When you go to work for a Florida insurance agency that handles general lines of insurance – i.e., home, vehicle and pet insurance – assisting agents with their sales, you must have an insurance license as well. The Florida 4-40 license is the resident customer representative license, and allows you to make quotes, explain policies to clients and provide general assistance to sales agents. It’s designed for salaried employees of insurance agencies, not those earning commissions from sales. Getting the license requires the completion of an approved training course and submitting an application, which can be done online.

Basic Qualifications for a 4-40 License

To qualify for a Florida 4-40 license, you must be at least 18 years old, a Florida resident and a U.S. citizen or legal alien who has received work authorization from the United States Immigration and Naturalization Services. You also cannot hold a resident license in any other state. Florida also prohibits those holding this license from having any other type of insurance license, including life, general lines or service representative. A 4-40 license is only valid if you actually work in the office of the agency or the general agency, and you can only be employed by one agent or agency at a time.

Education Requirements

There are several paths to meeting the education requirements for a 4-40 license. First, if you have an associate’s or bachelor’s degree with at least nine credit hours in property, casualty and inland marine insurance – or the equivalent – you can submit your transcripts to receive an exam waiver. Another option to earn the license without an exam is to earn your Accredited Advisor in Insurance, Accredited Customer Service Representative, Associate in General Insurance, Certified Insurance Representative, Certified Insurance Service Representative, Certified Professional Service Representative, Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters, Professional Customer Service Representative or Registered Customer Service Representative credential from an approved program.

Most of these programs, such as the Florida State College Jacksonville (FSCJ) insurance class, are online and self-paced, and include at least 40 hours of classwork and a final exam.

Application Process

Once you have completed the required education and earned your credential, you can apply for a 4-40 license. The application can be completed online at myfloridacfo.com. When you apply, you will have to pay the applicable fees, which at the time of publication are $50 for the license and $5 for the license ID. You’ll also be charged $60 per appointment; in other words, from each insurance carrier that you will be working with. Applicants must also pay $45.80, plus applicable county sales taxes, for fingerprinting, which is paid directly to the fingerprinting vendor. Fingerprinting is a requirement for all Florida insurance licenses, and is done via IdentoGO by Idemia, an electronic fingerprinting company. You can register for fingerprinting, pay your fee and find a location to have the scans completed online by following the instructions on myfloridafco.com.

Checking on Your Status

Once all of the required documents have been submitted, you can track the process of your application using the My Profile account you created when you applied. In most cases, you can expect to have your application approved within two weeks. If there are any problems with your application, such as missing paperwork, you’ll be notified of the issues on My Profile, and receive instructions for fixing them.

Once your license is approved, it will only remain valid if you are appointed within 48 months. You also need to complete 10 hours of continuing education every two years via a vendor like Central Insurance to keep your license active; your credits are due by the end of your birth month.