Renewals or rewrites in the billing system integration
The integration must handle changes related to renewals and rewrites.
Account creation for conversion on renewal
The conversion on renewal process moves policies into PolicyCenter at renewal time. In some cases, these policies are also new to the billing system. If PolicyCenter creates an account during a conversion on renewal, the integration checks to see if that account has already been created in the billing system. If it has not, PolicyCenter tells the billing system to create a new account, similar to what happens in a submission.
See also
- For more information on conversion on renewal process, see Policy renewal web services.
Copying billing fields to the new period on renewal or rewrite
When PolicyCenter creates a new period for a renewal or a rewrite, it retrieves the billing and payment methods from the billing system. PolicyCenter retrieves these items just in case the billing system changed them during the current period. PolicyCenter displays these fields on the Payment screen and allows the user to change these values. PolicyCenter copies other fields that the billing system maintains from the prior period to the new period.
Renewal process flows
PolicyCenter supports the following renewal process flows:
- Bind and cancel
- Renewal offer
- Confirmed renewal
In the default configuration, PolicyCenter uses the bind and cancel renewal flow for all lines of business. When you bind a renewal, PolicyCenter sends charges to the billing system. PolicyCenter then does a flat cancel for reason Policy not-taken if the billing system receives no payment for that period. If partially paid, then PolicyCenter cancels for reason Non-Payment. See Cancellations in the billing system integration for details.
The default configuration contains the renewal offer flow which binds only after payment. You can configure this renewal flow for a particular line of business. Under this approach, you make the decision to renew or not renew, but instead of actually binding the renewal, you consider it a renewal offer. When you make the renewal offer, PolicyCenter sends a renewal notice (including pricing and payment plans). PolicyCenter does not send charges to the billing system (since no policy transaction completed). When the billing system receives payment, it sends a message to PolicyCenter to bind the renewal. If the billing system does not receive payment, the PolicyCenter renewal flow times out. PolicyCenter considers the renewal as not taken.
The default configuration contains the confirmed renewal flow which provides confirmation from the billing system that the insured completed payment. PolicyCenter knows if the policy was confirmed and is legally binding. The bind and cancel flow does not provide either of these.
See also