UFAA Chapter 15 Okla Voice Dec 2009

*OKLAHOMA* *VOICE* With November "Pulse of the Agent's" Opinion Poll Results December 2009 Published monthly by United Farmers Agents Association, aka UFAA, Chapter 15 Eastern Oklahoma.Chapter 15. The chapter meets the first Wednesday of each month. Next Chapter 15 Member Meeting: Wednesday, December 2nd 11:30 AM
Chapter 15 will meet December 2nd in the upstairs meeting room at the Silver Flame Restaurant located at the S/W corner of 61st & Sheridan, Tulsa.A fixed cost of the meals @ $12.50 per person that includes meal, drink, tax, gratuity and group appetizer. We'll have a choice of 5 entrees. Lunch Menu Non-member agents welcome. Special Invitation to Oklahoma Farmers Agent Network Members.

Mission Statement

The United Farmers Agents Association -UFAA- is a professional association committed to helping our members through education, communication, support and information and to establish a true partnership with Farmers Group, Inc.
Check out our website

Oklahoma UFAA Contacts:

UFAA Chapter 15 serving Eastern Oklahoma
President- Mike Gately 918/481-3277 -Tulsa

UFAA Chapter 12 serving Central-Western Oklahoma:
President- Tony Reese 580/355-1335 - Lawton

UFAA Oklahoma Voice Editor
UFAA Oklahoma Voice Ads
To join an Oklahoma UFAA Chapter
choose one closest to you and
contact the chapter. Or, sign
up at the UFAA Website.
United Farmers Agents Association Web Site
UFAA Chapter 15 Newsletter Archive & Homepage

Letters to the Editor

Breaking News... Battering ram

Federal Agents use Battering Ram in Home Search After Insurance Records Accessed

Farmers Insurance Clients' Info Hacked

Insurance Company Considers If Former Agent Shared Private Information

By Jeremy Finley November 24, 2009 WSMV-TV 4 Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A big insurance company has a problem with its computers. Federal agents searched two middle Tennessee homes after someone hacked into Farmers Insurance customers' records.

On Nov. 18, Channel 4 received an e-mail from a man named Michael Brown, who runs Endless Sphere Technology, an Internet provider. Brown said he was hired by the insurance agent to extract people's personal information from the Web site.

In the e-mail, Brown said a few months ago he discovered a flaw in the agent page for Farmers Insurance that allows someone to extract all the information from its database, such as insurance policies, names, addresses and Social Security numbers. He said he tried to warn Farmers about the glitch but was ignored.

"I warned them many times that I would go to the media with this if they continued to ignore me," Brown said in the e-mail. This week, Secret Service agents showed up at Brown's house, serving a search warrant. See more detail information on this story in the channel 4 Video 3:25 Video may take some time to load along with short commercial. The wait is worthwhile.

AIG Hawaii Becomes Farmers Insurance

November 24, 2009

AIG Hawaii Insurance Company, Inc. has announced that it is changing its name to Farmers Insurance Hawaii, Inc. - heralding in a new chapter in the company's nearly 55-year history - and reflecting its new ownership under national insurer Farmers Insurance Group, which purchased the company in July 2009. The company will officially begin doing business as Farmers Insurance Hawaii on Jan. 1, 2010.

Greetings!

ATTENTION OKLAHOMA VOICE RECIPIENTS

As we have mentioned, outside company email sent to farmersagent.com email addresses is being blocked in an effort to reduce spam to the agency force. This has seriously affected the delivery of the Oklahoma Voice Monthly Newsletter and may have affected other outside communications you have received in the past. - HTML documents are generally associated with spam and are targeted by updated spamware on email servers of Farmers and USA.NET, who is the farmersagent.com email vendor

UFAA Chapter 15 creates The Oklahoma Voice as an HTML document through Constant Contact, our vendor. Constant Contact has a strict spam policy and allows emails only to permission based email lists. Not all agents have given their permission for us to continue deliveries.

If you desire to receive future Okla. Voice
publications, you MUST take these steps.

