IBC Tool keeps the records of your policies, your loans, and your categories, and it helps you see what the borrowing room is for. A few jobs stay with you and with your insurance company. This page says what those jobs are, and what to do instead, so a screen that only records a change does not look like it sent one.
No login to your insurance company
IBC Tool does not sign in to your insurance company. It does not read your policy from the online portal on its own, and it does not send changes back. Your login for the portal stays with you. Nothing you type here reaches the carrier unless you also do it there.
Instead:
- For today’s values, upload a policy summary from the portal, or type the values the portal shows. See Read the numbers on your insurance company’s documents.
- The actions you take at the insurance company are a loan, a loan payment, a paid-up additions payment, and a change to the paid-up additions billed with your premium. Record the action in IBC Tool. Use the Agenda says which recordings get an item, and which one you still do at the insurance company with no item. An “already” switch means that action is already done, and no item is added.
No money movement
IBC Tool does not request loans, pay premiums, or send loan payments. When you record a loan, a payment, or a contribution, IBC Tool stores the record. No money moves.
Transfer Savings is also only a record. It records a paid-up additions contribution, and it can raise the paid-up additions payment you intend to make. It does not take money from your bank, and it does not send money to the insurance company.
IBC Tool does not connect to your bank. In Settings, you can connect YNAB. For each policy, IBC Tool then sets the target of the YNAB category you choose to the premium plus the paid-up additions your insurance company bills now, and keeps one scheduled payment in YNAB for that amount. It does the same for the loans you repay on a schedule, and it adds the one-time PUA contributions you record. It does not move money. See Sync your premiums with YNAB.
Move the money yourself. Make each change in the online portal, or call the insurance company and ask them to make it. If the change has an Agenda item, select Mark done after the insurance company has done it. Marking an item done updates your list. It does not contact the carrier.
Your numbers come from you
IBC Tool does not fetch your policy values. They come from a document you upload, or from numbers you type. If you have not given it a new reading, it keeps showing the last one.
Upload a document
Upload a policy summary, an annual statement, or your contract. IBC Tool reads the values from the document and fills in the form. Read them before you save. The reading can miss a line or pick up a nearby one that means something else.
Type the values yourself
Type the values from your documents or from the portal. Read the numbers on your insurance company’s documents shows which line goes in each field, and which lines look right but are a different number.
Keep the numbers current
To bring the policy up to date, record a snapshot from a new policy summary. See Record a snapshot.
Between snapshots, IBC Tool estimates some figures, such as loan interest to date and paid-up additions you recorded but no snapshot has confirmed. When an estimate and the insurance company disagree, the insurance company is right. Record a snapshot from their document and the estimate is replaced.
No insurance advice
IBC Tool shows calculations and suggestions. Auto-distribute, for example, proposes amounts from your rules. Those proposals are arithmetic, not financial, insurance, or tax advice. The decisions about your policies and your loans are yours.
For a decision about the policy itself, ask your insurance agent or your financial advisor. If Settings shows Share with your advisor, you can let your advisor open your account and look at the same numbers you see. See Share your account with your advisor.
For questions about the product, see the questions on the home page.