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Add a policy

Upload a policy document or type the details. You only need the policy as it is today. Loans and categories come after this.

Everything else in IBC Tool hangs off a policy: your loans, your snapshots, and your categories. Add one policy at a time, as it stands today. You do not need the full history to start. Old statements can come later, when you have them.

Before you start

Get one of these documents as a PDF. The first one is the fastest, because it already has today’s numbers.

  • A policy summary from your insurance company’s online portal. If the summary shows today’s Available Loan Amount, IBC Tool reads it. Your first snapshot is ready when you save the policy, and the dashboard can show what you can borrow.
  • Your most recent annual statement. This records the policy at the end of a policy year. It does not include today’s Available Loan Amount, so you record a snapshot from the portal after you save.
  • Your initial contract. This files the contract on the policy. It does not give you today’s values.
  • An illustration. This gives the premium and the paid-up additions (PUA) payment. It does not give your current values.

No document on hand? That is fine. In step 2, choose Enter manually and type the details you do have.

Steps

  1. Open Policies & Loans and select Add Policy. If this is your first policy, the button says Add Your First Policy.

  2. Under How would you like to start?, choose Upload a document or Enter manually.

  3. If you upload, select Choose file and choose your PDF. Then select Upload & extract. A large document can take a minute. IBC Tool fills in the form below from what it can read.

  4. Read each filled-in value against the document, and correct anything that is wrong. The upload is a starting point. You confirm it.

  5. In Policy essentials, enter the Policy Name, the Insurance Company, the Issue Date, and the Insured. The Policy Number is optional. You can add it later, when a statement shows it.

  6. In Current periodic payment, choose the Payment Frequency. The section title changes to match, for example Current monthly payment.

    A contract or an illustration often prices the policy as an annual premium, so the upload can fill in Annual even if you pay every month. Choose the frequency you pay now. When you change it, the form converts Current PUA Payment to the new frequency, but it keeps Current Premium Amount as it was. Check both against your current bill in the next step. A monthly bill is usually more than the annual amount divided by 12, so take the amounts from your bill or your portal.

  7. Enter the Current Premium Amount. Enter the Current PUA Payment if you send one with the premium. Leave it blank if you send premium only. If your bill is one total, put the paid-up additions part in Current PUA Payment and the rest in Current Premium Amount, so the PUA is not counted twice.

  8. In Current values, enter today’s Available Loan Amount and Loan Principal from your portal. These two numbers become your first snapshot, which is what the dashboard uses for what you can borrow. Enter 0 as the principal if the policy has no loan. If your portal shows only one loan total, such as the Lafayette Life portal, select Loan Balance only and type that total.

    If you do not have today’s Available Loan Amount, leave this section empty. IBC Tool still saves the policy, but it does not keep the other values in this section without an Available Loan Amount. Record a snapshot later, when you have the number.

    An annual statement has no Available Loan Amount. If you uploaded one, this section shows Annual Statement Snapshot instead, and those values are saved with the statement date.

  9. Optional: open PUA terms and More details. If you see Show all fields, select it. That shows fields the form hides until you ask for them.

  10. Select Create Policy.

What you see next

The policy page opens. A setup card lists what is still missing for this policy, and it marks what you have already done. Create policy is the first step, and it is already done.

The other steps, and why they are there:

  • Add detected loan, if your numbers show a loan that IBC Tool does not have yet. Do this first. The loan balance on the policy stays wrong until you record that loan.
  • Add policy contract, if the contract is not on file yet. Upload opens Upload Document. It reads the file, and Save as policy contract files it. After you close the setup card, use Upload document in Documents & Imports on the policy page.
  • Add annual statements, for the policy years you want in the history. Upload opens the same Upload Document page.
  • Import transaction history, if you have a transaction file from the insurance company.

A policy younger than one year has no annual statement due. You can use IBC Tool before these steps are finished. Do them when you have the documents. When only optional steps remain, you can close the card.

Notes for each document

  • Annual statement. The values on the statement become your first snapshot, dated with the statement. A statement does not show the Available Loan Amount, so the dashboard does not yet know what you can borrow today. After you save, record a snapshot with today’s values from your portal.
  • Initial contract. IBC Tool files the document as your policy contract, so Add policy contract shows as done. You still need a snapshot for today’s values.
  • Illustration. If the Issue Date or the Insured is empty, enter it. IBC Tool files the illustration as your policy contract, so Add policy contract shows as done. The policy number usually comes from your first statement. Enter it now if you already have it. When the insurance company sends the issued contract later, upload it with Upload document in Documents & Imports on the policy page. The Cash Value chart keeps the values of the illustration.
  • Transaction history. Before you import, IBC Tool compares the latest premium in the file with the premium on the policy. If the file shows a different amount or a different Payment Frequency, the review page says so. When the policy has a Current PUA Payment and the file shows the PUA in your bill, the page also compares the PUA. Select Update the policy to save what the file shows. A new Payment Frequency also makes the premiums in the file group by the right due dates. When the page shows the PUA in your bill, the update is saved as already made with your insurance company, so it adds nothing to your Agenda. If no later PUA change is on file, IBC Tool also counts the PUA in your bill from the date the file first shows that amount. Otherwise it counts from the day you update. If your loan redirects leave no PUA amount that gives your bill, the review page asks you to check the Current PUA Payment, the PUA Redirect of each loan, and the funding rule of each recurring expense category. The check skips the PUA while an Adjust … PUA payment item waits on your Agenda, and it skips a file whose latest premium is more than one payment period and a month old. An advance in the file with the same amount as an advance you recorded, near the same date, is listed as already recorded. A close amount asks you to check it. Each other advance is a loan taken, and it starts ticked. If a loan on the policy already holds more than one advance, the advance starts as Draw on the open loan you took last. Otherwise it starts as New loan…, named by its date. Change it in Record as, and rename a new loan here or on the loan after the import. A loan you recorded from a statement balance can already hold advances from the file, so check the loan totals at the top of the review before you import. Each loan payment can go to any loan open on its date, including a new loan that the review opened from an earlier advance. If you change a draw to New loan…, the payments after it stay where they were, and you can move them to the new loan after the import. A loan payment dated before every loan, in IBC Tool and in the file, is listed under Not importing. The review also shows the loan totals of the file next to the totals in IBC Tool for the same dates.
  • A document more than 30 days old. Save the policy, then record a snapshot with today’s values from your portal. The old document is still useful. It is just not a picture of today.
  • The upload fails. If the button shows Try again in and a countdown, wait, then select Upload & extract again. Your file stays selected. If there is no countdown, choose a different file, or select enter the details manually.