply to to be sure you are not working at a 10% discount should this concern you. You can check the Fixed Citizens Fee schedule by asking the adjusting firm for the FIXED fee schedule from the RFP or look at it yourself in the RFP documents which are linked to here  on the above links to Closed RFP documents on the Citizens Purchasing link on their home page at www.citizensfla.com ( look for RFP 08-0016 )

Here are the websites for the 30 selected firms where you can apply and register for their Citizens Certification training:

Action Catastrophe Team, Inc.

http://www.actioncatteam.com

Alamo Claim Service

http://www.myalamoclaims.com

Allied American Adjusting Company, LLC

http://www.americanadj.com/contact1.html

Bradley Stinson & Associates, Inc.

http://www.bradleystinson.com/

Burton Claim Service, Inc.

http://www.burtonclaimservice.com/contact.htm

CatManDo, Inc.

http://www.catmandoinc.com/contact-us.aspx

Claims Consultants, LLC

http://www.claimsconsultantsllc.com

CountryWide Adjusting

http://www.cwclaims.com

Florida Claims, a division of Weathers Adjustment Company, Inc.

http://www.floridaclaims.com/contact.asp

G&G Insurance Adjusters, Inc.

http://www.ggadjusters.com/upload/jobs.asp

Global Risk Solutions, Inc. (GRS)

http://www.globalrisksolutions.com

Insurance Servicing & Adjusting Company (ISAC)

http://www.isacclaims.com

Insure-Aid Claims Service

http://www.insure-aid.com/ContactInformation.htm

Integrated Catastrophe Services, Inc.

http://www.iclaimsllc.com 

Interclaim, Inc.

http://www.interclaiminc.com/about.html

Johns Eastern Company, Inc.

http://www.johnseastern.com/career.html

Legacy Claim Services, LLC

  http://www.legacyclaims.net

Lozano Insurance Adjusters, Inc.

http://www.lozanoadjusters.com

Mathias and Company, Inc.

http://www.mathiasinc.com/

Nado Insurance Services

http://www.Nadoclaims.com

National Catastrophe Adjusters, Inc. (NCA)

http://www.ncagroup.com

 

Pilot Catastrophe Services, Inc.

http://www.pilotcat.com

ROL Insurance Consulting

http://yellowpages.aol.com/business/fl/oldsmar/rol-insurance-consulting/0-116929477/?query=Insurance+Adjusters

**I couldn’t find a website for them but found phone number above. Anyone know their website?

S&S Claims Service, Inc.

http://www.SSClaims.com

Team One Adjusting Services, LLC

http://www.teamoneclaims.com

The Littleton Group

http://www.littleton-group.com/catastrophe_services.html

US CAT Adjusters, LLC

http://www.uscatadj.com

 

Walker Group, Inc.

http://www.wgclaims.com

Wardlaw Claims Service

http://www.wardlawclaims.com/contact.cfm

 

York Claims Service, Inc.

http://www.yorkclaims.com/YCS/ContactUs/ExecutiveContacts.aspx

***Before you consider working for any adjusting firm, you might want to check the Vendor Feedback forums over at www.catadjuster.org on this link to see what other adjusters may be discussing about these firms as we do not provide vendor feedback on ClaimSmentor since 50% of our members are trainees. I do always have concern with “vendor feedback” as you never know if it is a disgruntled employee if they post negative comments and/or if there were work performance issues. I can assure you based on my claims management background that some of the worst performers are the loudest complainers but at the same time I can also tell you that there are many non payment issues we need to clean up in the independent adjusting business. Unfortunately, the few firms with these issues give others a bad name for all independent adjusting firms:

http://www.catadjuster.org/Forums/tabid/60/afv/topicsview/aff/40/Default.aspx

**Note you have to register on CADO (www.catadjuster.org) and have a login id to get into this Vendor Feedback in the Adjusters Den there as that forum is not open to the public.

There are so many reputable firms, some who have even serviced their claims for years, on the “remaining”  list that it makes you wonder if the evaluation process was the proper tool for evaluating the professionalism of all adjusting firms. I am not by any means putting down those selected, just concerned about many of the GREAT adjusting firm names on the “remaining” list. I will get the websites up to the firms on the “remaining” list within the next week since there are so many good firms on that list as well.

Note the Citizens Minutes of the Board and Claim Committee meetings usually run about a month behind getting posted on their website so we don’t yet have a link to any details about the finalization of the contracts with these 30 firms which their site says was going to be done once they got the board approval for these firms in late January. (See past Board of Governor and Claim Committee meeting links on the link above to past meetings.

