Before you start: Insurance Plan Source is an independent comparison and referral service. No insurer wrote this site, no trade body endorsed it, and no regulator is involved. Every quote and every policy decision comes from an insurance company licensed in your own state.

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How to Read a Regulatory Record

The licensing page explains what we claim. This page explains what a regulator hands back, and what to do with it.

If a number or a claim about status matters to a decision you are making, treat this page as a reading guide. Nothing on it substitutes for the record itself. The record is public, free, and produced by the state that has authority over the entity.

The two records that matter

Most people assume one search answers the question. It does not. There are usually two separate systems, and a party can be perfectly licensed while still carrying a disciplinary record.

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Licence record

Tells you an authorisation exists, its number, the issuing state, the class of authority, and whether it is active today.

gavel

Enforcement record

Tells you whether a regulator has acted against the entity, and what happened. Often a separate search with a separate link.

Words you will meet in a result

Active
The authorisation is in force now. This is the only status that lets someone sell on your behalf today.
Expired
It existed and stopped. A lapsed licence is not a licence, however impressive the number looks.
Surrendered
Given up voluntarily. Common and not itself a red flag, but it is not authority to sell either.
Revoked or suspended
Taken away by a regulator. Read the order and its date before anything else in the record.
Resident versus non-resident
Two different authorisations for the same activity, depending on where the business is based. Neither is a national licence.

What a financial strength rating does and does not mean

Rating agencies assess an insurer's ability to pay claims, and they publish their work. A rating is a useful signal about capacity. It is not a guarantee, not a regulator's approval, and not evidence that any particular claim will be paid. A letter grade also says nothing about the quality of a policy's terms for your situation.

If a rating is quoted to you, ask which agency published it and as at what date, then look it up on that agency's own public site. A rating that only exists on a sales page has not been verified by anyone.

Carrier names on this site

Some widely recognised carriers are named on this site so that you can recognise them on a quote. Those names are the property of their owners. Inclusion is not endorsement, not sponsorship, and not evidence of any commercial relationship between that company and Insurance Plan Source. We may have no arrangement with a company we mention, and availability is decided by the state rather than by us.

The complete list of what we can and cannot be is on the licensing page, together with the step-by-step regulator search.

Five questions worth asking anyone

  1. Which legal entity am I dealing with? The name that will appear on the quote, not the brand.
  2. Which company underwrites the policy? A different entity from the one selling it.
  3. What is your licence number and issuing state? Then look it up yourself rather than trusting the page it came from.
  4. What is the limit, the deductible, and the exclusion set? In writing, before you agree to anything.
  5. What happens if I decide not to proceed? The answer should be nothing, and it should be easy.

Reach the desk

If a result from a regulator search does not match what someone told you, send us the details and we will help you work out where the difference comes from.

Insurance Plan Source

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +1 877 838 5520

Hours: Mon–Fri, 8:00am–6:00pm ET

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