Indiana Farmers Billing FAQs

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1 1. What pay plans do you offer? We offer annual, semi-annual, quarterly, and monthly billing. 2. Do any of the pay plans have billing fees? Our monthly billing plan is the only pay plan that has a service fee. It is $3.00. However, this fee can be avoided by signing up for automatic payments by EFT or RCC. 3. Is there a paid in full discount? At this time, there is no discount for paying the premium in full. If the policy is on monthly direct bill and the policy is paid in full, the insured will avoid being charged the monthly service fee. 4. I did an endorsement and the policy is showing a credit. Will that be returned to the insured? If the policy pay plan is annual and it has been paid in full, then a refund will generate five days after the endorsement process date. If the previous payment was made by check, EFT, or agency sweep, a refund check will go out. If the previous payment was made by credit card, then a credit will be returned back to the card used for payment. If the policy is on a pay plan other than annual and is paid in full, the system will not issue a refund until all the installments have rolled out. This process can be sped up by calling into our office and requesting the refund be processed manually. 5. Do you have a way to combine several policies into one billing (account billing)? At this time, it is not yet available, but we are hoping to offer this enhancement in the future. 6. Can a refund be deposited into the insured s account? At this time, that option is not available, but we are hoping to offer this enhancement in the future. 7. Diamond shows the insured s last payment as Lockbox. What does that mean?

2 Our payments are sent directly to our bank lockbox for processing. The bank processes all the payments and sends us the information electronically daily by about 4:00 p.m. (Mondays or after holidays can be later). If you are looking for or waiting on a payment, it is best to check the policy after that time to make sure all payments have been posted. 8. Can I choose the due date for a policy? The due date is always going to be tied to the effective date. If it is a monthly policy and it is paid late, the due date on the next invoice will be 21 days from that payment. But the system will then try to get the insured back on track and will try to make the following month due on the effective date. If the insured is set up on EFT, they may then choose their withdrawal date. This is not available with RCC. 9. How and when can I change a pay plan? As long as the policy is current, you may change the pay plan at any time. You can call or your request to ccg@indianafarmers.com. Requests are usually processed the same day that they are received. A client advocate will respond to the confirming that the pay plan has been changed. 10. How soon is a refund returned after a cancellation is processed? A refund on a cancelled policy will produce five days after the cancellation date if it is in the future. The refund will produce five days after the cancel process date if the cancellation is backdated. If the last payment was made by check or EFT within 10 days of the process date, then the refund may be held an extra five days to make sure that the previous payment has cleared the bank. If the last payment was made by credit card, the refund will go back as a credit to the card that was used. 11. Why are there three different addresses for Indiana Farmers? The PO Box 856, Indianapolis, IN is just for payments. This is sent directly to our bank and the payment is processed there. PO Box 527, Indianapolis, IN is for anything other than a payment that needs to be sent to us. It is delivered daily to our office which is located at 10 W 106 th, Indianapolis, IN This is the address you should give if something needs to be overnighted to us. 2

3 EFT FAQs 1. How do I change the EFT account information or set up a policy on EFT? If the policy is not set up on EFT at application time, you will need to submit a signed EFT form along with a copy of a voided check or a letter from the bank confirming the routing and account number to Indiana Farmers. You may the request to ccg@indianafarmers.com or fax it to Can I pick a specific draw date? Yes. On EFT, the system will always default to the effective date, but the insured does have the option to choose a different draw date. 3. How much lead time is needed to set up a policy on EFT? Diamond needs a 15-day lead time prior to the draw date. If there are 15 days or less, the system will skip over that installment and spread it over the remainder of the term. For example, it will turn a 12-pay into an 11-pay. 4. If there is not a 15-day lead time, does the insured have to have 11 installments instead of 12? No. A manual payment made be made to the policy. After that, a call or needs to be sent to our call center to recalculate the policy to make it 12 installments. 5. A new policy has been issued, but I did not make the down payment at application. I am trying to make an Echeck payment for the down payment, but the system will not take the amount. The system will let you make a payment for a lesser amount by credit card or agency sweep (ACH), but it will not allow you to do it with Echeck. However, you can call into our office and our staff can process the payment for you. They will then also be able to recalculate the policy to redistribute the payment correctly. 6. Why was the first draw a much lesser amount? If a policy is issued on EFT with no down payment and less than fifteen days before the first due date, then it will be issued with 11 payments instead of 12. If a down payment is then made after issuing, it will just apply that payment to installment #2 3

