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MEMO
FROM THE ALABAMA INDEPENDENT INSURANCE AGENTS:
In response
to the new Producer Licensing Law, the Alabama Insurance Department, (DOI)
has issued new procedures for becoming a licensed insurance agent. Applicants
are no longer required to have a carrier sponsor to take the exam. New
procedures took effect January 1, 2002, and should streamline the licensing
process.
Applicants
may now take their 40 hour pre-qualification course and test the following
week, if they desire. The state no longer requires a 1020 form to be set
up for testing. Troy State University has been awarded the contract for
agent?s licensing examinations, and all applicants must now travel to Troy
to take the new computer based exam. The new exam fee is $48 to be paid
on arrival at the test site at Bibb Graves Hall on TSU's Campus. Checks
should be made payable to TSU. Credit cards are also accepted as payment
and can be used at the campus or on the secure website registration page.
You may register through the DOI website at www.aldoi.org which links to
the Troy State test registration center.
All
exams will now be administered at anytime M-F from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
When school is closed and during holidays, optional times can be arranged
with an additional proctor fee of $25.00. You do not have to have any computer
skills to take the exam. Applicants for the exam will need to present a
photo identification and a completion certificate for their pre-qualification
course. Exams will be graded within 2 seconds of completion and a pass/fail
certificate will be issued immediately. Should an applicant fail the exam
on the first attempt, the exam can be retaken immediately, even on the
same day. A $48 fee will be required for the second exam. Should the second
attempt fail, the applicant must wait 90 days to retake the exam.
On
successful completion of the exam, a pass certificate will be issued to
the applicant. The new license will be issued after the applicant completes
a new licensing form, AL-1 (1/2002), and attaches their pass certificate
and license fee. The new licensing form, AL-1, is also available on the
Alabama DOI website.
Troy
State’s Dr. Carol Jordan, Eminent Scholar in Risk Management and Insurance,
adds that TSU made major changes in the testing process. "Dr. Charles Williams,
Associate Dean of the Sorrell College of Business and an information technology
professor, has overseen putting the examinations on computer," she said.
"He has established an efficient registration, examination and results
process. Qualified applicants may register for the exam 24 hours before
they wish to take it and when applicants take the test they will know immediately
whether they have passed or failed."
"We
believe the immediate feedback will be appreciated," she said. In the past,
the test was given on paper and it took several weeks to register for the
exam and another six to eight weeks to grade and process the exam.
AIIA
asks that you please contact the DOI and TSU to encourage them to set up
an alternative test site at AIIA headquarters in Birmingham. DOI
phone (334) 269-3550; TSU phone (334) 670-3290. |