| Summer 2008
Your Role in the Dividend Process
In July, Texas Mutual Insurance Company began distributing a company record of nearly $150 million in policyholder dividends. As with all of our initiatives, we are asking agents to help explain and promote our dividend program to their clients.
Learn the basics
A dividend is essentially a monetary reward for policyholders who control their claim costs. We also reward these policyholders for staying loyal to Texas Mutual Insurance Company. If your clients get a dividend check, it is because they kept their
loss ratio in an acceptable range.
Be ready for your clients’ questions
Some policyholders will have questions about their dividend check. Our dividend communications direct policyholders to their agent for more information. Visit the News & Publications section to prepare for your clients’ questions.
Understand the importance of loyalty
Our dividend program rewards policyholders for up to five consecutive years of low claim loss experience with us, ending with the policy that expired the previous year. Your clients’ dividend earning potential peaks in their fifth year. If they leave for another carrier before then, they start over when they come back to Texas Mutual.
“Once a policyholder gets that check in their hand, you’ve got someone who’s going to stay with you for a long time.”
—John Brimberry
senior chairman
Frost Insurance
Use dividends to build your business
“Once a policyholder gets that check in their hand, you’ve got someone who’s going to stay with you for a long time,” said John Brimberry, senior chairman of
Frost Insurance.
Brimberry is one of thousands of agents who know that dividends are a good tool for attracting and retaining customers. Visit the News & Publications section for the tools you need to market our dividend program to current and potential clients.
Remember new policyholders
Texas Mutual shortened the time that new policyholders must wait before they are eligible for a dividend. First-year policyholders whose policies expired between January 1, 2008 and June 30, 2008 may be eligible for an early-qualifier dividend. The policyholder must have an in-force policy on October 15, 2008, and their loss ratio must be within the acceptable range.
We will send you a list of your qualifying clients before we distribute early-qualifier dividends in November.
Promote Safety Groups
Policyholders who are in a Safety Group have the chance to earn two dividends: an individual policyholder dividend and a group dividend. Group dividends are based largely on each group’s overall loss ratio. Texas Mutual Insurance Company distributed more than $13.6 million in group dividends last year.
For a list of Safety Groups, visit the Agents section.
Encourage your clients to cash their checks
Texas Mutual declared approximately $325 million in individual policyholder dividends between 2004 and 2007. About $1 million in dividend checks remain uncashed.
We keep uncashed checks on our books for three years. Then, we turn them over to the State Comptroller’s Office as unclaimed property. Policyholders can call us at (800) 859-5995 and ask us to reissue expired dividend checks. If a client moves, email us at underwriting@texasmutual.com, or fax us at (800) 359-0650 and give us their correct address.
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