1. Return to the top of this newsletter and click on the "CONFIRM" link. That gives us permission to continue sending the publications via email delivery. Otherwise, your farmersagent.com email address will be deleted from our mailing list. Your action on the confirm link will take care of only half of the requirements for our future delivery and adds your address to a higher delivery priority.Then you must....

Now, How to void the spam filtering placed on your email address by Farmers and USA.net.

2. Go to the Dashboard home page and click on the email envelope icon at the top of the page near the Farmers logo. Within your email program, go to menu on left side of page. Select "Folder Services icon" to expand menu and select "White List Filtering" option. On the filtering page click the radio button box "Include email addresses from my Contacts as part of my White List" option. Now click the activate button. AN error screen or two may appear, select ok.

3. Now, back to the left menu and select the "Address Book" icon to expand the selections. Select personal. On the contacts page select the "new contact" icon in upper right corner. Type Keith in the "First Name" box and type Kraft in the "Last Name" box. In the "Preferred Email" box enter keith.kraft@gmail.com <note the dot between keith.kraft.

Thank you for your efforts. This will keep your email address from being deleted from our email list.

Twenty Common Law Factors of a Perfect
Independent Contractor Relationship are:

Source Am. Family Agents Assoc.

No Instructions: Independent contractors are not required to follow, nor are they furnished with, instructions to accomplish a job.
No Training: Independent contractors typically do not receive training by the hiring firm. They use their own methods to accomplish the work.

Others can be hired: Independent contractors are hired to provide a result and usually have the right to hire others to do the actual work.

Independent contractor's work not essential: A company's success or continuation should not depend on the service of outside independent contractors. An example violating this would be a law firm which called their lawyers independent contractors.
No time clock: Independent contractors set their own work hours.
No permanent relationship: Usually independent contractors don't have a continuing relationship with a hiring company. The relationship can be frequent, but it must be at irregular intervals, on call, or whenever work is available.
Independent contractors control their own workers: Independent contractors shouldn't hire, supervise, or pay assistants at the direction of the hiring company. If assistants are hired, it should be at the independent contractor's sole discretion.
Other jobs: Independent contractors should have enough time available to pursue other gainful work.
Location: Independent contractors control where they work. If they work on the premises of the hiring company, it is not under that company's direction or supervision.
Order of work: Independent contractors determine the order and sequence in which they will perform their work.
No interim reports: Independent contractors are hired for the final result only. They should not be asked for progress or interim reports.
No hourly pay: Independent contractors are paid by the job, not by time. Payment by the job can include periodic payments based on a percentage of job completed. Payment can be based on the number of hours needed to do the job times a fixed hourly rate. Payment method should be determined before the job commences.
Multiple Firms: Independent contractors often work for more than one firm at a time.
Business expenses: Independent contractors are generally responsible for their own business expenses.
Own tools: Independent contractors usually furnish their own tools. Some hiring firms have leased equipment to their independent contractors so that they could show the independent contractor had their own tools and an investment in their business. This strategy won't work if the lease is for a nominal amount or can be voided by the hiring firm at will. The lease must be equivalent to what an independent business person could have obtained in the open market.
Significant investment: Independent contractors should be able to perform their services without the hiring company's facilities (equipment, office furniture, machinery, etc.). The independent contractor's investment in his trade must be real, essential, and adequate.
Services available to the public: Independent contractors make their services available to the general public by one or more of the following:
1) having an office and assistants;
2) having business signs;
3) having a business license;
4) listing their services in a business directory; or
5) advertising their services.

The following email came from another Pinocchio DM who has forgotten- "Agents are not his Employees."

Hopefully you understand, like I do, the importance of Life insurance. It can make the difference between a family staying in their home or filing for bankruptcy.

No one likes to think about death and so most clients don't bring it up. When we got into this business, and signed with Farmers, we understood this would be our responsibility.

As a manager of this District, the only way I know that's happening is by counting actual sales. I can only assume an agent not consistently selling has lost their interest or knowledge in effective life sales. Therefore, we will be conducting a series of mandatory, monthly life classes to help you achieve this objective.

You'll receive hands-on knowledge about what the pros do to excel in life sales. Besides protecting your clients, ideally you'll see an increase in your P&C retention, higher income, and you'll be in a stronger position for 21st Century leads when they start to flow.