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Update 6:35pm CST: If you want to see the history of RFP 08-0016 and what independent adjusters  and independent adjusting firms have been put through on Citizens adjuster training in 07 and 08 (with the majority never getting an assignment) you can look at this list of prior blogs we wrote since we started this blog July 07:

7/26/07:

 

http://dimechimes.wordpress.com/2007/07/26/hot-topic-for-independent-adjusters-opportunities-to-work-citizens-insurance-of-fl-claims/

 

8/24/07:

 

http://dimechimes.wordpress.com/2007/08/24/enough-is-enough-citizens-fl-claim-reserve-problem-to-the-tune-of-300-million/

 

10/18/07

 

http://dimechimes.wordpress.com/2007/10/18/citizens-of-fl-adds-46th-adjusting-firm-tornado-damage-in-pensacola-fl/

 

2/13/08:

 

http://dimechimes.wordpress.com/2008/02/13/citizens-rfp-for-daily-independent-adjusters-cancelled-the-claims-cheese-is-on-the-move-again/

 

4/23/08:

 

http://dimechimes.wordpress.com/2008/04/23/citizens-of-fl-releases-new-rfp-for-daily-and-for-catastrophe-claims/

 

5/14/08:

 

http://dimechimes.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/citizens-of-fl-new-rfp-revised-times-3/

 

5/14/08:

 

 

http://dimechimes.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/citizens-of-fl-changes-independent-training-requirements-for-2008/

 

5/19/08:

 

http://dimechimes.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/concerned-regarding-adjuster-fee-schedules-for-citizens-of-fl/

 

 

 

6/18/08:

 

http://dimechimes.wordpress.com/2008/06/18/breaking-news-citizens-has-posted-30-firms-selected-for-tier-1-on-new-rfp/

 

8/5/08:

 

http://dimechimes.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/citizens-of-fl-cancels-rfp-for-independent-adjusters-yet-another-time-in-2008-rebid-now-times-4/

 

8/18/08:

 

http://dimechimes.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/citizens-expects-to-post-rebid-rfp-for-independent-adjusters-on-august-19-2008/

 

9/03/08:

 

http://dimechimes.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/citizens-of-fl-now-has-a-new-date-published-for-new-rfp-for-93008/

 

2/19/09:

 

http://dimechimes.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/citizens-of-fl-board-approves-selection-of-30-selected-adjusting-firms-see-list-here-with-websites/

Note alot of the links have probably moved in these blogs as Citizens moves information to the “Past ” link on the Board of Governors Meeting (there is a future meeting link and a past meeting link you will find on the home page at www.citizensfla.com and the RFP 08-0016 information is moved from the Purchasing documents link to the Closed and Archived documents link which you can still find on the home page linked to a minute ago. 

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Updated 3/6/09: To help adjusters who keep asking who should they take the classes from, who would I recommend,etc (which I don’t do as I have no control of these firms so if I have not been participating with them for years or deployed adjusters for them and gotten great feedback I must refrain from doing so…..in the same vain, we do not provide vendor feedback in our ClaimSmentor forums since we have not personally worked with these firms)….anyway….try the membership directory at www.naiia.com  and also view their membership criteria to understand why we are suggesting you go there to see which members above are approved members at NAIIA. While you are there, be sure to click on their link to the Code of Conduct form they require members comply with. Search our Archives found in the left column of this blog and read our entire blog about this posted on 3/5/09. You can click on the Calendar on 3/5/09 and it will take you right to it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nationwide Insurance, Homewise Insurance, ANPAC Insurance Carrier Certifications Coming Up in March 2009

We have previously posted several blogs on independent adjuster requirements to take carrier certification exams. If you missed the post about this, click here:

http://dimechimes.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/insurance-carrier-claim-certifications-where-do-you-test-for-them-much-improvement-needed-in-the-process-of-certifying-independent-adjusters/

Also, don’t miss our independent adjuster/adjusting firm poll on carrier certifications to place your vote about your interest in more online carrier certification exams here:

http://dimechimes.wordpress.com/2009/02/13/independent-adjusters-participant-in-our-poll-on-carrier-certification-exams/

You can check our other carrier certification posts by clicking on the Categories tab on our blog and selecting carrier certifications to see all postings. It is also a good idea to click on the claim training and adjuster training categories as well if you are looking for other training opportunities.

