Abandonment:

As use in property insurance, prohibits the insured from abandoning damaged property to the insurance company for repair or disposal.

Accelerated Benefits Rider:

An adjustment (rider) to a life insurance policy that allows for the early payment of some portion of the policy's face amount should the insured suffer from a terminal illness or injury.

Acceleration Clause:

The part of a contract that says when a loan may be declared due and payable.

Accidental Death Benefit Rider:

An adjustment (rider) to a life insurance policy that provides for payment of an additional cash benefit when death occurs by accidental means. This amount depends on the value of the policy.

Accidental Death Insurance:

An Insurance policy that provides payment if the insured's death occurs as a results from an accident.

Accounts Receivable Coverage:

Covers loss of sums owed to the insured by its customers that are uncollectible due to damage by an insured peril to accounts receivable records.

Active Participant:

Person whose absence from a planned event would trigger a benefit if the event needs to be canceled or postponed.

Activities of Daily Living:

Bathing, preparing and eating meals, moving from room to room, getting into and out of beds or chairs, dressing, using a toilet.

Actual Cash Value (ACV):

Cost to repair or replace damaged property with materials of like kind and quality, less depreciation.

Actuary:

A specialist in the mathematics of insurance who calculates rates, reserves, dividends and other statistics. (Americanism: In most other countries the individual is known as "mathematician.")

Additional Insured:

A person or organization for whom insured status is arranged by endorsement.

Additional Living Expenses:

Adjustable Rate:

An interest rate that changes, based on changes in a published market-rate index.

Adjuster:

A representative of the insurer who seeks to determine the extent of the insurer's liability for loss when a claim is submitted.

Admitted Assets:

Assets permitted by state law to be included in an insurance company's annual statement. These assets are an important factor when regulators measure insurance company solvency. They include mortgages, stocks, bonds and real estate.

Advertising Injury:

General liability coverage that insures against libel, slander, invasion of privacy, copyright infringement and misappropriation of advertising in connection with the insured's advertising of its goods or services.

Agent:

An authorized representative of an insurance company.

Aggregate:

The maximum amount an insurance company will pay during the policy.

All Risk Coverage:

Property insurance covering loss arising from all causes of loss except those that are specifically excluded.

Annual Administrative Fee:

Charge for expenses associated with administering  a group employee benefit plan.

Annual Crediting Cap:

The maximum rate that the equity-indexed annuity can be credited in a year. If a contract has an upper limit, or cap, of 7 percent and the index linked to the annuity gained 7.2 percent, only 7 percent would be credited to the annuity.

Annually Renewable Term:

Term insurance that provides coverage for one year and allows the policy owner to renew his or her coverage each year.

Annuitization:

Process by which you convert part or all of the money in a qualified retirement plan or non qualified annuity contract into a stream of regular income payments, either for your lifetime or the lifetimes of you and your joint annuitant. Once you choose to annuitize, the payment schedule and the amount is generally fixed and can't be altered.

Annuitization Options:

Choices in the way to annuitize. For example, life with a 10-year period certain means payouts will last a lifetime, but should the annuitant die during the first 10 years, the payments will continue to beneficiaries through the 10th year. Selection of such an option reduces the amount of the periodic payment.

Annuity:

An agreement by an insurer to make periodic payments that continue during the survival of the annuitant(s) or for a specified period.

Application:

A form with the information needed for an insurance company to underwrite and rate a specific policy.

Approved for Reinsurance:

Indicates the company is approved (or authorized) to write reinsurance on risks in this state. A license to write reinsurance   might not be required in these states.

Approved or Not Disapproved for Surplus Lines:

Indicates the company is approved (or not disapproved) to write excess or surplus lines in this state.

Assets:

Assets refer to "all the available properties of every kind or possession of an insurance company that might be used to pay its debts." There are three classifications of assets: invested assets, all other assets, and total admitted assets. Invested assets refer to things such as bonds, stocks, cash and income-producing real estate. All other assets refer to nonincome producing possessions such as the building the company occupies, office furniture, and debts owed, usually in the form of deferred and unpaid premiums. Total admitted assets refer to everything a company owns. All other plus invested assets equals total admitted assets. By law, some states don't permit insurance companies to claim certain goods and possessions, such as deferred and unpaid premiums, in the all other assets category, declaring them "nonadmissable."

Assignment:

The transfer of ownership of a Life Insurance policy from one person to another.

Attained Age:

Your current age. Your attained age is a factors life insurance companies use to determine premiums.

Audit:

A verification of the financial records, usually payroll or receipts, of an organization to determine exposures and premiums.

Authorized Under Federal Products Liability Risk Retention Act (Risk Retention Groups):

Indicates companies operating under the Federal Products Liability Risk Retention Act of 1981 and the Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986.

Automobile:

A land motor vehicle, trailer or semi-trailer designed for travel on public roads, not including 'mobile equipment'.

Automobile Liability Insurance:

Coverage if an insured is legally liable for bodily injury or property damage caused by an automobile.