Missouri Insurance Continuing Education

Carryover of Excess CE

Any and all hours in excess of the 16-hour requirement for a licensing period may be carried forward one term. 

Resident Requirements

In order to renew an insurance license in Missouri, it's mandatory to meet the state's Continuing Education (CE) requirements. Unless exempt, all licensed Missouri residents must complete the required CE in order to renew their licenses every two years. Insurance producers and those with multiple licenses must complete 16 hours of insurance CE. 3 of these hours must focus on ethics unless the resident is exempt. 

Producers must specifically take courses regarding the insurance lines they are licensed to sell. However, producers licensed to sell multiple lines do not need to split their CE hours evenly between their lines of authority. 

Producers are the only agents who must complete CE hours. Adjusters, title agents, and service representatives do not face CE requirements. 

Rules for Non-Residents

In some cases, non-residents may be exempt from Missouri insurance continuing education requirements.

A non-resident producer who is licensed in both Missouri and their home state may be exempt from CE requirements if they have completed their home state's CE hour requirements. If they have not met the requirements in their home state, they must complete Missouri CE requirements in order to renew their Missouri license. 

Producers from states without flood insurance or long-term care (LTC) insurance CE requirements will be required to complete those courses in Missouri to sell those products. 

Insurance License Term Renewal Requirements

The state of Missouri renews licenses every two years. The first license renewal date is two years, to the day, from when the license was first issued. 

Missouri requires all continuing education hours to be logged and approved before a license renewal can be approved. Producers must file for renewal or the license will expire - the process is not automatic. The producer can renew a license up to 60 days prior to the expiration date. A license may also be renewed after the expiration date with the addition of a late fee. 

Rules for Taking the Exam

Producers must take CE exams as closed-book tests without accessing any outside material or information during the test-taking period. In order for a CE exam to count for credit, the exam must be passed with a minimum score of 70%. However, if an exam is failed, the producer may retake the test an unlimited number of times. 

Missouri does not require that CE course tests be proctored. 

Rules for Repeating a Course

During a single licensing period, a producer may only take a given class for credit once. After a license renewal, they may retake classes from the previous licensing period for credit towards their next renewal. However, this does not apply to any CE hours that have rolled over from the previous period. 

Credit for Instructors

Individuals approved to teach a Missouri insurance CE course are still held to the CE requirements of the state. However, instructors can receive the same number of CE credits as their students from any course they teach. Instructors may teach the same course multiple times in a given licensing period, but can only receive credit for them once.  

Reporting Rules

In Missouri, the provider of a CE course is responsible for submitting completed course hours to the state. Producers do not need to submit their CE hours themselves. Different CE course providers report completed hours at different rates, so it is important to confirm that hours have been submitted. Producers can check the status of their completed CE hours on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) website.

While producers don't need to submit their own CE hours, they should maintain records of their completed courses. The state of Missouri recommends that insurance producers retain copies of their course completion certificates for a minimum of four years after the date of completion, just as a precaution. 

Insurance CE Requirement Exemptions

There are several groups that are exempt from Missouri's CE requirements. These groups are:

• Any non-resident producer in compliance with their home state's CE requirements.
• Any producer age 70 or older.
• Any producer who sells only crop or pre-arranged funeral insurance.
• Any producer whose license is credit-only.
• Any producer who is on active duty in the military.
• Any producer who has suffered a serious injury or illness that has prevented them from completing CE courses. 

All other producers in Missouri must complete the state CE requirements in order to renew their license. 

Missouri Annuity Insurance Requirements

In order to sell, negotiate, or solicit any annuity products, Missouri producers must complete a one-time, four-hour annuity training course. It is illegal for Missouri producers to handle these products prior to the completion of this course. However, completing the course equivalent in another state where the producer is licensed covers the Missouri licensure requirement as well. 

Missouri Long-Term Care Training Requirements

Producers who wish to sell long-term care policies must complete two training requirements. In order to receive initial licensure, producers must complete an 8-hour training course covering long-term care. For every renewal period afterward, the producer must also complete a 4-hour CE course dedicated to long-term care. The 4 hours of CE biennially count towards the 16 hour CE requirement overall. 

This federally-mandated set of training courses covers the following subjects:

• The function of long-term care insurance.
• Long-term care services and varieties.
• Qualified partnerships, how they work, and how they interact with other private and public forms of long-term care coverage.

All producers must meet these long-term care training requirements if they wish to sell these products. This includes producers who are otherwise exempt from CE requirements, as per federal law. However, if a producer is exempt due to out-of-state licensure, they may complete the equivalent course in their home state for credit in Missouri. 

Flood Insurance Training Requirements

The state of Missouri holds producers to national guidelines for flood insurance. In order to sell flood insurance in Missouri, producers must take a one-time, 3-hour course on flood insurance to comply with FEMA and National Flood Insurance Program guidelines.