North Carolina's insurance law is Chapter 58 of the North Carolina General Statutes (G.S.). The Commissioner's rules are in Title 11 of the North Carolina Administrative Code (NCAC). North Carolina has several features you won't find in most states: an elected Commissioner, a statutory Rate Bureau that files personal auto, homeowners and workers' comp rates, and the Reinsurance Facility for auto. General regulatory concepts are covered in the national Insurance Regulation guide. This guide covers North Carolina's own rules, with citations.

About the exam

North Carolina's licensing exams are given by Pearson VUE. The passing score is a scaled 70.

• No combined exams. An applicant for life and health takes the Life and the Accident and Health exams separately. An applicant for P&C takes the Property and Casualty exams separately.
• Each exam has a general and a North Carolina part. The two parts are scored together, and the candidate needs one overall passing score.
• Medicare supplement and long-term care sales need a separate supplemental exam. It's available only to applicants licensed for accident and health (G.S. 58-33-26(f), 58-33-30(e)(6)).
• No prelicensing course is required. Since October 1, 2025 (S.L. 2025-45), the Commissioner may not require any specific course or hours. Passing the state exam is still required (58-33-30(d)(1)).
• Resident life and A&H applicants are fingerprinted for a criminal history check.
• An applicant who misses or fails the exam must reapply and pay the fees again before rescheduling (58-33-30(e)(7)).

The regulator

• The Commissioner of Insurance is elected statewide for a four-year term that begins January 1 after the election. The Governor fills a vacancy only for the rest of the term (58-2-5).
• The Commissioner heads the North Carolina Department of Insurance (NCDOI). The Office of State Fire Marshal is part of the Department.
• The Commissioner adopts rules under the state Administrative Procedure Act, Chapter 150B (58-2-40).
• The Commissioner may investigate anyone in the insurance business (58-63-20) and may arrest, or cause the arrest of, a person charged with a criminal violation of Chapter 58 (58-2-50).
• The Commissioner may seek a restraining order or injunction in superior court (58-2-60).
• On request, the Commissioner gives a citizen a synopsis of a policy offered or issued to that citizen (58-2-40(6)).
• Appeals: a petition for review of most orders goes to Wake County Superior Court within 30 days of delivery of the order. Filing doesn't stay the order unless the court says so (58-2-75).
• SHIIP, the Seniors' Health Insurance Information Program, is a Department counseling program for Medicare beneficiaries (58-2-31).

Insurer types (58-1-5): domestic (organized under North Carolina law), foreign (another U.S. jurisdiction), alien (outside the United States). North Carolina calls an insurer's authority to do business a license. Contracts of an unlicensed insurer are still enforceable against it (58-28-15).

Producer licensing

Definitions (58-33-10):

• Solicit means attempting to sell, or urging a person to apply for, a particular kind of insurance from a particular company.
• A referral to a licensed producer that doesn't discuss specific policy terms is not soliciting and needs no license.
• A broker places insurance for others through an insurer's agent, for an insurer the broker doesn't represent.
• A license by itself gives no authority to bind an insurer. That authority comes from an appointment.
• A producer who solicits on behalf of an insurer represents the insurer in a dispute with the insured (58-33-20, 58-58-30).

Lines of authority (58-33-26):

• life
• accident and health or sickness
• property, defined as direct or consequential loss to property of every kind
• casualty, defined as legal liability
• personal lines: P&C sold to individuals and families for noncommercial purposes
• variable life and variable annuity, which requires a life license and meeting the FINRA requirements

Qualifications (58-33-31): age 18, plus the exam. A business entity must name a licensed individual responsible for compliance. Its license expires each March 31 unless the renewal fee is paid (58-33-26(j)).

License term. A producer license stays in force until suspended or revoked (58-33-26(l)). There's no periodic renewal application, but the license lapses if CE isn't completed.

Residency

• A person living in a county of another state that borders North Carolina may qualify as a resident (58-33-30(h)).
• A producer moving into the state who was licensed elsewhere for the same lines applies within 90 days without an exam (58-33-32(g)).
• A resident who moves away returns the license within 30 days (58-33-50(c)).

Nonresidents in good standing at home are licensed without a North Carolina exam if the home state reciprocates (58-33-32(c)).

