It is the attendee’s responsibility to know if their state of residence or any state they are working claims in requires adjusters to be licensed. It is the responsibility of each adjuster to make sure they are properly licensed in these respective states. Please verify with any supervisor you are working claims for or directly with the state you are working claims in, that you are properly licensed.
If you are not properly licensed in a state and work claims without a license you and the firm you work for are both subject to severe financial penalties (fines). These penalties can be in excess of several hundred dollars for each claim you are involved in. If the Insurance Department in the state brings action against you for working without a license, it may prevent you from obtaining a license in that state and many other states in the future.
Each State Insurance Commissioner or Director is a member of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The following web page provides links to each state and you can access the information for a state to see what is required to be licensed. For more information on which states require licensing and information regarding the adjuster license, go to:
www.naic.org/state_web_map.htm
In most instances in our industry each adjuster has a “Residence License” in the state they live in and obtain “Non-Residence Licenses” in the states they expect to work claims in. It is very common for a “Catastrophe Adjuster” (CAT Adjuster) to have licenses in many states. There is a cost to maintain these licenses and they consider the costs of maintaining them part of their annual overhead.
Daily claims adjusters who might work in more than one state also need to maintain licenses for all the states they work claims in.
There are a few states that do not require an adjuster to be licensed. If the state you reside in does not require a license and if you only work claims in that state then licensing will not be an annual or bi-annual requirement.
Nearly all states that require licensing have a “Continuing Education” (CE) requirement. These requirements vary by jurisdiction and you can use the previously provided link to determine if your sate requires CE and the parameters of how many hours and how often.
Most states have reciprocal agreements pertaining to CE requirements. If you maintain your “Residence License” in good standing you are granted complied status in the states that you have a “Non-Residence License” in. Again, you will have to check with the Insurance Department for each state you have a license in to see what their requirements are.
Please make sure you are properly licensed in each state you work insurance claims.