Sec. 31.15.03.07. General Rules

A. Each carrier shall maintain at its home office or principal office a complete file containing one copy of each document authorized by the carrier for use pursuant to this chapter.

B. The file described in §A of this regulation shall contain one copy of each authorized form for a period of 3 years following the date of its last authorized use unless otherwise provided by this chapter.

C. An insurance producer shall inform the prospective purchaser, before commencing a life insurance sales presentation, that the insurance producer is acting as a life insurance producer and shall inform the prospective purchaser of the full name of carrier which the insurance producer is representing to the buyer.

D. In sales situations in which an insurance producer is not involved, the carrier shall identify its full name.

E. Unless an insurance producer's compensation is unrelated to insurance sales, the terms "financial planner", "investment advisor", "financial consultant", "financial analyst", "financial counselor", and other similar terms may not be used by the insurance producer in such a way as to imply that the insurance producer's compensation is unrelated to insurance sales in any of the following:

(1) The name of the insurance producer's agency;

(2) Letterheads;

(3) Logos;

(4) Advertising or solicitation material; or

(5) Any sales presentation soliciting insurance.

F. Section E of this regulation is not intended to preclude individuals who hold a formal recognized financial planning or consultant designation from using this designation even when they are only selling insurance.

G. Section E of this regulation is not intended to preclude individuals from citing membership in a recognized trade or professional association which has terms listed in §E of this regulation as part of its name.

H. An individual citing membership in a recognized trade or professional association, if authorized only to sell insurance products, shall disclose that fact.

I. An insurance producer may not charge an additional fee for services that are customarily associated with the solicitation, negotiation, or servicing of policies.

J. Any reference to nonguaranteed elements shall include a statement that the element is not guaranteed and is based on the carrier's current scale of nonguaranteed elements.

K. If a nonguaranteed element would be reduced by the existence of a policy loan, a statement to that effect shall be included in any reference to nonguaranteed elements.

L. A presentation or depiction of a policy issued after the effective date of COMAR 31.09.09 that includes nonguaranteed elements over a period of years shall be governed by COMAR 31.09.09.