Delaware: Insurance Continuing Education

Reading, writing, and ‘rithmatic aren’t the only essentials of education. For insurance producers in Delaware, staying up on continuing education (CE) requirements is essentially synonymous with keeping your license in good standing in the state.

Most states rely on your licence in your state of residence to allow you to transact insurance business in their states, so your residential state CE should be somewhere near the top of your to-do list. Delaware is no exception.

We’ve researched this topic and believe the information is accurate, but, as always, reading our super dope blog is not a substitute for actual tax, legal, financial, etc. advice from professionals. So, you should do your own research and due diligence to be sure you’re complying with the laws, regulations, and best practices of all your relevant jurisdictions.

What is the due date for Delaware Insurance CE Credits? 

For resident insurance producers in Delaware, license renewals and CE requirements come due on the same day. Instead of needing to consider your birth day or year, or what month and year you first obtained your license, all Delaware resident producers’ and adjusters’ license renewals and CE are due by the last day of February in even-numbered years.

While this standard, across-the-board deadline has some prudence, it’s ironic that the deadline month is February, the only month on the calendar that has a final date that changes.

To keep you in-the-know, Delaware’s department of insurance sends out reminders of your upcoming license renewal and CE deadline on December 1 in odd-numbered years.

Who’s exempt from Delaware Insurance CE?

As long as nonresident insurance producers are up-to-date on their license and CE in their own state, Delaware waives any additional requirements for them.

If you got your license in the most recent biennium – i.e., if you’ve been licensed for less than two years by the time an even-yeared February rolls around – you don’t have to worry about completing CE requirements, you only have to pay the license renewal fee. After your first renewal, though, you will have to start keeping track of that CE.

If you’re a nonresident adjuster, you must complete 12 hours of continuing education, with three hours being ethics, although if you did the equivalent CE in your residential state, Delaware considers you to have met their requirements, as well.

In Delaware, experience counts (I think there’s a Joe Biden joke in there somewhere), and producers, adjusters, public adjusters, and fraternal agents who have held their license for at least 25 consecutive years or who have a professional designation (Delaware accepts CPCU, CHFC, CFP, AAI, CLU, CEBS, FLMI, FSPA, CIC, RHU) get half of their CE requirements automatically credited toward their CE. (We’ll get into this a little more in a hot second.)

Other exemptions from CE in Delaware include limited lines producers who are writing consumer credit, title, crop/hail, surety, and car rental insurance; resident adjusters who are solely licensed for surety and/or marine and transportation insurance; and limited lines producers who sell life insurance or annuity products that are used solely to fund arranged, pre-need funeral programs.

How many hours of CE are required for Delaware insurance producers?

The general requirements for insurance producers in Delaware are 24 hours total, with three hours in ethics or some kind of consumer protection course, per two-year cycle. Adjusters must have 12 hours, with three in ethics.

To throw back to one of those exemptions, you may recall that producers and adjusters with experience (or certain professional designations) got automatic crediting toward CE. For producers, that amount is 12 automatic credit hours, and for adjusters it is six. It’s important to note those credits are intended to be general education credits and don’t count toward the three hours of ethics required by licensees. 

Like most states, Delaware is a member of the NAIC Continuing Education Reciprocity agreement, meaning that its producers have access to a broad catalogue from various member states.

If you’re looking to double-dip, not only can earning one of the aforementioned professional designations get you CE exemptions, but often the courses you take to earn your designation can be counted toward your Delaware CE requirements. Frequently, the amount of continuing education required to get and maintain one of those designations is much more than the basic requirements of any given state. Be sure to check with your CE provider to determine if you will pay multiple reporting fees for “dual-credit” hours.

Delaware won’t let you take the same CE course more than once every two years, but the state does allow you to roll over five non-ethics CE credits from one period to the next. Instructors, too, can get credit for a class that they are teaching to their licensed peers. The CE courses in Delaware can be correspondence courses, company seminars, traditional courses, and online.

Delaware has a few other specific requirements, which it also requires of nonresident producers (although if you have completed these requirements with CE in your own resident state, it counts for Delaware, too):

If you’re selling flood insurance, you have to do two hours of continuing education training, and the National Flood Insurance Program requirements every license period. 

If you plan to sell annuities, Delaware requires that you take a one-time four-hour annuity training course. You can’t sell, solicit, or negotiate any contracts that smell like annuities until this CE is complete.

If you have a health license and plan to sell long-term care insurance, you must take three hours of training that covers product knowledge, laws, rules, and regulations as a biennial CE requirement. You don’t have to complete this CE before transacting in long-term care, because the health pre-licensing exam includes long-term care, but you have to fill your three-hour CE requirement in the biennium that you are soliciting any long-term care policies.

For more information about state-specific licensing requirements, or to find out how AgentSync can make it easier to operate across multiple states, check out our state pages.

Delaware Insurance CE FAQs