Retail Agency Help Center
Help Center for Agencies using the Ascend platform for Agency Billing.
Getting Started & Basics
Why Subscribe to Ascend?
Today’s legacy agency bill workflows are manual and time-consuming, taking time better spent growing the agency or servicing clients. Agencies tell us...
Bank Account Set Up
Why we need your agency's bank details Two required bank account types What to do if you entered incorrect bank details and a payment has gone out to ...
Creating a Policy + Checkout Link
How to enter a new policy into an Ascend Program What happens next For a walk through of our Automated Invoicing feature, check out the article here ...
Payment Flow - Ascend Plus Plan
⚠️ This funds flow only applies to agencies subscribed to Ascend Plus . For information about payment flow for Ascend Base/Starter agencies, please...
Payouts Flow - Ascend Base Plan
Payment flow on financed programs Payment flow on paid in full programs Frequently asked questions Starter : Ascend Starter is a free plan that allows...
Insured Checkout Link Experience
How to send an email to your insured from an Ascend program How to view emails sent from a program What the checkout flow looks like When the program ...
Program Page Guide
What an Ascend program is Walk through of each section on the program page At Ascend, agents create a program to generate customer payment links. On...
Get Support
Need help? Our Support Team is online and ready to help Monday through Friday between 6am - 5pm PST! The best method to contact Ascend Support is to c...
Creating a Checkout Link
Billing for Audit Premium
Can audit premiums be financed through Ascend? What happens if I accidentally finance an audit premium? How to collect audit premiums from my insured ...
Financing Direct Bill Policies
⚠️ NOTE: Ascend DOES NOT offer financing on Direct Bill policies of any kind. Financing a Direct Bill policy through Ascend will result in the immed...
Automated Invoicing
What is Ascend's Automated Invoicing feature? How to use automated invoicing to upload policies/quotes into the Ascend dashboard This process automat...
Policy Details: Premium, Commission, and Fee Fields
A description of each field on a program's quote/policy Frequently Asked Questions ⚠️ Be sure to double-check the quote/policy details before sending ...
Programs for Existing Customers
How to create a program for an existing customer in Ascend Some insureds require multiple programs using the same email to manage numerous businesses...
PDF Invoice Documents
How to download a PDF Invoice doc for insured payments Certain insureds and businesses prefer or need a PDF invoice document for settling their paymen...
Insureds with International Addresses
The insured will need to have a US based address (within the continental US and Hawaii) in order to finance, as these are the limitations of our licen...
Supported Credit Card Brands
Card brands that can be used for payment method through Ascend What happens with other card brands? Ascend supports several card brands, in including ...
Your Customer's Experience
Payment Method Options
Ascend accepted payment methods Processing time for each method Turning off certain payment methods for a program/insured Ascend supports multiple pur...
Customer Portal
What You'll Learn What is the Customer Portal? How to access your agency's Customer Portal Walk through of the Customer Portal FAQ and troubleshootin...
Insured Experience: Checkout Email Notifications
Overview of each email sent to insureds from the Ascend system The insured receives up to 4 email reminders to complete the initial purchase (immediat...
Automatic Payments (Autopay)
Automatic Payments at time of purchase Modify Autopay settings for a customer Payment Reminders Default Settings for Organizations At the time of purc...
Payment Button
What is the Payment button for? How to add to your agency's website or email signature The Make payment button is a downloadable image and URL leadi...
Approved ACH IDs
What is an ACH ID and why does it matter? The ACH IDs to have your customers approve to avoid failed payment An ACH ID is a 10-digit number/code that...
Payment Method: Check
When paper checks are option for insured payment Processing timelines for check payments Frequently Asked Questions Ascend's available payment method...
Customize payment methods per program or invoice
Note: This feature is only available on the Ascend Plus plan. See more about Ascend Plus here . What types of payment methods are customizable? How t...
Program Maintenance & Ongoing Use
Customer Experience: Agency Branding on Ascend Emails
The insured experience on Ascend's automated emails How to view program-related emails sent to your insured How to update your agency's brand (logo & ...
Update a Policy Effective Date
How to update the effective date of a policy What the limitations of these updates are From the program page where the relevant policy exists, scroll ...
