Wyoming Department of Insurance Fines Farmers Insurance Exchange $150K

The Wyoming Department of Insurance announced the resolution of a matter against Farmers Insurance Exchange that resulted in monetary penalties against the carrier.

The department entered an order approving a settlement with Farmers Insurance Exchange which included a civil penalty of $150,000.

In 2016, Farmers Insurance Exchange filed its Farmers Smart Plan Home policy with the department for review and approval.

At the request of the department, Farmers changed the language of the policy to reflect specific Wyoming regulatory requirements. However, Farmers reportedly did not update its producer handbook to reflect new sales procedures as a result of the change in this policy language. Some policies were sold to Wyoming consumers that would not have provided certain benefits, according to the department.

In November and December of 2018, two complaints were filed with the department regarding the FSPH policy. After an investigation into the complaints, the error was identified, and Farmers took corrective action including refunding premiums to the affected policyholders, together with interest, and payment of a civil penalty. Roughly 3,300 Wyoming policyholders may have been affected by this error, according to the department.