Temporary licenses (58-33-66) go without an exam to the spouse, surviving spouse or court-appointed representative of a producer who dies or becomes disabled. They last up to 180 days, longer for good cause, and cover only the insurers that had appointed that producer.

Continuing education (11 NCAC 06A .0802 and following; 58-33-130)

• 24 credits every two years, no matter how many licenses are held, including 3 hours of ethics. By statute the requirement can't exceed 24.
• The deadline is the last day of the birth month. People born in even years comply in even years, and people born in odd years comply in odd years.
• Flood: property, personal lines and adjuster licensees take a 3-credit flood/NFIP course every other compliance period. Life-only and health-only producers are exempt.
• LTC Partnership: 8 hours before selling Partnership policies, then 4 hours each compliance period (.0814).
• Credit rules:
  • One credit per 50 minutes of instruction.
  • Courses taken before the license was issued don't count.
  • The same course counts only once per period.
  • Whole credits carry over without limit.
  • Passing each part of a designation exam (CLU, ChFC, CPCU, etc.) earns 18 credits.
• Keep CE records 5 years.
• Nonresidents comply by meeting their home state's CE.
• A military or long-term medical waiver may be granted for up to 1 year.
• Missed CE: the license lapses. It's reinstated by finishing the CE and paying a $75 fee within four months after the compliance year ends. After that, the person must pass the exam again (.0811).
• Failing to answer a Department inquiry, such as a CE audit, within 7 calendar days is grounds for discipline.

Appointments and terminations (58-33-40, 58-33-56)

• A producer may act only for insurers that have appointed them. The insurer files the appointment within 15 days after the first application is submitted.
• There's one appointment per line of authority. Appointments continue until canceled by either party. Insurers pay renewal fees before April 1.
• Termination:
  • The insurer notifies the Commissioner within 30 days after the termination takes effect, whether or not it's for cause.
  • The insurer notifies the producer within 15 days after notifying the Commissioner. For-cause notices go by certified mail or overnight delivery.
  • The producer may file written comments within 30 days.
• When a license is suspended or revoked, all appointments are revoked too (58-33-46(d)).

Reporting duties

Notice the Commissioner mails is complete four days after it's deposited in the mail (58-2-69(e)).

Producer conduct

• Premiums are fiduciary funds. Keep separate accounting records showing that funds owed to insurers and insureds are always available (11 NCAC 04 .0429).
• Embezzling premiums is a felony: Class C for $100,000 or more, Class H for less (58-2-162).
• Payment to the producer who negotiated a policy counts as payment to the insurer (58-33-100).
• Records. Producers and insurers keep a full record of each policy (number, date, term, amount, premium, insured) open to the Commissioner (58-2-185). Every agency names a person responsible for records (58-2-195). Refusing an examination is grounds to revoke.
• A complaint register is kept 5 years after final disposition (11 NCAC 19 .0103).
• Rebating (58-33-85(a)) is banned, and the insured who knowingly accepts a rebate also violates the law.
• Fees. A fee on top of the premium needs the applicant's prior written consent on a separate form each time (58-33-85(b); 11 NCAC 04 .0120). A card convenience fee may not exceed 4% (58-3-145).
• Commissions may be paid only to licensed persons (58-33-82). Renewal commissions may go to someone who was licensed when the sale was made. An unlicensed person who refers a client to a personal lines producer may receive up to $50 in value.
• Assumed names must be reported to the Commissioner before use (58-33-83).
• Proof of licensure. On request, give your NPN and the Department's website and phone number (11 NCAC 04 .0423).
• Claims conduct. Producers may not take gratuities from repair shops or providers, may not buy salvage from a claimant, and must tell claimants they don't have to use a recommended shop (58-33-76). Producers may not solicit a power of attorney to sign forms (11 NCAC 04 .0122).

Discipline and penalties

Grounds for discipline (58-33-46) include:

• dishonest or fraudulent practices
• misappropriating premiums
• forgery
• cheating on an exam, including using notes
• willfully overinsuring property
• selling for an unauthorized insurer, even unknowingly

Penalties

A license applicant who is denied may demand review within 30 days (58-33-30(g)).

Fraud reporting. Licensees must report known or suspected fraud to the Commissioner. Reports made without actual malice are immune from liability (58-2-160, 58-2-163).

