What is a Dispute?

A dispute (also known as a chargeback) occurs when an insured reports your payment with their bank or credit card company as fraudulent or unauthorized. The bank or credit card company creates a formal dispute, which immediately puts a freeze on the payment and kicks off the "dispute resolution process".

Common Reasons for Disputes include:

• The payor wants to cancel the policy

• The payor's payment method was lost or stolen

• The payor accidentally disputed the charge

• The payor is waiting for a refund

How might a dispute affect the customer?

A dispute filed on an Ascend payment may result in one or more of the following:

• A cancelation in coverage due to a break in payments on the insured's loan

• A delay or pause on issuing refunds to the customer

Dispute Scenarios in Ascend

Disputed payment on paid in full programs, one time payments, installment plans (no premium financing involved).

There are three important steps to the dispute process.

1. Receive an update about dispute. When an insured files a dispute on a payment made through Ascend, our system will immediately notify both the cardholder and the producer on record for the program.

2. Contact the insured and confirm reason for the dispute. When your team is notified about a dispute, your team should immediately contact with the insured to understand why the dispute was made.

3. If the dispute was accidental

   1. Ask the insured to withdraw the dispute with their credit card company. More information about that here.

   2. In some cases, the bank may have already closed the insured's account and issued a new card, which means the dispute cannot be withdrawn. If that happens, please contact [email protected] and our team can assist in creating a "catch-up" invoice for your insured to pay.

   3. Once that "catch-up" invoice is paid, Ascend will accept the dispute.

4. If the dispute was intentional

   1. It is in your team's best interest to provide evidence and past communication with the insured showing approval for the transaction.

      1. This can include emails, text messages, or signed documents.

   2. Dispute evidence can be submitted here in Ascend, or can be sent to [email protected].

   3. Once the insured's bank review the evidence, they will render a decision.

      1. If the dispute is "Won" (ie won by your company), the payment will be released to Ascend and there is no penalty to your company.

      2. If the dispute is "Lost" (ie won by the insured), your company is liable for the amount disputed as well as a $15 dispute fee.

Financed Programs

Disputes on finance agreements are a little trickier and have their own scenarios:

Dispute on a down payment (including down payments with catch-up monthly installments included)

1. A dispute on a monthly installment payment is treated as an overdue payment (ie the insured is considered "Overdue" on the day the dispute is reported), and a NOIC / NOC will be issued according to the timeline here (typically 15-20 days).

2. If the policy was never bound, you should immediately cancel the program in Ascend.

3. If the dispute was accidental

   1. Ask the insured to withdraw the dispute with their credit card company. More information about that here.

   2. In some cases, the bank may have already closed the insured's account and issued a new card, which means the dispute cannot be withdrawn. If that happens, please contact [email protected] and our team can assist in creating a "catch-up" invoice for your insured to pay.

   3. Once that "catch-up" invoice is paid, Ascend will accept the dispute.

4. If the dispute was intentional

   1. It is in your team's best interest to provide evidence and past communication with the insured showing approval for the transaction.

      1. This can include emails, text messages, or signed documents.

   2. Dispute evidence can be submitted here in Ascend, or can be sent to [email protected].

   3. Once the insured's bank review the evidence, they will render a decision.

5. Your agency is financially responsible for disputed down payments. It is in your team's best interest to provide evidence and past communication with the insured showing approval for the transaction.

   1. This can include emails, text messages, or signed documents.

6. Dispute evidence can be submitted here in Ascend, or can be sent to [email protected].

7. Once the insured's bank review the evidence, they will render a decision.

   1. If the dispute is "Won" (ie won by your company), the payment will be released to Ascend and there is no penalty to your company.

   2. If the dispute is "Lost" (ie won by the insured), your company is liable for the amount disputed as well as a $15 dispute fee.

Dispute on a monthly installment

1. A dispute on a monthly installment payment is treated as an overdue payment (ie the insured is considered "Overdue" on the day the dispute is reported), and a NOIC / NOC will be issued according to the timeline here (typically 15-20 days).

2. Once a dispute is reported, Ascend generates a "Settlement invoice" - you'll see it in the "Transactions" table on the program:

   

3. To avoid cancelation of the finance agreement while we work through the dispute process, that settlement invoice should be shared with your insured.

4. Once the settlement invoice is paid, the loan will be considered current.

5. Once the settlement invoice is paid and the dispute resolution process is complete:

   1. If the dispute is "Won" (ie won by your company), the disputed funds will be applied as a credit on your insured's loan balance.

