Rules for Retaining Actual Policy Documents in Texas?

peewee

Expert
37
I have a new client that came to me because his former agent could not produce a copy of his actual policy on a home that burned in 2010. He offered the declaration page only but evidently didn't keep a copy of the policy. The GA that the policy was written through has since gone out of business and the agency says they don't keep copies of the policy either. They send them electronically to the agent to distribute to the client and that's it. This all seems to be in contrast with document retention guidelines but I can't find anything specific at the TDI website. With more and more carriers send docs via email, it may be a good time to revisit practices and I want to make sure exactly what our responsibility is. Per the other agent, TDI and his E&O carrier said he has nothing to worry about since the policy and the loss were 2 years old. Any retention guideline I've ever seen said 7 years. Aren't we as agents required to keep the actual policy not just dec pages longer than 2 years???? I'm interested in getting other agent's perspective on what our retention expectation is on the actual policy document, not just the dec pages.
 
So very glad I don't sell P&C...Wouldn't the policy still exist at the carrier level?

One would think it would be mandatory. They are using the excuse that the GA went out of business, that should not negate the requirement for someone to maintain a copy of the actual policy. How would they resolve a claim which is the crux of the entire problem. The property that was insured was a total loss and now no one has a copy of the policy - that just sounds crazy to me. But again, the whole issue at question is really what is our responsibility is for policy retention and exactly what are we suppose to retain, the dec pages only or the entire multi page document....with more and more companies doing email transmission it's a pertinent and compelling question.
 
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