North Carolina § 58-60-20 - General rules relating to solicitation.

§ 58-60-20. General rules relating to solicitation.

Each insurer subject to this Part shall maintain at its home office or principal office a complete file containing one copy of each document authorized by the insurer for use pursuant to this Part. Such file shall contain one copy of each authorized form for a period of three years following the date of its last authorized use. An agent shall inform the prospective purchaser, prior to commencing a life insurance sales presentation, that he is acting as a life insurance agent and inform the prospective purchaser of the full name of the insurance company which he is representing to the buyer. In sales situations in which an agent is not involved, the insurer shall identify its full name. Terms such as financial planner, investment advisor, financial consultant, or financial counseling shall not be used in such a way as to imply that the insurance agent is generally engaged in an advisory business in which compensation is unrelated to sales unless such is actually the case. Any reference to policy dividends must include a statement that dividends are not guaranteed. A system or presentation which does not recognize the time value of money through the use of appropriate interest adjustments shall not be used for comparing the cost of two or more life insurance policies. Such a system may be used for the purpose of demonstrating the cash-flow pattern of a policy if such presentation is accompanied by a statement disclosing that the presentation does not recognize that, because of interest, a dollar in the future has less value than a dollar today. A presentation of benefits shall not display guaranteed and nonguaranteed benefits as a single sum unless they are shown separately in close proximity thereto. A statement regarding the use of the Life Insurance Cost Indexes shall include an explanation to the effect that the indexes are useful only for the comparison of the relative costs of two or more similar policies. A Life Insurance Cost Index which reflects dividends or an Equivalent Level Annual Dividend shall be accompanied by a statement that it is based on the insurer's current dividend scale and is not guaranteed. For the purposes of this Part, the annual premium for a basic policy or rider, for which the insurer reserves the right to change the premium, shall be the maximum annual premium. History (1979, c. 447; 2005-234, ss. 1.7, 1.8.) Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2005-234, ss. 1.7 and 1.8, effective January 1, 2006, and applicable to policies or certificates issued or renewed on or after that date, substituted "Part" for "Article" in subsections (a) and (i). Legal Periodicals. - For survey of 1979 administrative law, see 58 N.C.L. Rev. 1185 (1980).