• What is an Agency Account in Ascend?

• What info you need to set them up

• Step-by-Step instructions

• Updating Account information after it's created

In the Ascend platform, an Account is a retail agency your organization works with to sell policies.

Each policy sold needs to be housed under a specific Account, and this account will receive the related commission and use the Ascend payment links to make payments to your MGA (for agency bill policies).

Before creating an account for a new agency in your Ascend dashboard, you'll nee to know whether the agency will be set up to sell policies as Direct Bill or Agency Bill.

• Direct bill is a policy being billed directly to the insured. For Direct Bill policies, the insured will be making payment directly to your MGA.

  • Ascend will pay commissions to the agency account after payment is collected.

• Agency bill is a policy being billed through a retail agency on behalf of the insured. For agency bill policies, the agency will be collecting payment and paying your organization.

  • Ascend will collect payment from agency of premium minus commission.

In addition to Billing Type, you'll also need the following info to set up a new account in the Ascend dashboard:

• Agency name

• Business phone

• Mailing address

• Business contact (Access will be granted to view the account’s programs and set up banking details)

  • First & last name

  • Email

• Billing type (Agency bill or Direct bill)

• Default commission % (can be overridden at policy level)

The following steps are completed by your MGA team:

1. Navigate to the Accounts tab (https://dashboard.useascend.com/accounts)

   

2. Click the +New account button on the top right corner of the page

   

3. Enter all known details; Required details are marked by the red asterisk * by each field

4. Click Create account on the top right corner to save the new account

5. If you encounter a message that the account already exists in Ascend, the Agency Account is already associated with another MGA Ascend user, or the agency uses the Ascend Retail Agency platform. You will see the window below pop up and will need to confirm if it is the same account

   • If the details match, especially the agent email domain name, please select the "Use this account" option

   • If the details do not match, please select the "Create a new account instead" option

   

The Account should now be searchable and visible on the Accounts page.

At this step, the Account will need to complete the set up from their side by logging into https://dashboard.useascend.com to enter their Business & Bank Details. Click here to learn more about the set up process for the Agency Account.

Please note: Ascend cannot pay commission to agency accounts who have not yet completed their Business & Bank Details.

Making changes to the Account details may be done by 3 parties:

1. The MGA team

2. The Account (retail agency) team

3. Ascend Support Team

Please locate the detail that needs to be updated below and proceed accordingly:

Your team can update the following Account details through your dashboard:

• Business Contact

  • First & last name

  • Email

• Commission percentage

• Account fee

• Payment schedule

• Number of days for grace period

The Agency Account can update the following Account details through their dashboard:

• Bank account details

Because there are compliance related checks connected to the following account details, the Ascend Support Team will assist with any updates related to:

You can reach our Support Team at support@useascend.com.

• Agency address

• Tax Identification Number/FEIN

• Phone

• Website

• Business type (LLC, sole proprietorship, etc.)
  

To locate the contact that was entered for an Agency Account, follow the below steps:

1. Locate and click on the account from the Accounts search page here (https://dashboard.useascend.com/accounts)

2. Click on the Edit account button in the top right corner

3. Select View account information

   

4. Under the Account owner section, the email and individual listed will be the Agency contact who has Ascend login access with that email.

To add a new user for the Agency Account, please reach out to the Ascend Support Team at support@useascend.com for assistance, and include the name and email of the new user.

Need more help? Contact us at support@useascend.com for more help.