One of the participating adjusting firms at our mentoring site ,ClaimSmentor,  is hosting a FREE carrier certification class March 10, 2009 and March 11, 2009 in Tampa, FL for the following carriers:

. Nationwide Insurance Carrier Certification

. Homewise Insurance Carrier Certification (they are one of the newer FL carriers)

. Anpac Insurance (American National) information

Here is the information to register for these classes:

Claims Service Professionals (CSP) will be hosting certification classes for Nationwide Insurance & HomeWise Insurance, and an orientation and introduction class to ANPAC Insurance.  Be prepared for the upcoming storm season.  Get certified to handle Nationwide and HomeWise claims and learn more about ANPAC Insurance.  CSP is expanding its current roster of catastrophe adjusters and is seeking experienced property adjusters.  We strongly encourage anyone that has property claims handling experience to attend this meeting and to visit our web site http://www.cspclaims.com and complete an on-line resume.

The free classes will be held in Tampa, FL and will run from 1 PM to 5 PM on Tuesday March 10^th and 8 AM to 4 PM on Wednesday March 11^th.   You should bring a photo ID, calculator, and either a pen or pencil along with notepaper.  Laptops are not necessary

Please RSVP your notice to attend the Tampa, FL class to:
rsvptampa@cspclaims.com

Location details of this event are listed below.  Seating is limited, so please send in your RSVP as quickly as possible. 

March 10^th, 2009 1 PM – 5 PM

March 11^th, 2009 8 AM – 4 PM

Holiday Inn Express

8310 Galbraith Road

Tampa, Fl

SHOULD YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE EMAIL THEM TO:

rsvptampa@cspclaims.com

Here is a link to their online resume for adjusters wishing to apply to their firm:

https://www.cspclaims.com/Resume.asp

 

 ***If your adjusting firm is interested in advertising your upcoming seminars, conferences, training classes and job opportunities, email debbie@dimechimes.com.

You will also find  a link to register at ClaimSmentor where we have career forums for posting job opportunities, seminar forums, carrier certification forums, and much much more information for adjusting firms and for adjusterson our About page tab on this blog.

 

TWIA- Texas Windpool offers Two Adjuster Certification Workshops in March and April 2009

You will find the information about the March and April 2 Adjuster workshops  for the  TX Windpool  (TWIA ) on this link. The registration form says the deadline is 3/10/09 to submit  the registration form and payment of 25.00. It also mentions if there is any room available you can pay 50.00 as a walk in the day of the class but my guess is there sure won’t be space available.

http://www.twia.org/news.html#adjuster_news

Independent Adjusters- Participate in our poll on Carrier Certification Exams

 Be sure to click on the comments tab at the end of this post to find the link to the blog post regarding the need for improvement in carrier certification exams for independent adjusters.

I changed the View Results to allow voters to be able to view the results- check back often for updated results! Note the vote poll software program only allows voting 1 time per cookie so adjusters cannot vote multiple times.

Have you registered for your 2009 NFIP Adjuster Certification Class?

Here is the link to the NFIP- National Flood Insurance Adjuster Certification Workshops:

http://www.nfipbureau.fema.gov/training/index.html

You will see the link for adjusters at the top of the right hand corner. Register asap if you have not already as these classes fill up quickly. We have many members of  ClaimSmentor who are already attending them in Jacksonville, FL today.

Note this is a different link than they used in 2008 for Adjuster classes and that old link which many are trying to use says their are no workshops presently posted so many adjusters may think that they are not yet available.

Two Carrier Certification Exams offered week of 9/22/08 followed by deployment-Updated 9/25/08

We have two clients offering carrier certification exams the week of September 22, 2008 for additional exams added at the last minute as the carriers have additional needs for independent adjusters.

The State Farm certification exam will be offered twice this week in TX. It is expected that those who successfully pass the certification exam that are properly licensed and experienced will be immediately deployed for Hurricane Ike duty locations.

The Nationwide certification exam is offered by a 2nd client this week on Wednesday in Ohio. Two years experience required and successful completion of the exam for Nationwide on Tuesday is expected to lead to deployment opportunities in OH where over 900,000 residents went without power last week. These will be wind claims. Great opportunity to avoid the nightmares of dealing with the housing and logistics issues going on over in TX and for those on the east coast wishing to work closer to home. ***Update- this was changed from Tuesday to Wednesday 9/24/08 at 8am. **Update 9/25/08- The test was handled yesterday. We are taking a waiting list for the vendor and will notify applicants when the next exam will be administered. They do require 2 years of experience prior to sitting for the exam so submit your resume and 2 references so we can confirm you have the required experience to pass this on to the adjusting firm sponsoring the exam for future Nationwide deployments.

There is no charge for either exam. Both adjusting firms must also be sure you successfully pass the background check so I wanted to also post that so there would be no surprises.

Those interested in either of these opportunities to certify should send their resume and 2 references to debbie@dimechimes.com and be sure to put the carrier exam you are wanting to sit for in the Subject field so the emails are immediately pulled as we are receiving an overwhelming number of emails this week and don’t want you to miss this opportunity should you be interested.