Late on Your Insurance CE? What You Can Do.

Every state’s rules for insurance continuing education are different. But for most licenses, you have to maintain your license by accumulating a certain number of continuing education credits within a two-year period. Two years may sound like a long time, but even so, it can be hard to fit study time in around a busy professional schedule. So what happens if you’re almost to the deadline and you haven’t earned the appropriate number of continuing education credits?

Every state is different. Even so, most have contingency rules for insurance agents and producers who are late on their insurance CE.

For example, in Missouri, you have a maximum period of 12 months after the date of your license expiration to renew your license by earning the required credits and submitting the required renewal documents—but you’ll have to pay $25 per month in penalty fees. After twelve months, the license can’t be renewed—and if you want to sell insurance, you have to reapply for a new license and pay a fee of $100.

In California, you have to pay a 50% penalty fee for late renewals, and there’s no grace period. As with Missouri, you can renew your license with a fee for 12 months after its expiration; if you wait longer than that, you have to retest and reapply for a new license.

In Colorado, if you haven’t completed your continuing education requirements on time, you can’t renew your license—you have to submit an application to have your license reinstated. You can get an extension from the Colorado Division of Insurance, however; the extension has to be granted before your continuing education date expires, and only for what the division considers “good cause.”

You can find out more about the rules for missing your insurance continuing education deadline by visiting these online resources for Colorado, California, and Missouri.

In pretty much every state, if your due date expires before you’ve had a chance to complete your continuing education credits, your license is suspended—and you can’t sell insurance until you’ve sorted out the issue with your state’s Division of Insurance. Whether you can renew your license by paying a fee and completing your continuing education credits or whether you have to complete all the testing, licensing education courses, and other qualifications needed to apply for a new license will depend on the state where you live.