The following are answers to frequently asked questions regarding AFC procedures and Commissions. Please take this opportunity to read through these common questions and answers.
All New Business is to be submitted directly to your manager or AFC at 11 S. Guilford, Carmel, IN 46032. AFC is to receive all new business applications on Mondays from either managers, or directly from agents. New Business is processed only on Mondays. Agents are welcome to submit new business throughout the week. Short-term applications and Dental applications may be submitted directly to the carrier. However, for the Agent to be assigned commissions, he/she must submit to AFC a copy of the original short-term/dental application so that commissions may be assigned. Any applications that are issued which do not follow this procedure will remain in pending commissions until we hear from the agent and receive a copy of the original app for each case.
All Underwriting Status Responses or completion requirements are to be sent directly to the respective carrier. AFC does not forward underwriting status responses. The agent will have options for submitting outstanding requirements, including FAX, Phone, direct mail, or email. Some Carriers have On-Line status information available to contracted agents. With the On-Line status, you can review your cases at your leisure, and submit questions/concerns via email directly to the carrier.
For Advances: A Delivery Receipt Form is supplied to each agent. Only after a policy has been delivered must an agent complete this form and fax it to The A.F.C. Group, Inc. no later than Tuesday morning 9:00am EST in order to be eligible for Advances that same week. After a brief verification with the client, AFC cuts Advance checks on Thursday of the same week. No checks are cut for less than $50.00. Any outstanding balances are transferred to a Miscellaneous Adjustment Account, where they remain until the agent's next check is to be cut. At that time, the Miscellaneous Adjustment is added to that agent's check and the full amount is paid to the agent.
For Earned: Once a month, AFC posts commissions and cuts checks for all agents who have $50.00 in earnings or greater. These checks and statements are mailed out every month on the 15th of the month or the Thursday following the 15th of that month.
Each agent should be aware of the PPO's available in his/her sales area. However, AFC does provide a list of PPO links for you to research your questions through the Carrier and Products page of our website.
Short-Term Applications are the only applications that are permitted to be sent to the carrier directly based on the need for timeliness of issue. However, a copy of all short-term apps must be faxed to AFC in order for our commissions area to match the writing agent with his/her commissions.
It is requested that all commission questions be forwarded to AFC by means of a written fax stating the specific questions including dates and policy numbers or by EMail through our website. AFC will respond to all such Faxed and Emailed questions within 24 business hours.
Leads are ordered based on the same procedures followed with Advances. A Delivery Receipt signals our marketing department to order your leads. Leads are ordered the same week the Delivery Receipt is received by AFC, (by 9:00 am est. on Tuesday). Lead orders are placed that Tuesday at 10:00 am est. It takes 7-9 days to receive the Lead Order, therefore, leads are not mailed to the agent until 9 days after receipt by AFC of a Delivery Receipt.
Earned commissions are based entirely on the premiums supplied by carrier statements. AFC receives carrier statement approximately 4 weeks after the month to which the premium applied for the client. Therefore, if a client pays his premium for January, the carrier posts this premium at the end of the month, AFC receives the carrier statement in February, approximately 3-4 weeks after the end of January. AFC then enters these entries into our Advance accounting program, and once a month, AFC posts commissions and cuts checks for all agents who have $50.00 in earnings or greater. These checks and statements are mailed out every month on the 15th of the month or the Thursday following the 15th of that month. For our example, this year, the check were mailed out to agents on January 17, 2002.
Any time that Advances/Earnings are less than $50.00 on a given statement, the balance is carried forward and added to the next statement that the agent would receive. This can be identified by taking a look at the miscellaneous adjustment statement that you receive after the <$50 statement. The balance forward is then added to the next commission statement that the agent receives and is paid to the agent, assuming that the balance forward and new balance together total more than $50.
Every delivery receipt is only admissible ONE TIME to be verified for Advances and/or Leads. Should the client not have the policy or not want the coverage for any reason, or if there are changes to be made with the coverage
before the client is content, the case will not be advanced/leaded. An Agent may not re-submit the delivery receipt
for a second verification. The case will from that point be paid as EARNED only with no Leads.
What are my contract Vesting Requirements?
As per the AFC Agent Agreement, page 3, Section 9, "Vesting of Monthly Renewal Commissions", if
an agent becomes inactive ("in breach or violation of contract"), then the agent's vesting will be
dependent upon that agent maintaining 5 active policies and/or earnings paying at >$50.00 per
month. Should an agent's block of business fall to less than the 5 required polices and/or <$50.00 in
earnings in a given month, that agent will no longer be vested as per the contract. Please refer to the
AFC Agent Agreement for more details.
11 South Guilford, Carmel, IN 46032 Phone: 1-800-813-2385 Fax: 1-775-243-7659
The American Financial Consultants Group, Inc. Copyright © 1999 [The AFC Group, Inc.]. All rights reserved. Revised: June 27, 2008 .