California Assembly Considering Insurance Agent-Broker Bill
West News • March 31, 2008
A bill that would help to clarify when an insurance professional is acting in the capacity of a broker versus an agent in California is scheduled come before the state Assembly Insurance Committee ...
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Subject: IBA West to the rescue?
Posted On: March 31, 2008, 1:05 pm CDT
Posted By: John Q. Broker
Comment:
How come when Mercury sponsors a similar bill IBA West ridiculed it and now suddenly they find religion and think it's a good idea?
I long ago dropped my membership in that association because of their spotty advocacy.
What we really need is a bill that preserves the ability to charge fees while protecting the consumers from the non-standard brokers that use fees to gouge the public.
As it is, many consumers may not get the full complement of choices available to a broker because he/she is prohibited from charging fees for a particular company.
I for one got tired of going though a long application process on a rewrite just to see that customer go out of force AGAIN for not making their very first scheduled payment. So those customers pay a reasonable fee.
By the same token, too many consumers get hammered with hundreds of dollars in fees just because a broker thinks they will pay it.
So let's rein in the broker fee mills but leave intact a very necessary tool for brokers to exercise some client control.
IBA West's bill falls short on both fronts if it allows abuses to continue because they will at some point invite future crackdowns on fees.
West News 
Subject: IBA West to the rescue?
I long ago dropped my membership in that association because of their spotty advocacy.
What we really need is a bill that preserves the ability to charge fees while protecting the consumers from the non-standard brokers that use fees to gouge the public.
As it is, many consumers may not get the full complement of choices available to a broker because he/she is prohibited from charging fees for a particular company.
I for one got tired of going though a long application process on a rewrite just to see that customer go out of force AGAIN for not making their very first scheduled payment. So those customers pay a reasonable fee.
By the same token, too many consumers get hammered with hundreds of dollars in fees just because a broker thinks they will pay it.
So let's rein in the broker fee mills but leave intact a very necessary tool for brokers to exercise some client control.
IBA West's bill falls short on both fronts if it allows abuses to continue because they will at some point invite future crackdowns on fees.