How to Verify an Insurance Agent's License

Why check

Anyone who sells, solicits or negotiates insurance generally needs a license from the state where the customer lives. The license is public record. Checking it takes a few minutes, costs nothing, and tells you whether the person in front of you is authorized to have the conversation at all.

It is also a reasonable thing to ask about. A producer who is properly licensed will not mind. If asking for a license number makes someone uncomfortable, you have learned something useful.

Step 1: Ask for the National Producer Number

The National Producer Number, or NPN, is a unique identifier assigned to each insurance producer. It follows the person from state to state and from company to company. Names can be common or misspelled. The number is not.

Ask for two things: the NPN, and the license number for your state. A producer should be able to give you both. You can find an NPN by name through the National Insurance Producer Registry's lookup.

Step 2: Use your state's license search

Insurance is regulated state by state, so the record that counts is the one held by your own state's insurance department. Every state has a license search. The NAIC keeps a directory of state insurance departments, which is the quickest way to find yours.

Many states share a common lookup run through the NAIC's State Based Systems. Others, including Florida, run their own. Florida residents use the Department of Financial Services licensee search.

Search in the state where you live, not the state where the agent lives.

Step 3: Read the result

A lookup will usually show:

• Status. Active, inactive, expired, suspended or revoked. Only active counts.
• License type. Resident for the agent's home state, nonresident for other states.
• Lines of authority. The kinds of insurance the license covers, such as life, health, or property and casualty. For a life insurance conversation, life has to be on the list.
• Dates. When the license was issued and when it expires.
• Appointments, in some states. The insurance companies the producer is authorized to represent.

Check that the name matches the person you are dealing with, including middle initials and suffixes.

What a license tells you

That a state has authorized this person to sell specific lines of insurance to its residents, that they met the requirements to get the license, and that it has not lapsed or been taken away.

What a license does not tell you

It is not a rating, a recommendation or a measure of experience. It does not tell you whether a product suits you, how the producer is paid, or which carriers they can place business with. An independent broker may work with several carriers, subject to appointments, product availability, licensing and eligibility. A lookup may or may not show which.

A license also does not approve anything. The insurance company decides whether to offer you a policy and at what premium. Approval is never guaranteed.

If something does not match

Stop before you share personal information or sign an application if:

• no license appears under the name or number you were given;
• the license is inactive, expired, suspended or revoked;
• life insurance is not among the lines of authority;
• the license is for another state and not yours.

There may be an innocent explanation, such as a recent name change or a renewal in progress. Ask. If the answer does not settle it, your state insurance department takes consumer questions and complaints directly, and its contact details are on the same site as the license search.

One more check: the company

A producer places policies with insurance companies. Before you apply, know which company would issue the policy, and confirm with your state insurance department that the company is authorized to do business in your state. The policy, and any guarantees in it, are the company's obligation.

Where to find the official lookups

Our Licenses page keeps the official links in one place and explains how licensing works at Cornerstone Capital. For more on the rules behind what producers can and cannot say, see why life insurance advertising looks different.