4 and reduce it by that amount. If the desired effect is to have 12 installments, you must call our office to have the policy recalculated to redistribute the down payment. 7. How do I stop an EFT? This must be done in writing. But it can be as simple as an request from the agency to Indiana Farmers requesting that the EFT be stopped. requests should be sent to ccg@indianafarmers.com. Requests are usually processed the same day that they are received. A client advocate will respond to the confirming that the EFT has been stopped. 8. My customer will not have the money in their account on the draw date. What can be done to make sure they do not incur any NSF fees? If the insured can make a payment prior to the draw date by other means, such as credit card or agency sweep, then the payment will be satisfied and will not draw. If no other payment means is available, they will have to be taken off of EFT. See the question/answer above. 9. If I set up a policy on EFT at time of application, do I have to send in the form and voided check? No, but it is strongly advised to send it in so that we can verify the information entered is correct. If a copy is not sent in, the agency is responsible for keeping a copy of the EFT form on file. Any fees that accrue due to incorrect information will also be the responsibility of the agency. 10. Where can I get a blank EFT form? They are available on our Agents Only site under Manuals and Forms, then under Forms and Order Inventory. The very last grouping is Accounting Forms. Be sure to use the Customer EFT form. The Agency EFT form is just for changing an agency sweep account and should not be used for a customer. 11. The insured does not have checks. What can I use in its place for verification? If the insured does not have a voided check, they can send in a letter from their bank that shows the routing and account number. Many banks automatically supply this when setting up the account. 12. Can any pay plan be set up on EFT or Recurring Credit Card? 4

5 At this time, the only pay plan that is eligible to be on EFT or Recurring Credit Card is the monthly option. We hope to offer it on more plans in the future. 13. How can I send in an EFT form with verification? You may the completed forms to ccg@indianafarmers.com, you can fax them to , or you can mail them to PO Box 527, Indianapolis, IN Recurring Credit Card (RCC) FAQs 1. How do I set a customer up on RCC? This is a process that only the insured or the agent can set up. Due to privacy laws, our associates do not have access to the stored credit card information. An insured will just need to create a login at indianafarmers.com and go to the billing tab. From there, they will need to click on the Recurring Credit Card tab and select Add. The system will then walk them through entering the credit card and information. An agent, acting on the insured s behalf, will need to go to the My Agency Screen to set up the policy on RCC. Before doing so, you will need to have on file at the agency, a signed Recurring Credit Card Authorization Agreement (found on the Agents Only site under Manuals and Forms and Forms and Order Inventory). At the top right side of the My Agency screen, look for the Payment Info box and at the very bottom of the drop down box is Recurring Credit Cards. From there, enter the policy number and hit Search. It will pull up the policy and there will be an Add button. Once Add is selected, the agent will have to agree to the terms on behalf of the insured and the next screen will ask for the credit card info and the insured s address. **If the insured does not have an address, it is permissible to use the agency address; however, it is best to keep a listing of policies that are using the agency . The notifications do not have any policy specific information in them, because it is assumed that the is going to the insured. Indiana Farmers does not have a way to determine what policy the is referring to. 2. Can I turn in the Recurring Credit Card Authorization Agreement Form to you to set up the policy? No this form must be kept on file by the agency. Indiana Farmers cannot set up a policy on RCC due to privacy laws. 3. I chose the Recurring Credit Card pay plan on VelociRater and entered the card information there. Isn t that all I need? 5

6 No. The card information is stored by an outside vendor for security purposes. Indiana Farmers does not store nor has access to the card information. The only way to connect to that outside vendor is through our Agents Only site. Entering the information into Diamond or VelociRater will cause the system to error since it cannot be stored there. 4. I have entered the credit card information on the My Agency screen, but it still shows the old pay plan in Diamond. Why is that? There is a slight delay in communication between the two sites, but if you successfully entered the information on the My Agency screen, Diamond will be updated that same day. 5. How far in advance are insureds notified of an expiring card? Insureds are notified by 90, 60 and 30 days prior to their card expiration date. It is the insured s responsibility to update the card information with the new card number and expiration date. If not, the payment can be rejected, an NSF fee will be applied to the policy, and the policy will go into cancel warning. 6. My insured s card was rejected and the card information needs to be updated, but I don t see an update button to do this. If a payment has been rejected/returned, this puts the policy into cancel warning. If a policy is in cancel warning, it cannot be updated until a manual payment is made. Once the payment is made, the update button should appear on the screen. 7. My insured s RCC transaction was rejected due to an NSF, but they say it is okay to run again. Can you push the transaction through? No, the payment is only tried once. If it is rejected, then the insured will need to make a manual payment by either calling into our office, going online, or calling in through our automated phone system. 6