As you may recall, one of my carriers has put in place a �freeze,� prohibiting agents from freely choosing with whom they do business (click here for details). When last we discussed this, I was awaiting an opportunity to discuss the situation with the Attorney General�s office.
That opportunity knocked yesterday. In a conference call arranged by my state rep�s able assistant, I had the pleasure of speaking, for about 45 or 50 minutes, with an attorney in the Anti-Trust office.
And it was a very interesting conversation.
First, she asked me to explain for her the nature and significance of the problem, which I did [ed: why didn�t you point her to the blog post, smart guy?]. She then asked a number of probing questions:
� Is this switching very common? Is it an easy or difficult process? I told her that, as far as I am aware, it is not a very common practice; that is, I don�t know a lot of agents who switch around often. It does seem like a fairly easy process, though: just sign a form (much like an Agent of Record letter that a client might use).
� Could an agent have more than one GA (General Agent)? Yes, but not for the same carrier. That is, perhaps GA #1 offers access to XYZ Mutual and ABC Life, while GA #2 offers Anon Life and ASAP Health. I could sign up with both of them, because each offers different carriers.
� Are GA�s local, regional, or national? I�m not aware of national GA�s, at least in the types of insurance I generally sell.
� Do I think that several GA�s got together and pressured the carrier to put the freeze in place? That was, as they say, the �money question.� I knew immediately that she was looking for evidence of conspiracy. The problem is that, really, I have no such evidence, merely speculation and logic. I explained to her that, much as I�d like to help on that issue, I really had no proof that this was the case. Of course, it�s the most logical explanation, but that�s not the same thing. Still, since it�s a possibility, perhaps she can use that.
I certainly hope so.
� Do other carriers have such restrictions? Another great question, on a number of levels. Unfortunately, I didn�t know the answer, but promised to get it for her as quickly as I could.
By the way, here�s why I couldn�t answer that one: I cannot imagine a scenario where I would want to switch GA�s. I�ve had a terrific working relationship with my current GA for almost 10 years, and have no desire or reason to switch. BUT, it is appalling to me that a carrier could prohibit me from doing so.
Since I�ve had no (recent) experience in switching, I didn�t know whether or not other carriers also had a freeze on. The only reason I knew about this one was because a colleague had called to ask me about it, and I subsequently received a letter which confirmed it.
And so, I called my own GA, and asked them. Currently, none of their other carriers have such a freeze, although others have had, in the past. I�ll pass this information on to the Attorney General�s office, and await further developments. She did, however, ask me to send her a copy of the letter, which I promptly did.
Toward the end of my conversation with the AG, the subject of what outcome I�d like to see came up. That, too, is a good question. I thought for a moment, and answered that I really didn�t want �heads to roll;� rather, a simple cease-and-desist would be just fine. In other words, all I really want is for the AG to tell the carrier that this is wrong, and to stop it (and, of course, refrain from any future such freezes).
See, I�m not unreasonable. Just stubborn.
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