President of UFAA

Message from The President

The United Farmers Agents Association
"Journey to 3000"

October 8, 1999

Update #99-30

UFAA needs your help! Each of us has received correspondence from the management company and our DMs directing us to do specific tasks, to attend mandatory meetings, to go to the bank daily, in effect, to be an employee. Find your copies of that correspondence and mail them to the UFAA National Office, 8711 Big Bend, St Louis, MO 63119. The source of the material will be confidential but we could use your name in case we need to contact you (your choice). Thank you.

Colorado Springs Service Center reports, "we will be establishing Customer Care Centers. They will be staffed 24/7/365 [ 24 hours per day, 7 days per week and 365 days per year], and will allow our customers to report their claims, have coverage cleared, and begin the claims handling process immediately. We will also be centralizing several departments such as Subrogation for efficiency purposes. There will be several of these centers located across the country."

As the push to become sellers of securities spreads across the country, the information necessary to make an informed decision lags sorely behind. What contract covers the agents selling these non-insurance products? What additional costs will there be? The Phoenix Business Support Center reports our Agents E&O policy will cover selling securities but nothing has been seen in writing. They also have not answered the question, "Does the $5,000 deductible apply?" Let us know what you have seen in writing in your area.

And some good news!! Remember when UFAA introduced "The Original E&O Deductible Buyback" program (It is still available)? Remember the management company introducing their own version shortly after? Well, UFAA has done it again. UFAA created the UFAA Technology Services program over two years ago to help our members join the 21st century ("Agents helping Agents"). It has been a tremendous success as evidenced by the attendance at Steve Todd's meetings all across the mid-west. Now the management company has introduced their own program. At the recently concluded Presidents Council meeting, each agent in attendance was given a laptop computer, instruction on using computers and the various software programs and several CDs to use (The "Red Book" is now on a CD.). They were also given an advance preview of a Farmers web site devoted to FNWL products and promised that all applications and forms would be available to download from the site as well as check on policies, production, etc. The site is still in the development stage and will be tested by a "few" agents in the year 2000. It will be available to the rest of us to use at a later date. That's progress folks!

Ralph Buchanan
President
United Farmers Agents Association