Hello, I have tried to find a list of good E&O insurance companies and it looks like the forum here is outdated by quite a few years. 2020. I need current times, with real experiences, not just the top 10 Fobes list online. Biberk is listed there as #9, I am insured by Biberk as well as the NNA and I am now having issues with BiBerk not even providing me with what my upcoming renewal policy covers. The old only listed “Loan signing Agent” in the services section. They have sent me 2 different break down of payment, almost like they sent an incorrect one. The policy number has changed and when I requested the declaration, they keep sending me the one from 2020. I called to add Notary Public to the policy because that wasn’t even listed on the old declaration. Good thing I had the NNA still. I opened this policy as a complete newby and obviously wasnt very sure of my needs MY rate of course has gone up over these years and I saw Tye Brown (SM Notary LSA advocate) mention E R Munro and I did get a quote from them, a little more expensive, but they seem to be way more on top of it for what needs covered and how they handle things. With Biberk I even received a mailbox is full rejection on my email. SO now I am worried, jeez what would it be like if the unfortunate need of a claim came up with them? I would like to get a quote from one more company before my expiration next month on my Insurance. Any New suggestions? Has anyone signed up with Ergo /Next? They are #1 on the Forbes list. I have heard of The Harford because I had a term life with them at one point. Wondering about them too? Experiences? They are listed as #4. Thank you and hopefully this is ok to post. Things have changed a lot since 2020.
I hold a Professional Liability E&O insurance policy with biBerk, and upon reviewing my declaration page, the “Schedule of Insured Service” explicitly mentions “Notary Services.” Given this, I guess there’s a need for me to seek out clarification would “loan Signing Agent” be covered under that capacity too? I will be reaching out to a biBerk agent on Monday. I would suggest that you carefully consider if it’s truly necessary to maintain E&O insurance coverage with two separate companies. Although I am not a licensed property and casualty (P&C) insurance agent, I do possess a license as a life/health/annuity agent within the state of Florida. Based on my limited understanding of the processes for P&C claims would it mirrors that of health insurance claims, where generally only one insurance carrier will process the payment of any claims. In insurance details does matter. Thanks for bring up this topic.
Notary Rotary sells insurance from Travelers, CNA and RLI. They offer a variety of products. When it comes to business insurance, they differentiate between notary E&O and signing agent E&O - 2 separate products. However, they do not offer signing agent E&O for all states. For instance, I’m in California and they don’t have signing agent E&O for my state.
Perhaps ask your insurance agent/carrier about an Umbrella policy?
I am also in California and now have Travelers insurance through a CA agent which is a switch I made in renewing commission last year. The application required I state the nature of my business and types of clients, so I stated mobile notary who did mostly mortgage signings and other real estate related transactions. I got my policy with no further questions, so I can only assume that covers me as an LSA. I kept my copy of the application since I might want to reference it for the renewal, but after reading your post will consider it proof of scope of my coverage.
I have the same type of policy with biBerk. Guess I need to ask the same question.
I,too, have biBerk and section 4 Schedule of Insured Services reflects Notary Services. I did reach out to biBerk to inquire about loan signing services being covered and this was the response received in email.
"Loan signing is cover on the policy.
These operations are encompassed under the current classification"
When I spoke to a representative previously, they indicated Insured Services are not broken down any further than the highest classification of Notary Services. It seems with the email response, it confirmed it. So, Professional Liability Insurance for Notary Services covers both notarial and non-notarial aka loan signing services. Needless to say, the email response from biBerk will be attached to my electronic copy of documents. I am checking to see if they can create an endorsement for it, but I don’t believe they will.
A new question/concern - Does the coverage include RON?
@notary Good question. I do not see why it would not since the activity is a notarial act, just a different method. Since I am in California, where RON is not approved yet, I had no need to inquire about it. Logically speaking, I would say it would be included.
My understandings is with ER Munro it is included.
Yes you do need have “Signing Agent” included as that’s the only way it would cover you for losses involving the transport of documents, timely shipping, etc. I use StateFarm, had Hartford in the past.
UPDATE: I decided to purchase policy with E R Munro. They were really communicative with me and through Email even. Fast and helpful with information because I wanted to add Cyber and privacy breach protection to the policy. The policy is for Notary, Remote online Notary and Loan Signing agent services.