Regulatory Update: New Complaint Notice Required Beginning May 1

The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) has adopted a revised complaint notice for surplus lines insurance policies, which must be implemented no later than May 1, 2020.

All policies issued on or after this date must include the new version of the complaint notice. Additionally, policies submitted to SLTX for processing or audit must include a current version of the complaint notice and may result in errors if the new version is not included. The SLTX Tech Support team is available by phone at (512) 531-1880 or (800) 681-5848 or by email to answer questions and provide additional information.

The new complaint notice is available on the Texas Register website. The SLTX website also has a link to the notice, as well as an example and editable versions of the document.

Agents must ensure that the notice meets the following requirements:

• The notice must be included with all policies, binders, certificates, or evidence of coverage, and
  • Be on a separate page
  • Be on the first, second, or third page of the set of documents
  • Be in the same format and layout as the document provided
  • Have at least one blank line between each paragraph
  • Have font no smaller than 10 point
• The following fields must be included:
  • Name of the insurance company (in bold)
  • Title and phone number of the insuring company (in bold)
    • The insuring company may choose to list the agent, agency, or MGA and their phone number instead.
  • Toll-free phone number of the insuring company (in bold)
    • The number is not required to be toll-free for surplus lines insurers.
  • Email address of the insuring company
  • Mailing address of the insuring company
• A Spanish version of the notice must be included for personal automobile, homeowners, and accident and health policies, binders, certificates, and evidences of coverage.

The following fields are optional to include:

• Agent, agency, or MGA contact name, address, and phone number
  • If provided, this information must be below the required insuring company paragraph and above the Texas Department of Insurance paragraph.
• The notice may be on insuring company letterhead
• A toll-free phone number for surplus lines insurers
• The URL of the insuring company