System and method for underwriting a prepackaged business owners insurance policy

Abstract

A method, computer program product and system are provided for underwriting an insurance product such as a business owners policy by establishing a prepackaged policy having predetermined coverages, predetermined limits, and a fixed price, screening a potential customer for eligibility, and issuing the policy. The process may omit application of underwriting models to provide risk profiles and a premium based on a customer's individual data. The screening process may include comparing information from a customer to characteristics of a category of customers eligible for the insurance product, and verifying the information provided by the customer using internal carrier and external sources.

1 . A system for providing a business owner's insurance policy, comprising:
 a database containing acceptable profile values for characteristics of micro business insurance customers, a fixed price, and predetermined coverages and coverage limits for a business owner's insurance policy; and   one or more computer systems having access to the database and being configured to execute computer software:
 to calculate acceptable profile values for characteristics of micro business insurance customers based on data for existing customers in similar micro businesses, and set the fixed price and predetermined coverages and coverage limits for the business owner's insurance policy based on the data, at least two of the characteristics selected from the group consisting of micro business classification, payroll amount, credit score, premises size, sales volume, and number of employees; 
 to store the acceptable profile values, fixed price and predetermined coverages and coverage limits for the business owner's insurance policy in the database; 
 to receive application information for a micro business party describing aspects of the micro business party's business related to the selected characteristics; 
 to compare the application information received for the micro business party to the acceptable profile values; and 
 in response to the application information for the micro business party having acceptable values for the characteristics, to offer the micro business party the business owner's insurance policy having the predetermined coverages and coverage limits at the fixed price without further risk analysis of the micro business party. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the coverages include liability coverage. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer systems are further configured to execute computer software to communicate over a network with one or more third party information sources to seek verification of the application information for the micro business party. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the one or more computer systems seek the verification of information at a time selected from prior to providing an offer to bind the micro business party to insurance or subsequent to providing an offer to bind the micro business party to insurance. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the network comprises the Internet, and wherein the one or more computer systems comprise a carrier server operating a website. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the application information for the micro business party is transmitted by a computing device associated with an agent representing the micro business party. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the application information for the micro business party is transmitted by a computing device associated with the micro business party. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more computer systems comprise a carrier server operating a website and communicate via the Internet. 
     
     
         9 . A method for providing a business owner's insurance policy, comprising:
 calculating acceptable profile values for characteristics of micro business insurance customers based on data for existing customers in similar micro businesses, and setting a fixed price and predetermined coverages and coverage limits for a business owner's insurance policy based on the data, at least two of the characteristics selected from the group consisting of micro business classification, payroll amount, credit score, premises size, sales volume, and number of employees;   receiving application information for a micro business party describing aspects of the micro business party's business related to the selected characteristics;   comparing the application information received for the micro business party to the acceptable profile values; and   in response to the application information for the micro business party having acceptable values for the characteristics, offering the micro business party the business owner's insurance policy having the predetermined coverages and coverage limits at the fixed price without further risk analysis of the micro business party.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising, in response to the micro business party having acceptable values for the characteristics, verifying the truth of the application information. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the coverages include liability coverage. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the characteristics are micro business classification, payroll amount, credit score, and premises size. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the characteristics are micro business classification, payroll amount, credit score, premises size, sales volume, and number of employees. 
     
     
         14 . A method for providing a business owner's insurance policy, comprising:
 calculating acceptable profile values for characteristics of micro business insurance customers based on data for existing customers in similar micro businesses, and setting a fixed price and predetermined coverages and coverage limits for a business owner's insurance policy based on the data, at least two of the characteristics selected from the group consisting of micro business classification, payroll amount, credit score, premises size, sales volume, and number of employees;   receiving application information for a micro business party describing aspects of the micro business party's business related to the selected characteristics;   comparing the application information received for the micro business party to the acceptable profile values;   in response to the micro business party having acceptable values for the characteristics, verifying the truth of the application information; and   in response to successful verification of the application information, offering the micro business party the business owner's insurance policy having the predetermined coverages and coverage limits at the fixed price without further risk analysis of the micro business party.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the coverages include liability coverage. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the characteristics are micro business classification, payroll amount, credit score, and premises size. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the characteristics are micro business classification, payroll amount, credit score, premises size, sales volume, and number of employees.