On October 8, 2007 the South Carolina Department of Insurance issued the Data Call Request for Policy Information on Risks Written in the South Carolina Wind Pool Territory. To reiterate, this data call solicits information that will enable the Department to determine the impact of the Wind Pool expansion on the South Carolina property insurance market. Specifically, the Department is trying to determine how many policies are being written in the coastal areas of the state with and without wind coverage. The following list is meant to provide answers to common inquiries received concerning this data call request.
- Who is required to respond to this data call?
Only companies who are (1) licensed to write personal property (“Personal”) and/or commercial property (“Commercial”) insurance coverage in South Carolina and (2) actively wrote over $1 Million in premium for such policies in any one previous calendar year beginning in 2006 are required to respond.
Personal Lines: Includes dwelling, tenant, condo and mobile-homeowners.
Commercial Lines: Includes Business Owners Policy (BOP) and Special Multi Peril (SMP).
Surplus Lines: No response is currently required from surplus lines insurers.
Agents: No response is expected from any agents.
- How should total written premium be calculated to determine whether or not the company exceeds the $1M threshold for eligibility?
Please use all policies written in South Carolina (not just the Wind Pool Territory) and calculate Personal and Commercial separately. For Personal please use Annual Statement line 040 Homeowners and for Commercial please use lines 051 Commercial Multiple Peril (Non-Liability).
- Is a reply necessary if the company is under the $1M threshold for both Personal and Commercial?
No, a response is not necessary, not even a null (all 0's) spreadsheet. An email indicating such ("N/A: under $1M for both Personal and Commercial") will be accepted, but is not necessary, either.
- Is a reply necessary if the company is over the $1M threshold for either Personal or Commercial and none of the policies written were in the WP Territory?
A: Yes, please reply with a null (all 0's) spreadsheet for that tab (Personal and/or Commerical) and indicate such ("over $1M but none in the WP") in the spreadsheet.
- If the company wrote less than the $1M threshold in 2006 and more than the $1M threshold in 2007 for Personal and/or Commercial, is a response necessary to the data call in 2008?
Yes, only companies who wrote less than $1M in 2006 and 2007 for both lines are not required to respond.
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NOTE: Please use the Data Call Worksheet provided by the Department and do not alter its format.
- How do I submit a response? Who do I contact if I have a question?
Please submit all questions and responses via email to windpooldatacall@doi.sc.gov.
- Can a response be submitted by group?
No, please submit a separate worksheet for each company rather than submitting by group.
- Should the number of policies or total written premium be recorded on the worksheet?
Please enter the total number of policies for each month and NOT the dollar amount of premium written.
- How often is a submission required and what months of data are required for each submission?
The data must be recorded monthly and reported to the Department on a quarterly basis until further notice. The first submission was due November 15, 2007 and covered the months January through September for 2006 and 2007 only.
Monthly data for October through December 2006 and 2007 is requested by the subsequent Jan 15, 2008 filing deadline.
Subsequent submissions must be received by the 30th day following the end of each quarter thereafter and should, at a minimum, contain monthly data for the immediately preceding quarter (i.e. “current year”) and for the same months of the previous year (i.e. “prior year”).
- Where is the Wind Pool Data Call link located on the new South Carolina Department of Insurance website?
The Data Call link may be found by visiting Wind Pool Data Call, which contains a list of all Wind Pool related information, including press releases, relevant Orders, the original notice, worksheet, as well as a copy of this FAQ.
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- How does one determine whether or not a location falls within the wind pool territory? Is a list of zip codes available? Are there map files available?
The definition of the wind pool territory is given in Order 2007-003. It is not exclusively defined by zip codes or other political boundaries. Notwithstanding, the following zip codes are either fully or partially in the Wind Pool Territory (please note that a list of those that are fully enclosed versus those that are partially enclosed in the territory is not yet available):
29412, 29429, 29438, 29439, 29440, 29451, 29455, 29458, 29464, 29466, 29482, 29487, 29566, 29568, 29572, 29575, 29576, 29577, 29579, 29582, 29585, 29588, 29902, 29907, 29915, 29920, 29926, 29928
In addition, the map files created using special mapping software (MapInfo format) to define the Wind Pool Territory (Zone 1 and Zone 2 combined) are available. Please email windpooldatacall@doi.sc.gov for a copy. For any additional questions regarding these map files, please contact Smitty Harrison from the SC Wind and Hail Underwriting Association at smitty@scwind.com.
- How should a policy with multiple risks/locations, some with wind and some without wind, be recorded?
Please use the predominant risk/location. For policies with locations that are split evenly between with wind vs. without wind, please split the policy count in half and report 0.5 in each with wind and without wind.
- How should a policy with multiple locations, some in the wind pool territory and some not, be recorded?
Please use the predominant location. Please report those policies with locations that are split evenly between inside the WP territory (required to report) vs. outside the WP territory (not required to report). No need to report those that have a predominate location outside the WP territory.
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- When should a new policy/policy change be recorded if it has been booked/processed but the change does not become effective until the future? What if it is effective retro-actively?
Please record a policy change as follows:
If the effective date is in the future, record based on the effective date.
If the effective date is in the past, record based on the booked/processed date.
- How should a policy that is cancelled and then reinstated in the same month be recorded? What if it was reinstated in a following month?
Please do not record policies cancelled and then reinstated in the same month. For policies cancelled one month and then reinstated the following month, please record one cancellation in the first month and one renewal in the following month.
- Should a lapse be recorded as a Cancellation?
A lapse or a cancellation due to non-payment is considered a request to cancel from the insured and should NOT be included in Cancellations.
- What should be recorded under “TOTAL Policies in Force”?
"TOTAL Policies in Force" is meant to be the overall total number of policies in force at the end of each month. It should be evaluated at the end of the month and should be equivalent to the Total Policies in Force at the start of the month (i.e. end of the previous month) plus adjustments due to new policies, renewals (including reinstatements), and all types of cancellations made during the month.
Please note that it is NOT the sum of New Policies and Renewals minus Cancellations. This would imply that (1) there were no policies in force before the date range requested in the Data Call, (2) all renewals were reinstatements, and (3) there were no cancellations made by the insured (e.g. no lapses).
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