Washington Commissioner Fines Insurance Professionals $113K

Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler issued fines in April totaling $113,600 against insurance companies, agents and brokers who he said violated state insurance regulations.

The list, which Kreidler’s office releases periodically, is broken down by insurance company and below that by agent.

Insurance companies

• IDS Property Casualty Insurance Co., De Pere, Wisc.; fined $10,000 for failure to notify the commissioner in July 2009 that it was going to start using consumers’ credit scores as one of the factors to determine whether it would insure their homes.
• GuideOne Elite Insurance Co., West Des Moines, Iowa; fined $20,000, for incorrectly applying schedule rating plans and failing to deliver complete policies to consumers within a reasonable time, for a total of 146 violations of state insurance laws and rules.
• Ohio Security Insurance Co., Keene, NH; fined $15,000 for attempting keep full premiums on commercial policies after the policyholders canceled them, and not obtaining the commissioner’s approval for the “fully earned premium” forms or making them part of the policy.
• Unitrin Auto and Home Insurance Co., DeWitt, NY; fined $20,000 for allowing 148 licensed producers to sell policies for the company without being appointed for six weeks at the end of 2014.
• North River Insurance Co., Morristown, NJ; The United States Fire Insurance Co., Wilmington, Del.; fined $2,000 for filing their annual special liability insurance reports with the commissioner 48 days after the deadline.

• Dentegra Insurance Co., Wilmington, Del.; fined $20,000 for failing to list its correct legal name on specific documents that were given to the Icommissioner and to consumers.
• First American Property & Casualty Insurance Co., Santa Ana, Calif.; fined $4,500 for allowing 74 insurance producers to conduct business on its behalf for 50 days without being appointed, involving 3,230 transactions.
• California Casualty General Insurance Co., Portland, Ore.; fined $5,000 for allowing two insurance producers to issue 307 policies from January until April 2014 without being appointed.
• Great Northwest Insurance Co., St. Paul, Minn.; fined $4,500 for allowing five insurance producers to issue 209 policies from May until July 2014 without being appointed.
• WFG National Title Insurance Co., Columbia, SC; fined $5,000 for allowing one title insurance agent to issue 915 policies from August until October 2014 without being appointed.
• Federated Life Insurance Co., Owatonna, Minn.; fined $2,100 for allowing six insurance producers to issue 14 policies worth nearly $22,000 in written premium from August until September 2014 without being appointed.

Agents and brokers

• Pend Oreille Title Co., Newport, WA; fined $2,000 for failing to submit its annual data reports for 2013 and 2014.
• Willoughby McIntosh, Portland, Ore.; fined $3,000, for not being licensed to sell insurance products in Washington and selling two annuities to a Washington consumer that were not approved for sale in the state, and giving the consumer false information that the annuities would earn 8 percent interest per year and provide a lifetime income stream.
• Marc A. Perez, Puyallup; fined $250 for failing to submit $505 for a contractor’s bond and insurance policy to the insurance company, and the contractor’s bond and policy were canceled.
• BJK Inc., dba Gray’s Insurance Team, Colorado Springs, Colo.; license revoked for failing to forward more than $334,000 in policyholders’ premium payments to the insurance company, Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Co.
• Oleg Derlyuk, Vancouver, Wash.; fined $250 for failure to respond to an inquiry about the status of his license.
• Bejay Barber, Matthews, N.C.; order to cease and desist because Barber is not licensed to sell insurance in Washington state, as his license expired in November 2015.