Five reasons carriers underpay commissions (and none of them are malice)
Most underpayments are process errors, not theft. Knowing which error you are looking at tells you exactly who to email and what to ask for.
1. The wrong rate schedule was applied
The most common cause. A renewal rate gets applied to new business, or an older schedule is used because the amendment never reached the commission system. The fix is administrative and usually fast.
2. The policy was never loaded to your writing number
If a policy is credited to the wrong agent or agency hierarchy, it will not appear on your statement at all. Absence is the hardest error to spot, which is exactly why unpaid policies need to be checked against your own book rather than the statement.
3. Premium was reported net of fees
Policy fees, modal fees, and rate-up amounts are sometimes excluded from commissionable premium. Sometimes that is contractual; sometimes it is a system default. Ask which basis was used.
4. Chargebacks applied without notice
A lapse or a rewrite triggers a clawback that quietly nets against your current payment. The total looks plausible, so it goes unexamined. Always review negative lines individually.
5. Split or override percentages drifted
When a split is recorded once and never revisited, personnel changes and hierarchy edits shift it. A steady, small percentage gap across many policies is the signature of a split problem, not a rate problem.
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