Excuses for missed classes are illness or out of town. If you miss a class, please make arrangements to make it up in the district office.Classes will be held in the small, downstairs meeting room below the state office 9-10:30a.m. May 28th, June 25th, July 30th' August 27th' September 24th

*We will continue classes if production remains below 2 I&P per agent per month.

If you have emails or letters from your DM, DMM, State Executive Director or a Farmers' employee that you think might violate your agent appointment agreement, please forward them to the UFAA national office. Your examples will be cataloged and possibly be used in court actions. Some of them will be published on this DM/Company Statements page. Please note: We will remove names and other identifying information before publishing on our website.

Greetings!

"The Pulse of the Agents"
November Opinion Poll Results

The Oklahoma Voice reader polls take no more than a few seconds to complete. You are informed immediately how your vote compares to other responding readers. It is important to vote in the polls as we all can gain the "Pulse of the Agents."

Your poll votes remain anonymous. We only obtain the numbers of answers converted to percentages, not the source of those numbers. Readers can only vote in a poll once. The percentages shown when a reader votes, is the tally at that moment. We'll publish final poll results in a future issue. Look for this image >

< designating a poll for your vote.

Results of the November, 2009 "Pulse of the Agents Poll"

In a November Oklahoma Voice article concerning industry ratings on Home Auto and customer experiences showing Farmers Insurance below average in all categories, we asked, So here is your chance to place blame for the company's bad ratings directly where they need to go. Who do you blame for the problems?

Agents and or DMs 3%
State Offices 8%
ServicePoint 3%
HelpPoint 0%
Corporate Management 86%

Communicate with your most important assets-
your current customers

Help get an Edge on the New Year
Five great reasons to sign up for Constant Contact right now:

1. The holidays are just around the corner: you can go green by sending out a seasonal e-greeting using one of the many templates on our site.

2. It's a perfect time to send out an end-of-the-year email to thank your customers/clients for their loyalty over the year, review the highlights of 2009, and preview what to look forward to in 2010.

3. Get a jumpstart on their 2010 business by surveying your customers. Learn what worked last year and what would be worth changing for the year to come.

4. Holiday gatherings and meetings are a cinch to manage and promote with our new Event Marketing service. Get a demo of it at www.constantcontact.com/event-marketing.

5. Make 2010 the "Year of the Loyal Customer." Email marketing has been proven to be an economical, efficient, and effective way to build customer relationships.

Check out the reasonable pricing and take the tour by mousing the logo below.

Constant Contact champions the needs of small organizations and provides them with an easy and affordable way to build successful, lasting customer relationships. Constant Contact's leading email marketing and online survey tools help all types of small businesses and organizations create professional-looking email newsletters and insightful online surveys and begin a dialogue with their customers. Today, more than 300,000 customers worldwide trust Constant Contact to help them connect with their audience. With Constant Contact, small organizations have access to the latest industry information and education to help them learn email marketing and online survey best practices. Plus, they benefit from Constant Contact's high email deliverability rates due to strong partnerships with ISPs, a no-tolerance spam policy, and a leadership role in organizations such as the ESPC (Email Sender and Provider Coalition).

Trusted Email Marketing
and Online Surveys

If you wish to be excluded from future mailings please let us know by emailing us at ufaa15@.gmail.com or by using the Unsubscribe feature at the located within this document. Disclaimer - The Oklahoma Voice is published twelve times per year for the United Farmers Agents Association, Chapter 15 Northeastern Oklahoma. The United Farmers Agents Association and the editor neither assumes any responsibility for the accuracy of the articles or advertisers, nor any liability arising from reliance upon them. The Oklahoma Voice expresses it's appreciation to the many members who assist in and support it's publication,. Opinions in the Oklahoma Voice do not necessarily express the views of any single member or Chapter officer or UFAA organization. Products and services advertised are not endorsed by this Chapter or United Farmers Agents Association, Inc. Complaints or inquiries should be forwarded directly to the advertiser. All purchases and services are at the complete discretion of the consumer. Trademarks and/or logos are the respective products or trademarks of their respective owners.

