ACORD Certificate of Insurance vs. Evidence of Property
By Margaret Van Leuven, ARM, AIS, CPIW

Print Version

ACORD® has recently come out with two new forms which have caused some confusion in the industry.

These forms were developed by ACORD with the assistance of the Mortgage Bankers Association in response to requests for more comprehensive forms than the Certificate of Insurance forms.

Lenders are starting to request the agent submit one of the above forms in lieu of the Certificate of Property Insurance (#24) or the Certificate of Insurance (#25).

There are several major differences in the certificates and evidence forms. Here are a few for your consideration.

• Disclaimer
  The certificates contains a disclaimer that says i.e., “This certificate does not amend, extend or alter the coverage afforded by the policies below.” The problem arises when using the Evidence of Insurance forms because they do not contain any type of disclaimer.
• Additional Interest
  Certificates use the term Certificate Holder and indicate on back side, “if holder is an additional insured the policy must be endorsed.” The evidence forms use the wording Additional Interest.
• Cancellation
  On the Certificate of Insurance forms the cancellation section indicates “will endeavor to mail”. On the Evidence of Insurance forms it indicates, “will send notification.” The word endeavor is left off.

ACORD has just come out with a new form (#813) “Request for Proof of Property Insurance.” This form can be completed by lenders or by agents when some type of evidence of property coverage is requested.

If your office is not familiar with the new Evidence of Insurance forms we suggest that you review them with your carriers and management to determine if there is a potential E & O exposure due to the differences. PS4 Plus supports both editions of these forms in the current version (3.0) and the upcoming release of 3.6.