If you are thinking of becoming an insurance agent in Maryland, you’d better start with studying the market. You can be either an independent insurance agent or have your own insurance agency. In that case you will need to obtain a Maryland business license too.
To learn how to obtain your Maryland insurance license you can scroll down. If you want to check the insurance agent license you can use Maryland insurance license lookup or read the instructions below.
In Maryland, one cannot sell life, accident and health, property, casualty or personal insurance without being licensed. To lookup your insurance agent license you can use MD insurance license lookup. You can also ask your insurance agent to show his license and check the validity. If you are looking for a life insurance agent, you can use Maryland life insurance license lookup. And, in Maryland Insurance Administration website, you can type the name of your license agent and find license and personal information about the agents there. If you know the license number, you can type the number.
When you start to choose your insurance agent, you can pick either independent agent or a direct agent. An independent agent may offer you insurance from many different companies. But, a direct agent may sell insurance for only one company.
If you are applying to the insurance agency, make sure that they have all the required licenses. Maryland department of insurance license lookup will help you to verify an insurance agent in Maryland. You can also search in NAIC’s Consumer Information Source website.
And, you can check the credentials, as many agents have letters behind their names on their business cards. So, you can ask them to show and explain you.
You can also check the complains against the company or agent. Using Maryland department of insurance license lookup, you can find the information you need in the Maryland Insurance Administration website.
If you want to obtain a Maryland insurance license, your first step should be to decide which type of insurance license you need. It depends on what type of insurance agent you want to be or what type of polices you will sell. So, if your choice is selling car, home or business insurance, you will need to obtain property and casualty insurance license. To sell life, annuities or health insurance you will need life and health insurance license. But if you want, you can obtain both of these licenses.
After you’ve determined which license you need, you should complete Maryland insurance pre-license education courses. Each line of authority requires 20 hours of pre-license education. But, if you want to obtain two types of Maryland insurance licenses, you will need to complete 40 hours of education.
Your next step should be passing the Maryland insurance license exam. To pass the exam you should answer 70% of the questions correctly. The exam fee is $70. But if you decide to obtain two types of license, you will pay and take exams for both of them.
Now you are ready to apply for your Maryland insurance license. You should fill online application on the NIPR Maryland Insurance page and pay $59.
After obtaining your license you will need to complete a Continuing Education within a year.