Renew subscription for 2010

Current Okla Voice recipients must renew free subscription for 2010.
Open only to active Farmers Agents and ALL Current UFAA Members. We verify active agent #
Does not apply to our advertisers

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Check out your Agency Stats

Dear Oklahoma Voice: I often get asked how has my PIF been affected by "Farmers Way"? How about your income? Well, if you have the stomach for it, the answer is right on Dashboard.

Go to the "Managing" screen and on the left side under "Agency Management" there is a link to "Agency Builder Gateway" It will load all your PIF and Income data for the last three yrs. Now, hover your cursor over the graphics.

Personally I have had a loss in total PIF and a greater loss in auto PIF. In spite of Farmers best efforts to keep my income up, by continually raising rates, those numbers are beginning to fall as well.

I hope you all are fairing better, take a look.
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Educate yourself so you can give your clients more detail about the services they offer.

You may mouse any of our valued ads in this issue for direct access to their informative and educational website.

ads rotated for 12/09 issue

By Kim Komando

MICROSOFT ISSUES CRITICAL
SECURITY PATCHES

This past week, Microsoft issued its November security updates. Fifteen vulnerabilities were fixed with six security patches. Of these flaws, three are rated critical. The others are rated important. The vulnerabilities affect both Excel and Word, as well as Windows XP and Vista. None of the patches affect Windows 7.
Researchers are warning about one flaw in particular. It affects the Windows kernel, but can be activated via Internet Explorer or some Office documents. It could be used in drive-by attacks to install malware. Attacks exploiting the vulnerability are expected within the next 30 days. Upgrade your machines now!

you may verify past updates or obtain missed updates here.

Oklahoma Voice has reprint rights. Copyright 2008 WestStar TalkRadio Network. Reprinted with permission. No further republication or redistribution is permitted without the written consent of WestStar TalkRadio Network. Visit Kim Komando and sign up for her free e-mail newsletters www.komando.com

Run older programs with Vista
Windows Vista or Windows 7, will have problems running some older versions of applications, just because so much has changed under the hood from Windows XP days. Thankfully there is a compatibility mode that can be easily set per application. More.

Did you Know?

Farmers is a trade name and may refer to Farmers Group, Inc. or the Farmers Exchanges, as the case may be. Farmers Group, Inc., a management and holding company, along with its subsidiaries, is wholly owned by the Zurich Financial Services Group.The Farmers Exchanges are three reciprocal insurers (Farmers Insurance Exchange, Fire Insurance Exchange and Truck Insurance Exchange), including their subsidiaries and affiliates, owned by their policyholders, and managed by Farmers Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries. For more information about Farmers, visit our Web site at www.farmers.com.

Notice to Chapter 15 Members

Annual Elections

Annual Chapter 15 elections will be held during the December 2nd meeting. Positions for elections will be President, V. President, Secretary & Treasurer.
3nd Notification 12/01 as required by the UFAA By-laws.

Members mark your calendar

UFAA Chapter 15 Christmas Party has been scheduled for December 12th from 5 to 8 PM.
R.S.V.P. invitations were emailed on Nov. 4th with a RSVP deadline date of Nov 20th. We have extended the deadline to Dec 4th Members may review the Christmas Party Invitation here.

Been thinking about Joining UFAA?

Farmers Agents joining as New Regular Members or past members who reinstate their membership on or before Dec 4th will receive a $50 cash bonus for meals and drinks when they RSVP for the Chapter 15 Christmas Party as a couple or $25 attending solo. You must attend party. Bonus applies only to new Regular Members and reinstatements with dues rates of $360/yr with all or 1/2 paid with app.
Go here for your membership application and be sure pay the annual or semi annual dues with bank card and write "C15 Xmas Party" on bottom of the app below your signature for priority handling.
Fully complete the app and fax to 1-314-631-7963. Then click the Christmas Party Invitation link above and RSVP. Welcome aboard.

THE SPECIFIC SECURITY
OBJECTIVES OF UFAA ARE:
1. A two-way negotiated contract.

2. For rendered services contractual compensation
schedules encompassing full commission of all premiums.
3. Agent ownership of policies and expirations.
4. Termination for just stated-cause only.
5. Ending discrimination of agent or agent authority.
6. To foster cooperation for mutual benefit, between other agent associations.

