The differences between the 220 and 440 insurance licenses
Choosing a license according to your needs
You are already interested in the insurance industry. You want to know the differences between the 220 and 440 insurance licenses. You may have heard people around you talking about how rewarding the insurance business can be. It can change your professional life, your income, and your personal relationships overnight. Perhaps you have heard about the different numbers that are used to designate insurance licenses in Florida: 215, 240, 220, 440, etc. Most of them are very well defined: health insurance, life insurance, etc. However, due to their nature and relationship, the 220 and 440 insurances can be confusing.
Common pre-requisites
Let’s first talk about the common pre-requisites you need to have in order to enroll in insurance school. For any type of insurance license you need to:
- Be at least 18 years old
- Be a resident of the State of Florida, and
- Be a US citizen or legal alien with work authorization.
Here are the differences between the 220 and 440 insurance licenses
The differences between the 220 and 440 insurance licenses. As we stated before, the nature and direct relationship between the 220 and 440 insurance types can be confusing. Both licenses have deep knowledge of all insurance lines. You need to know about commercial, maritime, health, life, property, and casualty insurance. Both licenses offer you the opportunity to advise the public on the best kind of insurance product they need at any time. However, choosing between the two means different procedures and entitles the bearer to very different things.
The 440 insurance license
The 440 insurance license is for certified customer service representatives (CCSR). Being a representative you are not exactly an agent. In fact, you need to work under the supervision of an agent, most likely a 220 insurance agent. In other words, you can talk to the clients, and assist the real agents but always as a salaried employee and under supervision.
The State of Florida defines the 440 insurance Customer Service Representative as a salaried employee of the general lines (property & casualty) agent or agency that may transact car, maritime, home, commercial, insurance under the supervision of a licensed and appointed general lines agent. As a salaried employee, you are not among those earning commissions from sales.
The study of this type of license is not a deep as the 220 General-Lines Insurance.
In order to qualify for this license, you have to:
Enroll in a mandatory licensing course from a state-approved school and pass all the exams. This insurance type does not require a state exam. Once you read and pass of the course content, the insurance school will notify Tallahassee’s Chief Financial Officer about your new status and you will get the license by school designation. Note: not all school can offer the 440 license by designation, only state-approved schools.
the differences between the 220 and 440 insurance licenses. This license may also qualify you to enroll in the 2-20 license.
The 220 insurance license
The 220 insurance license offers far more possibilities. In fact, this type of insurance is called general-lines or all-lines insurance because you can directly sell property, casualty, surety, health, marine, and other miscellaneous insurance. You can work for an established insurance agency, an independent agent or you can decide to create your own insurance agency and appoint customer service representatives to sell for you, under your supervision.
In order to get this license, you have to:
Enroll in a 200-hour pre-licensing course from a state-approved school. Upon completion of this course content and having satisfactorily passed the exams, you can sit for the state exam.
These are the differences between the 220 and 440 insurance licenses and you can choose which one you will get if you want to enter the insurance industry.