Unfair trade practices (58-63-15) and related rules

• The listed practices are misrepresentation, false advertising, defamation, boycott, coercion and intimidation, false financial statements, stock as an inducement, unfair discrimination and rebating.
• Twisting is a willful misrepresentation or incomplete comparison used to induce a policyholder to drop or exchange a policy (58-33-75).
• Unfair discrimination includes:
  • refusing or limiting residential coverage because of the age of the home, unless for solvency
  • refusing or limiting coverage because of geographic location (58-63-15(7))
  • refusing or limiting coverage because of blindness or deafness, or race, color or national origin (58-3-25)
• Lenders may not require insurance from the lender or its affiliate (58-3-135). They may not require life or health coverage on any one risk that exceeds the loan (58-63-15(13)). Using a lender's information about its borrowers' policies to solicit them is prohibited (58-63-15(12)).
• Unfair claim practices (58-63-15(11)) are violations when they amount to a general business practice. Only the Commissioner can sue on a violation of that subdivision alone.
• A hearing on unfair trade practice charges is set at least 10 days after service (58-63-25).

Privacy (Article 39)

• The notice of information practices is due by policy delivery when information comes only from the applicant or public records.
• Disclosure authorizations last up to 30 months for life, health and disability, or 1 year for P&C.
• Access and correction requests are answered within 30 business days.
• After an adverse underwriting decision, the applicant may ask for the reasons within 90 business days. The insurer answers within 21 business days.
• Pretext interviews are allowed only in a claim investigation with a reasonable basis to suspect fraud.
• Obtaining information under false pretenses is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Residual markets and rate regulation

• The North Carolina Rate Bureau files rates for:
  • residential property of 1–4 units
  • nonfleet private passenger auto
  • workers' compensation loss costs and residual market rates (58-36-1)
• How the Rate Bureau works:
  • The Bureau has the burden of proof at a rate hearing.
  • A filing takes effect no sooner than 210 days after it's received.
  • A filing is deemed approved if no hearing notice is issued within 50 days.
  • An insurer may charge below the Bureau rate with an approved deviation.
  • An insurer may charge above the Bureau rate with the insured's signed consent to rate, shown in a 14-point bold notice (58-36-30).
• The Reinsurance Facility (Chapter 58, Article 37) lets insurers cede high-risk auto business. Membership is required to write auto in North Carolina. See the North Carolina Personal Auto guide.
• The North Carolina Insurance Underwriting Association (Article 45) runs the Coastal Property Insurance Pool (formerly the Beach Plan) for the beach area and 18 coastal counties.
• The FAIR Plan is run by the North Carolina Joint Insurance Underwriting Association (Article 46) and covers all areas except the beach area. Both are markets of last resort. See the North Carolina Homeowners guide.
• Commercial cancellation (Article 41, 58-41-15 to 58-41-25):
  • After 60 days, midterm cancellation is allowed only for listed reasons, with 15 days' notice stating the reason.
  • A new policy may be canceled for any reason in its first 60 days, also with 15 days' notice.
  • Nonrenewal, or renewal on worse terms, needs 45 days' notice.
  • Article 41 doesn't apply to Rate Bureau lines such as homeowners and private passenger auto.
• Surplus lines. Eligible surplus lines insurers have no guaranty association protection. A business that buys coverage directly from a surplus lines insurer, with no producer, reports within 30 days and pays a 5% tax (58-28-5).

Guaranty associations

• The P&C association has separate auto, workers' comp and all other accounts. Assessments are capped at 2% a year. It doesn't cover surety, fidelity, title, credit or ocean marine (58-48-10).
• Insurers deliver a summary of the life and health association's coverage at or before policy delivery. Using the association in advertising or as an inducement is prohibited (58-62-86).

Common exam traps

• The Commissioner is elected for four years. The Governor fills only a mid-term vacancy.
• There's no prelicensing course requirement since October 1, 2025, but the exam is still required.
• CE: 24 hours, including 3 ethics, due by the last day of the birth month in odd or even years. A lapsed license is reinstated within 4 months for $75.
• Address changes are due in 10 business days, convictions in 10 days, and bankruptcy in 3 business days.
• Appointments are filed within 15 days of the first application. Terminations are reported within 30 days.
• The P&C guaranty limit is under $500,000, not $300,000.
• The insured who accepts a rebate breaks the law too.