Property-casualty insurance market conduct compliance criticisms

1. Failure to acknowledge, pay or deny claims within specified time frames
2. Failure to properly terminate a policy, including inadequate days' notice, improper reasons and omitted required language
3. Failure to pay claims properly (sales, tax, loss of use)
4. Improper documentation of claim files
5. Using unapproved or unfiled rates and/or rating errors
6. Failure to provide required and appropriate disclosures, such as selection/rejection or coverage notices in the underwriting process or notices such as statute of limitations, reasons for denials, and bill of rights in the claims process
7. Failure to use licensed producers and provide proper notification of producer appointments or terminations, including maintenance of producer register
8. Failure to communicate a delay in the settlement of claims in writing
9. Using unapproved or unfiled forms
10. Use of unlicensed claims adjusters or appraisers.

Life and health Insurance market conduct compliance criticisms

1. Failure to adhere to advertising requirements
2. Failure to adhere to replacement requirements
3. Failure to use licensed and appointed producers, and failure to provide proper notification of producer appointments or terminations, including maintenance of producer registers
4. Failure to adhere to grievance and appeals and utilization review requirements
5. Improper documentation of files
6. Failure to properly terminate a policy, including conversion requirements
7. Failure to properly acknowledge, pay, investigate or deny claims within specified time frames
8. Using unapproved, unfiled or noncompliant forms
9. Failure to provide required disclosures, such as explanation of benefits statements, coverage issues, fraud warnings, free-look periods, right of appeal or guaranty fund notices
10. Failure to pay claims properly. Agent/Broker Mag 11/09

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Tax Credit Extended for Home Buyers

Eff: Dec 1st - April 30, 2010

First-Time Home Buyers: First-time home buyers (that is, people who have not owned a home within the last three years) may be eligible for the tax credit. The credit for first time home buyers is 10% of the purchase price of the home, with a maximum available credit of $8,000. Single taxpayers and married couples filing a joint return may qualify for the full tax credit amount.

Current Owners: The tax credit program now gives those who already own a residence some additional reasons to move to a new home. This incentive comes in the form of a tax credit of up to $6,500 for qualified purchasers who have owned and occupied a primary residence for a period of five consecutive years during the last eight years. Single taxpayers and married couples filing a joint return may qualify for the full tax credit amount.

New Deadlines: In order to qualify for the credit, all contracts need to be in effect no later than April 30, 2010 and close no later than June 30, 2010.

Higher Income Caps: The amount of income someone can earn and qualify for the full amount of the credit has been increased. Single tax filers who earn up to $125,000 are eligible for the total credit amount. Those who earn more than this cap can receive a partial credit. However, single filers who earn $145,000 and above are ineligible. Joint filers who earn up to $225,000 are eligible for the total credit amount. Those who earn more than this cap can receive a partial credit. However, joint filers who earn $245,000 and above are ineligible.

Need more FAQs?

Learn strategies for avoiding the blame game

In recent years, the blame game has become very popular. The object of the game is to find somebody to blame; it does not really make any difference who this is, as long as it is not the person looking for a victim to blame. Insurance professionals are guaranteed losers and at all costs should avoid involvement in the game. Your position in any given insurance transaction makes you the perfect target. Article continued

Link did not work over holidays. Here is address you may copy/paste into your browser address box. -ed

http://www.agentandbroker.com/Issues/2009/November-2009/Pages/Learn-strategies-for-avoiding-the-blame-game.aspx

The Road Ahead: Farmers Insurance
Farmers charts a single path to success on three platforms.
A.M. Best Oct. 2009

power cords and receptacles

The Situation:Farmers' entry into the direct-to-customer channel allows it to adapt to shifts in consumer buying preferences.

What's Next: The insurer will craft a business plan that melds the direct channel with its network of captive and independent agents.

Watch For: Farmers to strike a workable balance among the competing interests within its distribution network.

Calculating the gains on the largest acquisition in its history may have been the easy
part for Farmers Insurance Group when compared to the balancing act it will take to
remain the third-largest U.S. personal lines insurer. Tucked within the merger is the challenge of fully capitalizing on the competing interests that now exist within its burgeoning distribution framework.

