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Texas Annuity Training Certification Required to Solicit Annuities

ING Outlines Procedures Effective Apri 1, 2010

03-31-2010

Texas Annuity Training Certification

Effective April 1, 2010, the Texas Department of Insurance ("the Department") will require that all resident licensed producers soliciting annuities in the State of Texas complete a 4 hour annuity training course. In addition, resident licensed producers will be required to complete a 4 hour continuing education course annually in order to continue to solicit annuities in the State of Texas. The initial 4 hour training must be completed prior to soliciting annuities products in the State of Texas. The annual 4 hour continuing education course will also be required prior to soliciting annuities products subsequent to the producer’s license renewal anniversary.

Effective April 1, 2010, ING Life Insurance and Annuity Company, ING USA Annuity and Life Insurance Company and ReliaStar Life Insurance Company will not issue annuity contracts for producers who have not fulfilled the annuity training requirements as outlined by the Texas Department of Insurance. ING annuity products solicited without first fulfilling the Texas annuity training requirement will be returned for contract re-solicitation.

Please read the following details to determine when resident producers are required to fulfill the Texas Annuity Training requirement in order to sell, solicit, or negotiate the sale of annuity products:

New Licensees on or after April 1, 2010

If you are not licensed prior to April 1, 2010 and you obtain a new Life or Life, Accident and Health license which is issued on or after April 1, 2010, you are required to complete a 4 hour annuity training course before selling, soliciting, or negotiating the sale of any type of annuity and you must complete 4 hours of annuity continuing education annually during each year of your biennial renewal periods following the certification period if you want to continue selling annuities.

Existing Licensees on April 1, 2010

If your license is or was issued on or before April 1, 2010 and is active on April 1, 2010, you may continue to sell, solicit, or negotiate the sale of annuities without taking a training course after April 1, 2010, up and until, the first renewal date of your license which occurs after April 1, 2010. To be able to sell, solicit, or negotiate the sale of annuities on or after the first renewal date of your license which occurs after April 1, 2010, you must complete a 4 hour annuity certification course and 4 hours of annuity continuing education annually during each year of your biennial renewal periods following the certification period if you want to continue to sell, solicit, or negotiate the sale of annuities.

Completing the 4 hour certification course prior to your first renewal date which occurs after April 1, 2010 is advisable so that there would be no interruption in authority to sell, solicit, or negotiate the sale of annuities.

For example:

Agent 1 - TX license renews June 1, 2010. Between April 1, 2010 and May 31, 2010, this agent can continue to solicit annuity policies without taking the training. For the agent to solicit any annuity policies on or after June 1, 2010, they must have taken training prior to solicitation.

Agent 2 - TX license renews April 1, 2010. This agent needs to take training prior to soliciting any new annuity policies on April 1, 2010 or after.

Agent 3 - Is not currently licensed in TX, but gets licensed effective May 1, 2010. This agent cannot solicit any annuity policies without taking the training first.

The Department uses Sircon, a third-party education provider, to facilitate training requirements, retain approved annuity training course and vendors, and to retain agent training and continuing education records. Approved annuity training courses can be found on the Sircon website as follows:
Control Click on the following link: Sircon's Website
Click on Approved Courses Inquiry.
Make sure Texas is listed as the state to inquiry about and if not, select Texas and then click on Submit.
Make sure Continuing Ed is listed as the Education Type.
Under Course Category, click on the box titled Cert-Annuity and then click on Submit.
A list of all approved training courses and vendors will be listed.
If you need assistance with your Texas Annuity training or have questions surrounding the requirements, please contact the approved vendor or the Department via email at License@tdi.state.tx.us