Washington Commissioner Fines Insurance Professionals $17K

Wasington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler took enforcement action and issued fines totaling $17,675 last month against insurance companies and producers who he says violated state insurance regulations.

Here’s the list of fines and what Kreidler says warranted them:

Insurance Companies

• Madison National Life Insurance Co., Madison, Wis.; fined $4,500 – Madison National Life allowed insurance producers to sell policies with lapsed appointments. State law requires insurers file a notice and pay a fee to the commissioner for each licensed producer.

Agents and Brokers

• LPL Financial Corp., Charlotte, N.C.; fined $2,000 – LPL is a nonresident licensed insurance producer and a licensed business entity. It appointed a producer named Charles C. Fackrell to conduct business on its behalf. The commissioner revoked Fackrell’s producer license in September 2015 for violating several state insurance licensing regulations. State law requires business entities to be aware of the actions of its appointees and to report violations of insurance regulations.
• Assurance Group Inc.; Archdale, N.C.; fined $3,000 – Assurance Group is a licensed insurance producer that sells insurance policies from many companies through salespeople who are required to be licensed producers. In the first nine years it did business in Washington, it allowed 35 producers to sell policies without being formally affiliated with the company.
• Garcia Gilberto, Jr., Kennewick; fined $500 – A consumer complained to the commissioner that Gilberto pressured her into purchasing a Medicare supplement policy and that she felt threatened and coerced by Gilberto.
• Koby Leach, Medical Lake, Wash.; fined $250 – Leach failed to disclose a misdemeanor conviction on her insurance producer licensing application, but the conviction was disclosed in her background check.
• Kyle Jensen, Lake Forest Park, Wash.; fined $250 – Jensen is a licensed insurance producer, who sold a policy for a recreational boat to a consumer who moored the boat at the Port of Edmonds. He erroneously issued the policy with an endorsement that listed the Port of Edmonds as an additional insured party.
• Matthew Gingerich, Centralia. Wash.; license revoked – Gingerich was a licensed producer who was fired from employment with American Family Insurance after an audit revealed that he misappropriated nearly $30,000 in premium payments. Gingerich put the consumers’ insurance accounts in a hold status so they would not receive a notice that their policies were canceled for nonpayment.
• Scott R. Daniels, Sammamish, Wash.; fined $5,000 – A consumer complained to the commissioner after purchasing new and replacement annuities from Daniels. The annuities Daniels sold to the consumer were not suitable for the consumer’s needs, and he failed to give the consumer complete information about the annuities.
• Giovanna Sierra Chavez, Yakima, Wash.; license revoked – American National Insurance Co. notified the commissioner that Chavez took more than $1,400 from three consumers and issued a fake insurance card to another consumer who did not have a policy.
• CEU Institute, Lake Mary, Fla.; fined $2,175 – CEU is a continuing insurance education provider for producers. A routine audit of CEU’s records showed it did not properly document attendance at its courses and issued certificates of completion to people who didn’t complete the courses.