Farmers' move to acquire 21st Century Insurance from American International Group gave it more than just a chunk of the direct-channel auto market and cross-selling opportunities. It accelerated a push by the Los Angeles-based subsidiary of Zurich Financial Services Group to cover the table in terms of consumer preference. Farmers and 21st Century combined for $12.54 billion in net private passenger auto premiums in 2008, according to A.M. Best State/ Line data, and would place Farmers/21st Century just ahead of its two chief competitors in the direct business for passenger auto: Geico, which posted net premiums of $12.52 billion in 2008; and Progressive, at $11.68 billion for 2008.

Farmers is well-positioned for a piece of the action, whether that involves the "trusted
adviser" role that Farmers started shaping for captive agents 10 years ago, the
independent agent network that has grown through acquisition or simply the ease of
buying online.

Bill Martin, Farmers' senior vice president for personal lines/integration, said industry
chatter about channel conflict between agents and direct-to-consumer is the wrong
way to view the issue. He said agents are way ahead of insurance companies in
thinking about how to get a piece of the growing direct business. "At Farmers we're worried about what the customer is going to feel and they don't care about what the channel is," he said. "The agents are happy to be part of a new design that hopefully will address what the customer wants, rather than what the industry thinks of itself."

Shifting that theory into play had remained in the background amid more pressing
issues. In late August Farmers announced it would eliminate nearly 1,200 positions at
21st Century Insurance Co., comprising about 20% of the direct carrier's work force.
But a challenge still looming involves managing the working relationships between
Farmers' 14,500 captive agents, its network of 38,000 independent agents and the
potential generated from 21st Century's direct-to-consumer channel.

Solid Numbers

There's also the issue of how to address the 21,700 agent-location contracts in 21st Century's independent channel; nearly 80% have at least one active 21st Century auto
policy in place. This distribution channel generated 25% of the company's $3.6 billion
in direct premiums written in 2008. When AIG off-loaded 21st Century, the auto insurer had stated assets of $5.7 billion and liabilities of $3.4 billion, according to a June 30, 2009, filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A day later, when Farmers dosed on the $1.9 billion deal, the Los Angeles-based
company added $3 billion in less-volatile auto premiums to a book of business that
was predominantly fire and property, according to A.M. Best's Senior Financial
Analyst, Frederick DeLeon. DeLeon said Farmers gains geographic diversification through accelerated growth into the East, allowing it to build on its historical concentration in the West. But, he said, with any acquisition there are potential integration and execution risks.
"This includes challenges associated with integrating operations, systems and
personnel," DeLeon said. "In addition, there are potential concentrations of
independent agents within a geographic area, as well as potential concentrations of
Farmers and [21st Century] business within agencies."

The acquisition of 21st Century's direct-to-consumer channel sped Farmers' arrival
time in the market segment and has it well-positioned in what DeLeon said is the
fastest-growing segment in terms of personal lines sales. For Farmers, it was a matter of being where the auto customers are shopping for insurance, and that is clearly online--although agents may still have a larger role in the direct channel than some might think. While 73% of auto insurance customers shop online, 67% eventually buy from an agent, according to an April 2009 comScore Online Auto Insurance Report.

That shift within customer shopping tendencies has helped define Farmers' marketing
strategy. The model of an insurer vying for premium across multiple platforms may
become more common in the future, according to Brian Cohen, president and chief
executive of Strategic Growth Advisors, an advisory firm serving the insurance
industry. Cohen, who served as Farmers' chief marketing officer in 2004 and 2005, said
consumers are changing and want products on their terms. He said insurers will need
to follow that lead and become "all things to all people."

"In Europe, insurers have multiple brands that they sell through," Cohen said.
"Farmers would appear to be following that model. I really think that this is where the
market is going. With the Internet you can create a brand a lot cheaper than you used
to." Cohen expects the company to maintain the Farmers brand for its captive channel,
and use 21st Century for the direct. In addition to cross-selling opportunities, captive
agents could gain an edge from 21st Century's marketing strategy.

