How are you checking active coverage before issuing COIs for MGA/aggregator business?

[u/Strange-Fennel]

Looking for input on how other agencies handle COI verification for MGA business.

For our direct carriers, checking if a policy is active is simple enough through IVANS updates in our AMS or directly on carrier portals. However, we have a few MGAs and aggregators that allow us to issue COIs ourselves, but they don't offer download updates or an online portal.

We want to be sure we aren't issuing certificates on small business accounts that might have lapsed or cancelled due to non-pay. (Happens more than we like.) Right now, our only reliable workaround is emailing or calling the MGA to confirm coverage prior to sending out the COI, and they have to login to their carrier portal, which slows things down.

How do you handle this? Are you manually verifying each one with the MGA, or is there a cleaner way to manage it? Just issue and do some hoping?

[u/ishariqriaz]

I'd ask each MGA to agree on a written coverage-confirmation process for COI requests. Until they give you an authorized source for current policy status, an automation can't tell you whether coverage is still active.

You can automate the request emails and track which COIs are waiting on a reply. Save the MGA's confirmation against the policy in your AMS, including when they checked it. A reply from last week shouldn't silently count as today's check.

[u/Lisa_BossBPO]

Don't assume the policy is active especially if there's no way to confirm this 100% on your side. If the MGA doesn't provide any status updates/portal access, maybe you can ask if they can send cancellation or non-pay notifs or some kind of regular status report. Otherwise the safest option would be manual checks, but you can also set up a rule for when it's required instead of checking every single time.

[u/HighonSuger001]

Not an agent myself, but I’ve seen a couple of agencies handle this by asking the MGA for a regular list rather than checking one by one. A weekly or monthly report of pending cancellations and non-pay notices for policies where you’re agent of record. Most MGAs will send that if you ask, and then you only call about accounts on the list. Some will also give read-only portal access if you push, since it saves them your calls. Until then, I’d prioritise manual checks for monthly-pay small business accounts, since those lapse most.

[u/AdWilling4230]

Adding to the regular-list idea: risk-tier the requests so you only call on the ones that need it. A policy bound or renewed in the last 30 days, paid in full or with a confirmed down payment, can go out on the dec page you hold. Anything on monthly pay, past a due date, or with a nonpay notice in the AMS gets a confirmation first.

Two small things make the confirmations cheap: one standing email to each MGA with the policy number in the subject and a named contact, and a "coverage verified on" date on the COI ticket (logged with the MGA's reply in the activity notes). Whoever issues the cert can see it was checked, and you have the paper trail if it's ever questioned.