NIPR: Completing the licensing puzzle

Although the National Assn. of Registered Agents and Brokers (NARAB II) bill passed the House this year, it still faces a possible challenge in the Senate, which means agents and brokers who conduct business in multiple states still have to comply with a patchwork quilt of licensing and CE standards.

Until NARAB becomes a reality (and the concept has been around for almost 10 years), agents seeking some sort of licensing streamlining can access the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR)--a system that creates virtual uniformity through a comprehensive electronic database of producer information.

This nonprofit affiliate of the NAIC links participating state regulatory licensing systems into a single clearinghouse for all producer licensing data, updated daily. NIPR's goal is to work with states, industry and other stakeholders to be the "one-stop shopping" facility for all electronic producer licensing transactions.

NIPR's premier product is the Producer Database (PDB), designed to easily track licensed producer information. NIPR also can generate PDB reports on agents, company specialized reports for licensing information and subscriber alerts on changes to licensing information.

To encourage usage, NIPR also has made enhancements to its nonresident licensing and nonresident renewals processes and introduced an attachments warehouse, in which supporting documents are scanned into the system.

Although NIPR has been around since 1996, usage has increased and grown with advances in technology. "Ten years ago in Colorado, we asked producers every year about how willing they would be to use an electronic licensing system, and 75 percent said no," said Maryellen Waggoner, NIPR executive director. "This perception has changed over the years."

Since then, the numbers have improved significantly. Today, NIPR has:

o More than 1,300 direct subscribers
o More than 4.3 million producers on PDB
o 47 participating jurisdictions for nonresident licensing and renewals
o 15 participating jurisdictions for resident licensing and resident renewals
o 48 jurisdictions for address change request
o 51 jurisdictions for attachments warehouse.

The database format makes it easy for agents to apply online for nonresident licenses. The agent inputs the required information through an online form, and NIPR calculates fees, which the agent pays by credit card. For resident licensing and renewals, agents can use electronic check to pay for the process.

Automation means some licenses can be received as quickly as 48 hours from input. In California, which has stringent fingerprinting and identification requirements, it used to take as long as three months to receive a nonresident license, Waggoner said; after going electronic, the process now takes about three weeks--far from ideal, but a big improvement, she said.

NIPR also allows agents to easily make address changes by submitting electronic information for a nonresident license. A year ago, only 39 states participated. Today, NIPR has 48 states in production for application. Although the system does not allow agents to change their resident state, it standardizes the address and notifies DOIs of the change in a timely way. For example, if an agent is licensed in 10 states, completing a change of address form through NIPR informs all 10 state DOIs of the change. NIPR has processed more than 600,000 address changes since its introduction.

NIPR tracks information by national producer number instead of agent Social Security number. This will be a huge factor in cleaning up data and identification. The 10-digit number is part of licensing for all new applications this year, and others will be transitioned. The benefit is protection of the agent's Social Security number and identifies each "clean" producer.

To encourage usage, NIPR has eliminated the $75 initial fee and reduced the cost for nonresident electronic licensing to $6.18 per application.

For more information, visit the Web site at www.NIPR.com.