The independent channel will ultimately funnel through Foremost, which is
headquartered in Caledonia Township, Mich., just outside of Grand Rapids.
Part of that framework already has been established. Martin said the company made
an internal announcement a few months ago that Foremost would become the lead
internal brand for its independent agent business. In June, Farmers' Chief Executive Officer Robert Woudstra announced the company would invest $84.4 million to expand its Michigan operation, where Farmers has 2,014 employees, according to the state of Michigan. The state has agreed to provide $62 million in tax incentives, based on employment levels.
The expansion would create 1,600 new jobs, create a print and distribution center,
expand a call center and add to the University of Farmers' Grand Rapids facility. The
university, centered in Agoura Hills, Calif., offers training to Farmers' agents, district
managers and employees.

Corporate Ties

Woudstra joined Foremost in 1973 and became chief operating officer when the
company was acquired by Farmers. He still maintains an office at Foremost's
headquarters. His strong ties to the area should help to mollify any "sibling rivalry" within the
distribution channels.

"It's all going to come down to the execution," said Cohen, the former marketing chief.
"The corporate parent can't play favorites. I think, in light of that, they have to be
careful how they manage these competing interests." Robert Klein, the director of the Center for Risk Management and Insurance Research at Georgia State University, said even a perception of being shortchanged can complicate a carrier's relationship with its independent agent network. That potential will only increase as carriers tap into the cost-effectiveness offered by the direct channel.

"This is going to happen and it's a question of how well companies manage the
situation, and how well they maintain good relationships with their agents, while fully
exploring the direct marketing channel for customers that prefer that," Klein said.
Eli Lehrer, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said the agent's value
in the overall equation will hinge on that individual's knowledge and role. He said
unless an agent can serve as a general-purpose financial adviser, as opposed to
straight insurance salesman, direct selling may carry the day.
"I have a sense that Farmers, like a lot of companies, has done a pretty good job

reinventing their agents as broader financial advisers," Lehrer said. "But it's a tough

road." []

IRS to Audit Large Companies on Tax, Independent Contractor Issues

The audits will begin in February 2010 and stretch across all types and sizes of companies. The exams will be deeper than typical audits, and also look at the use of independent contractors and other worker classification issues, a spokesman for the IRS said on Friday.
IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman has said the agency will focus on the wealthy and large corporations as it seeks to recover billions that go unpaid in taxes each year.
About $345 billion goes uncollected from individuals and corporations from U.S. tax authorities each year, according to the U.S. government.
"A significant portion'' of this so-called tax gap comes from unpaid employment taxes, Faris Fink, an IRS deputy commissioner told an accounting conference this week.
Asked how many years the IRS would look at when conducting an audit, Fink said there was no defined time period.
The IRS has not zeroed in on employment tax issues for two decades, according to Anne Batter, an attorney who previously worked in the office of chief counsel at the IRS.
Although the program has not officially started yet, Batter says some of her clients who are large employers have begun to get document requests from the agency.
"The first round of questions we got in this last audit involved deferred compensation, equity, all these fringe benefits,'' said Batter, now with law firm Miller Chevalier, defending clients before the IRS. "We have definitely had some taxpayers out of the blue (who) have gotten these really big, cumbersome requests for information about their compensation,'' she said.

Check out the UFAA Chapter 15 Home Page

with more Farmers, industry news and lots of member benefit information and newsletter archives and breaking news too late to publish above.

New on the

Chapter 15 HOME PAGE

Have you missed past issues of the Okla. Voice? If you missed past issues due to the spam problems, you can access them on our home page.

Have you audited your Umbrella policies for E&O?

Zurich Reports 3Q Net Income Rose 490%

Who needs Referrals?

HOT OID Info you need to know -

Do not call the Okla. Ins. Dept. (OID) They now provide info on line:

Anti-fraud Complaint Form- for you & your clients
Consumer Request for Assistance Form- for your clients
Home and Auto Rate Comparison Charts From the OID.
These articles and more on the home page link above.

Have you joined UFAA yet? We just can't make it much easier.
Just mouse the logo above to obtain the membership application. Fill it out; attached a check and mail or use the bank card option and fax it to 1-314-631-7963. United we stand. Divided we fail.