   2. If the dispute is "Lost" (ie won by the insured), there is no impact, as the loan and policy(s) have already been canceled.

Disputes on Canceled Policies

What do I do if my insured files a dispute on a canceled policy?

We want to work with your team to help resolve this for your customer. Here's how you can help expedite the refund process for your insured:

• Make sure program is canceled in the dashboard

• Reach out to your customer. They should understand:

  • If the cardholder wants to cancel a financed insurance policy, then the cardholder must understand that in insurance, premium finance loans are still active until the return premium is received from the carrier/MGA and the loan is closed out. Most refunds will be issued within the 30-60 day timeframe from the date of cancelation and until then the cardholder's loan is active.

  • Withdrawing disputes will lead to faster refund timing by eliminating the investigation period.

• Reach out to the wholesaler/MGA/carrier. You can let them know that the insured has a loan active until the return premium (RP) is sent and request details about the RP issuance date and amount.

Ascend cannot process any refunds on a program with an active dispute.

How does Ascend determine cancelation effective dates?

Ascend bases our cancelation dates directly on the carrier's cancelation date--this is not Ascend's decision. If the carrier has canceled the policy effective 2/1, for example, we should receive the return premium enough to provide the customer a refund for their policy in accordance with that amount. Ascend receives the cancelation return premium from the carrier and applies it to the customer's loan balance, issuing any leftover funds as a refund to the customer.

If an insured needs to be refunded, a check will be sent to the insured's address on file. If funds are owed back from your agency, such as unearned commissions, Ascend will deduct them from your agency's next payout or send a payment link to return those funds to Ascend.

How long does it take to refund for a cancelation?

Ascend can only process refunds on financed programs once the return premium is received from the carrier/MGA and the loan is closed out. Refunds on financed programs directly depend on the carrier sending the return premium. Most refunds will be issued within the 30-90 day timeframe from the date of cancelation. However, the refund timeline will be extended if the carrier still needs to send the return premium to us within that timeframe.

If your customer has filed a dispute while waiting for a refund on a canceled policy, we will work with them to retract the dispute and contact the carrier directly to speed up the refund process as much as possible. Ascend will not process any refunds on a program with an active dispute.

Withdrawing Disputes

When the insured wants to withdraw a dispute, there are two steps:

1. Get proof of withdrawing dispute. The cardholder must share proof that they revoked the dispute (e.g. forwarded email or screenshots of their communication with their card issuer) and share with our team. Upon formally withdrawing the dispute, the bank will re-bill the insured's account for the disputed charge and sometimes provide a letter of withdrawal. If they don't receive a physical letter, the cardholder should get a notification electronically either via email or on their associated online account.

Please send us over a copy of this letter of withdrawal or re-billing statement. This letter of withdrawal or a re-billing statement must be a screenshot of the insured's online banking portal or an image of their paper bank statement.

• We must be able to see the cardholder's name, the last four digits of their card, and the date and the amount of the dispute.

• It's okay if the insured prefers to redact any sensitive information.

• Any letter of withdrawal must state that the insured dropped or withdrew the dispute.

• Any re-billing statement documentation should show the date of the original charge, the date of the conditional credit, and the date in which the credit was reversed.

2. Collect payment for disputed amount. While the dispute is in review, funds are withheld from being applied to a policy. If the insured made the dispute in error or wants to withdraw it to prevent the loan and policy from cancelation, they must make an extra payment for the amount disputed. This is because the review process can take months, even when the dispute is withdrawn. Once the dispute review process is complete, if the insured loses the dispute then we will refund them the extra payment.

Intentional Disputes

If the insured confirms they will dispute the charge, then Note that lost disputes could result in your team being responsible for covering the disputed amount, dispute fee, and transaction fee. Please share any communication that you'd like to be included as evidence in countering the dispute (e.g. screenshots, forwarded emails, text threads, etc.) to [email protected] .

Did the insured dispute the transaction because the policy is canceled and they want a refund? Your team should make sure that the program is canceled in Ascend's dashboard (more here) and make sure the insured understands the difference between canceling a policy vs. the loan they took out to finance the policy. See Disputes on Canceled Policies section below.

Arbitration

Ascend doesn’t support the arbitration phase for disputes, which means that you can’t escalate disputes to arbitrators through our platform.

Contact Us

Need more help? Contact us at [email protected] for more help.