ACORD reference

ACORD forms, by the job they do

Almost every document that leaves a commercial agency is an ACORD form. The trouble is that they are usually learned one number at a time, from whichever blank PDF turned up first in a search. This reference groups them by where they sit in the workflow, says what each one is actually for, and gives you the checks worth running before the form leaves your desk.

These pages describe form facts and purpose only. They do not reproduce ACORD's printed form text and they are not a source of blank forms: produce those from your own management system, which will give you the current edition. ACORD is a registered mark of ACORD, and BindCheck is not affiliated with it.

Editions move. Check the corner.

ACORD revises its forms, and the edition date is printed in the bottom-left corner of the page next to the form number. A reference that hard-codes an edition goes stale, so these pages deliberately do not. Work from the copy your management system produces, and if a carrier or a contract asks for a specific edition, read the corner before you send it.

Submission and application

The forms that carry risk information from the insured to the market. One applicant form plus a section form per line of business.

ACORD 125Commercial Insurance Application (Applicant Information Section). The applicant section of a commercial submission: who the insured is, where it operates and what it does. Every line-specific section attaches to it.ACORD 126Commercial General Liability Section. The general liability section of a commercial submission: limits, coverage trigger, classifications and the exposure basis the premium is built on.ACORD 140Property Section. The property section of a commercial submission: what is being insured at each location, for how much, on what valuation and against which causes of loss.ACORD 130Workers Compensation Application. The workers compensation submission: states of operation, class codes and payroll, experience modification, ownership, and prior coverage and loss history.ACORD 131Umbrella / Excess Section. The umbrella or excess submission section: the limit and retention requested, and the schedule of underlying policies the excess layer will sit above.ACORD 137Commercial Automobile Section. The commercial auto submission section: coverage symbols and limits, the vehicle schedule, the driver schedule and garaging locations.ACORD 146Equipment Floater Section. The inland marine section for scheduled and unscheduled contractors equipment, tools, and equipment the insured rents or leases from others.

Certificates and evidence

The forms that tell a third party what coverage exists. They report a policy; they never amend one.

ACORD 25Certificate of Liability Insurance. The standard certificate an agency issues to prove a commercial insured carries general liability, auto, umbrella and workers compensation coverage.ACORD 24Certificate of Property Insurance. The property counterpart to the ACORD 25: a certificate summarising commercial property coverage for a party who has asked for proof of it.ACORD 27Evidence of Property Insurance. The evidence form issued to a lender or other interested party to show that property insurance is in force on a specific location.ACORD 28Evidence of Commercial Property Insurance. The commercial version of the property evidence form, used where a lender or interested party needs the detail a commercial property policy carries.

Policy servicing

The forms that change something about an in-force policy or the relationship behind it.

ACORD 35Cancellation Request / Policy Release. The form an agency uses to request cancellation of an in-force policy at the insured's direction, and to release the carrier and agency accordingly.ACORD 36Agent / Broker of Record Change. The letter by which an insured appoints a new agent or broker as its representative to the carrier on named policies.ACORD 37Statement of No Loss. The signed statement that no loss has occurred during a lapse, used to support reinstatement of a policy that was cancelled or allowed to lapse.ACORD 75Insurance Binder. The temporary contract of insurance an agency issues on a carrier's authority, in force until the policy is issued or the binder expires.

Schedules and supplements

Attachments that extend another form when a schedule outgrows the space on it.

ACORD 101Additional Remarks Schedule. The continuation sheet that attaches to another ACORD form when the information will not fit in the space provided.ACORD 45Additional Interest Schedule. The schedule that carries additional interests when more parties need recording than the parent form has room for.ACORD 823Additional Premises Information Section. The continuation schedule for premises information when an account has more locations than the application form has room for.

Certificate, evidence or binder?

Three of these forms get used interchangeably and should not be. A certificate (ACORD 25 for liability, ACORD 24 for property) reports coverage to an interested party and confers nothing. Evidence (ACORD 27, or ACORD 28 for commercial property) is built for a lender whose interest is recorded on the policy. A binder (ACORD 75) is not a report at all: it is temporary coverage, issued on the carrier's authority, that expires. If you only remember one distinction from this page, make it that one.

The forms go out. The renewal still has to be checked.

BindCheck lines a bound renewal up against the prior policy and reports every form, limit, deductible and endorsement that changed, each finding cited to the page it came from, with manuscript endorsements surfaced for your review.

Request access ISO form reference

18 forms covered. Related reading: the ISO commercial form number reference and the commercial renewal checklist.