License 440 - Getting a 440 License Florida

The license 440 allows you to work directly with customers, but only inside the office and under the supervision of a 2-20 agent. A license 440 CSR is appointed by the supervising 2-20 agent, instead of being appointed directly by an insurer. The 4-40 is intended to be a license for service and inside-sales personnel who need to be able to talk to customers about insurance. Florida statutes specify that a 4-40's compensation must be "primarily salary based." In other words, they may be paid commission, but their compensation cannot be primarily commission based. The license 440 is an excellent choice for getting started quickly, as the state exam requirement is waived, and the license may later be converted to a 2-20 or 20-44 if needed. The license 440 is not a good choice if you need to sell insurance outside the agency location, or outside the supervision of a 2-20 agent (for example, from home or at a branch that does not have a 2-20 agent). Both the agent in charge and the 4-40 should be aware of the limitations of this license.

The basic steps for getting any license 440 in Florida are more or less the same.

1. Pre-licensing education

First, if your license has an education requirement, you attend an insurance school such as ours. The General Lines Agent license, which allows you to sell all types of Property and Casualty insurance in Florida, has a 200 hour education requirement. The requirement can be done online. When you pass our course, we notify the State right away. The Department of Financial Services (DFS) lists the requirements for each license.

2. Pass the state exam

After you pass a course, you need to pass the state exam. A good prelicensing course should leave you in good shape to pass the state exam. You may need to do some studying if you want to be sure you pass on your first try. You can attend even if you did not attend our school for your licensing requirement -- many people do just that. The exam prep cuts down study time and makes sure all the concepts you learned in your course are clear and easy to remember.

3. Fingerprinting

As an insurance professional, various parties trust you with their money. As a result, the law requires people applying for licenses to be fingerprinted. The fingerprints are used for a criminal background check, which can take up to 10 days (barring complications, it is usually faster). DFS may change their fingerprinting vendor from time to time.

4. Complete your application with the Department of Financial Services (DFS)

By this time, the DFS has your course certificate, your exam score, and the background check from your fingerprinting. All that's left is to complete your license application and pay the fee for your license.

5. Any time you need help, ever

If you're looking for more information about which license to get and what the requirements are, call our Tampa office at 813-962-4297. Later if you need help for license 440 with what to do next, or you've run into a difficult situation in your career, give us a call. We help our students after they graduate, and we don't charge for answering their questions.