Top 10 Questions about Continuing Education from a Texas Insurance Agent

Posted on by Hawp Media
Life Insurance
Continuing Education (CE) is an essential aspect of an insurance agent’s career, and the state of Texas is especially committed to ensuring that its licensed professionals are fully qualified to meet their clients’ needs. While the idea of regularly participating in CE courses and completing specialized examinations may feel daunting, these activities are often exciting opportunities to strengthen your knowledge, expand your expertise, and stay up to date on key developments in the uniquely evolving insurance industry. Most importantly, they are a sure-fire way to prevent your license from expiring and to continue serving your dedicated clients. At Community Educators, we encourage every insurance agent to explore their continuing education options on a regular basis to ensure that they remain well-versed in their focus areas and remain able to provide their clients with the highest level of service and expertise possible. To assuage some of our agents’ concerns (and actively promote lifelong learning), we have answered some of the most frequently asked questions related to continuing education in the Texas insurance industry below. Have a question we didn’t cover? Contact us today to discuss how we can help you keep your license active and your mind at ease.
  1. What are the continuing education rules for my license?
Rules and requirements vary by license, individual, and circumstance. The Texas Department of Insurance (TD) agent and adjuster licensing page allows you to select your license, view CE credits, and get support for next steps.
  1. How do I check the status of my continuing education credits?
After determining the rules that apply to your license, visit the Sircon website to view your transcript, find approved courses, and check your licensing renewal status.
  1. If I am permanently exempt from continuing education, do I still need to complete continuing education to sell specialty products?
Yes, according to TDI all agents are subject to continuing education rules for annuities, long-term care partnerships, and Medicare-related products.
  1. Do agents with a non-resident license have to follow Texas continuing education rules?
    1. If you have a Texas designated home state adjuster license, you do need to follow Texas
    2. If you have any other license, you must follow your home state’s rules. But if your state doesn’t require continuing education, you must follow Texas
 
  1. If I’m not using my license, do I still need to accrue continuing education credits?
To keep your license active and avoid penalties, you must follow the continuing education rules. Otherwise, you can cancel your license and leave the insurance industry. For agents who cancel their license with a substantial portion of the term remaining, TDI will reduce the continuing education hours for that term.
  1. When should I take my continuing education courses?
Your review period extends from the “begin date” to the “review” date listed on your online transcript. All continuing education must be completed during this period to ensure compliance. Please note, in Texas, the “review date” is always one day before your license expiration date.
  1. Can I take any course to meet the continuing education rules?
All courses certified by TDI and offered by approved providers will count toward your license. You can view Community Educator’s Texas-specific course catalog to find a list of approved courses – along with their date and location.
  1. How do I ensure my continuing education courses are credited to the correct Texas license?
All continuing education course credits posted to your online transcript will be applied to every license that you hold on the day that the course was completed. In other words, if you have more than one Texas license, continuing education posted to your transcript will apply to them all. However, if you hold multiple Texas licenses with different start and end dates, some CE credits may fall within the timeframe requirements of one and not the other. So you should always double check your transcript to confirm that you’ve completed the required number of hours within the term for every license you hold.
  1. If my continuing education credits are posted electronically, do I still need to keep my certificates of completion?
Yes. In some cases, a course provider may fail to post your credits online as intended. In this case, you will need to use your certificates as proof of completion for TDI. Since TDI can audit an agent for the two most recent license periods, you should keep certificates for at least four years to ensure that all of your credits can be verified.
  1. I have a CE course credit posted to my transcript but not applied to my continuing education requirements, why is that?
This could happen for a few reasons: mainly related to course timing and setting. To ensure your credits are reflected accurately, first confirm that the missing credit was taken within your license term. If so, then you should check that the credit is not a duplicate of another taken during the same term – you will only receive one credit for each unique course taken during a license period. Finally, at least half of your required CE hours must be taken in a classroom setting (or approved equivalent). This means that not all self-study hours will apply. If you believe there is an error, please contact Community Educators today for support in working through this. The Bottom Line Community Educators is committed to helping insurance agents remain compliant with local licensing regulations by outlining state-specific requirements and offering a wide variety of continuing education courses that help fulfill them. Beyond exploring our course catalog for inspiration, please visit:
  • The Texas Department of Insurance’s Continuing Education page to access a comprehensive set of CE rules, requirements, resources, and tools to support you in your career.
  • Sircon to apply for or renew your Texas license, check your agent status, update your information, review CE requirements, find courses, request transcripts, and more.
To learn more about how you can most effectively maintain your own credentials and continue to support your loyal clients, please visit us online today.