What is a Reference Filing?
Reference filings are the filings that are required to keep any bureau-based program current. When you affiliate with ISO, NCCI, AAIS, or any other independent bureau you can authorize these organizations to file on your behalf as part of your affiliation. For example, once you make an initial program filing based on ISO forms/rates/rules, any future changes to those forms/rates/rules will be automatically filed on your behalf—no filing required.
State Variations
Most states permit bureaus to file on your behalf to create this auto-adopt situation, but there are some states that do not allow this. In these states, a filing is required from you in order to adopt bureau changes. This is where reference filings come in. Some states require filings for loss cost revisions, some states require filings for form or rule revisions and some states require a filing for everything!
The good news is, reference filings are not required in ALL states. If you’ve given authorization to have filings submitted on your behalf, you will generally not be making reference filings in all states. The bad news is, reference filings never stop. Reference filings are a constant and ongoing project happening in the background of any ISO or bureau-based program.
Why You Should Stay On Top of It
So why try to keep up? Why not stockpile reference filings and make one filing to adopt ISO/bureau changes all at once? This is an appealing option, but it’s important to remember that the point of reference filings is to make sure your program is as current as possible. This includes ensuring that your programs remain current with regulatory changes and are also current with market trends. If you do take a “once a year” approach, it’s still important to stay on top of bureau updates, especially form changes. If you hold off on form revisions that were made due to changes in statutory requirements or language, your program may be out of compliance.
How IRC Helps
Staying on top of and tracking reference filings can be a daunting task. At IRC, we maintain a weekly flow of communication with clients about what circulars have been published and what filings are required. For any client who uses our reference filing services, we maintain a single spreadsheet to track circulars as they’re published, track reference adoption filings as we submit them, and track reference filing approvals as we receive them. This is all done in this one spreadsheet, maintained on a daily basis and communicated to our client throughout the week.
Need assistance understanding the impact of a particular ISO update? Through our collaboration with Verisk (Verisk and IRC collaborate), we can go straight to the source and assist with actuarial consulting involved in fully contemplating the impact of an ISO loss costs revision or the integration of the ISO Commercial Auto Optional Class Plan (OCP).
IRC also leverages FilingRamp’s (www.filingramp.com) two way SERFF API to submit filings, respond to objections and get filings approved faster. Customers can use FilingRamp as their single filings repository and organize all of their reference filings however they want. You can easily locate approved filings, confirm effective dates, or delayed adoptions, and share filings with key staff.
Contact Us to Get Support Now
Reference filings are an important piece of the puzzle, but often get left on the back burner. Let IRC help make this process more manageable, while keeping these vital updates front and center!