Differences between binding and issuing a policy in a submission

PolicyCenter makes a distinction between binding and issuing a submission. Binding is the agreement that there is coverage, and issuance is the production of the policy contract.

You bind a policy when the insured and the insurer have agreed to terms and price and a policy is in force. If the insured has a car accident one hour after the submission is bound, the policy covers the incident even though the insured has not received official documents.

You may wish to bind but not issue a policy because the policy documents have not yet been issued. Or perhaps the insurer needed to collect or verify additional information so the issuance of the policy occurs after adding the information to the policy.

In PolicyCenter you:

• Bind a submission by clicking Bind Only under Bind Options in the user interface. This binds the policy but does not issue it.
• Issue a submission in the submission wizard by clicking Issue Policy under Bind Options in the user interface. This binds and issues the policy.
• If a policy has only been bound, you can issue a submission at a later date through an issuance policy transaction. See to Issuance policy transaction for more information.