For what it’s worth – All disciplinary action is considered public record, and as such should be posted and/or made available on the State Insurance Departments website. Your State insurance department should be more than helpful on this.
As an aside: It is almost a certainty that the STATE Dept of Insurance was the enforcement body that effectively “caught, charged and fined” these individuals. It is ironic that Federal regulators that ignored far more heinous activity by securities brokers, banking and investment firms are determined to take insurance regulation away from the States. These same “guardians” of the investment and financial services industry have literally bankrupted our country by their incompetence.
I can see both sides: Side A is if you steer business to one company over another you stifle competition.
But I also see that businesses should be able to reward people who refer business to them. As long as it’s not required that they get the windshield repaired at Billy Bob’s (or whereever) who is harmed from an insurance agent pushing business to a particular contractor, auto shop or towing service? You might make the argument that this is good customer service – we can put you in contact with someone we recommend and you don’t have to sweat finding a glass shop.
I think NY has enough to worry about & maybe should concentrate on bigger issues. The more I type about this the more I think it’s both a waste of time and not something unethical.
Yes, I have an opinion. NY can’t catch real criminals so they are going for the low hanging fruit. Right or wrong, here’s my perspective: I see no issue with giving a gift card to an agent as long as the insurance carrier paying the glass claim paid the glass company their standard rate – no more, no less.
Part of the problem in NY is that while one can see (even if you’re like me and disagree) that a a gift card could be construed as a “kickback”, the regulation in NY prevents agents & brokers from accepting far more innocuous gifts, like a box of donuts from a glass shop marketing rep, or a promotional pen.
I agree, this seems like NYSID going after easy targets. It’s also a double standard that the agents are prohibited to accept anything, but the glass shops can proffer whatever they please. If you’re going to have a bad law, is it too much to ask for some consistency?
Does anyone know where to get a list of all the agents that were fined?
For what it’s worth – All disciplinary action is considered public record, and as such should be posted and/or made available on the State Insurance Departments website. Your State insurance department should be more than helpful on this.
As an aside: It is almost a certainty that the STATE Dept of Insurance was the enforcement body that effectively “caught, charged and fined” these individuals. It is ironic that Federal regulators that ignored far more heinous activity by securities brokers, banking and investment firms are determined to take insurance regulation away from the States. These same “guardians” of the investment and financial services industry have literally bankrupted our country by their incompetence.
Is this really something criminal or unethical?
I can see both sides: Side A is if you steer business to one company over another you stifle competition.
But I also see that businesses should be able to reward people who refer business to them. As long as it’s not required that they get the windshield repaired at Billy Bob’s (or whereever) who is harmed from an insurance agent pushing business to a particular contractor, auto shop or towing service? You might make the argument that this is good customer service – we can put you in contact with someone we recommend and you don’t have to sweat finding a glass shop.
I think NY has enough to worry about & maybe should concentrate on bigger issues. The more I type about this the more I think it’s both a waste of time and not something unethical.
Anyone else have an opinion?
Yes, I have an opinion. NY can’t catch real criminals so they are going for the low hanging fruit. Right or wrong, here’s my perspective: I see no issue with giving a gift card to an agent as long as the insurance carrier paying the glass claim paid the glass company their standard rate – no more, no less.
Part of the problem in NY is that while one can see (even if you’re like me and disagree) that a a gift card could be construed as a “kickback”, the regulation in NY prevents agents & brokers from accepting far more innocuous gifts, like a box of donuts from a glass shop marketing rep, or a promotional pen.
I agree, this seems like NYSID going after easy targets. It’s also a double standard that the agents are prohibited to accept anything, but the glass shops can proffer whatever they please. If you’re going to have a bad law, is it too much to ask for some consistency?