Renewals
How to Create a Renewal Frequently Asked Questions Ascend has a simple process for creating renewals in our system from an existing program to help yo...
Archive a Program
What happens when you archive a program? How to archive a program To keep the dashboard organized, users may want to archive or hide programs that are...
Program Email Communications
A walk-through of program-related emails to Insureds A walk-through of program-related emails to the agency Account Manager Frequently Asked Questions...
Receiving a 404 Error Message
What is a 404 error Reasons for why a 404 error appears What to do to solve this issue A 404 error message, also known as "Page Not Found" or "File No...
Disputed Charges
What is a dispute/chargeback? The dispute process Withdrawing disputes Refunds on programs with disputed payments A dispute (also known as a chargebac...
Program Due Date
What is the program Due Date feature? Instructions on how to edit the due date What your customers will see The due date set up on the program is the ...
Transactions Section
How to view payment transactions What each payment status means How to download payment invoices and transaction receipts Each program, one-time payme...
Create a Program
Create a Program Programs for Existing Clients Add Multiple Quotes to one Program Users with the role type Support User will not have the option to cr...
Program Status: Explained
Details about each program status What happens next with each status Each program is assigned a status based upon the status of the policy(s) and loan...
Payment extensions
Insured payment extensions on financed programs There is an automatic grace period of 5-10 days (depending on the state) before a late fee is applied ...
Premium Financing with Ascend
Unearned Take Rate for Mid-term Cancellations
What is take rate? How take rate is effected by cancelled policies How & when is take rate returned for mid-term cancellations FAQs Agency take rate i...
Early Loan Payoff
How to help your customer pay off their loan early Limitations on the Early Loan Payoff Process Fees associated with early loan payoff How early loan ...
Split Initial Payment
NOTE: This feature is available for Ascend Plus agencies only. To learn more about Ascend Plus, please reach out to our team at support@useascend.com...
Documents: Premium Finance Agreement
What is a Premium Finance Agreement (PFA) document How to access a PFA document Frequently Asked Questions A premium finance agreement, or PFA , is a...
Finance Agreement Service Fee
What the service fee is The service fee is a state-mandated fee applied to financing to cover the cost of filing and processing the finance agreements...
Modify Loan Terms
Which loan terms require Underwriting review How to edit loan terms How to request loan terms from the Underwriting team Frequently Asked Questions Th...
Changing installment payment due dates
When you can change installment payment due dates The payment schedule for financed programs is based on the policy effective date. If a program has m...
Downpayment, Interest Rate, APR: Explained
The difference between APR & Interest Rate How down payments are calculated on Ascend programs Examples of down payment calculations Interest rate re...
Premium financing isn't available
Top reasons why premium finance isn't available Financing is available on a per-program basis. For programs containing multiple quotes, anyquote ca...
Late Fees
When late fees are applied Frequently Asked Questions A late fee is added if a payment is not made on time. The payment is considered overdue if the i...
Agency Take Rates
What is Agency Take Rate? How to set it up in the Ascend Dashboard When your agency will receive Take Rate payments Where to find Take Rate payment hi...
Block Financing on a Program
How to set up a program to only allow payment in full (no financing) When your client is in the payment checkout flow, they will see options for finan...
Endorsements & Cancellations
Cancelations and Refunds
How to process a cancelation Refund process and timeline Our platform allows two main types of cancelations: voluntary cancelations and nonpaymen...
My Agency Received Return Premium
What to do when your agency has received return premium (RP) for a cancellation or reducing endorsement. Note: The steps below outline the process t...
Premium-Reducing Endorsements
An endorsement is a change to an existing insurance contract that changes the funds and/or terms of the original policy. There are two types of ...
Premium-Increasing Endorsements
NOTE: This article is about premium-increasing endorsements; check out our article here for information about premium-reducing endorsements. Wha...
Reinstatements
How to Create a Reinstatement Link Reinstatement Timeline Frequently Asked Questions ⚠️ Before requesting a reinstatement via Ascend, please confirm ...
Cancelations → Voluntary / Insured Request
NOTE: See the article here for information about Non-pay cancelations. This article ONLY covers Voluntary / Insured Request Cancelations. What is cons...
Accounting
Update Bank Account on File / Bank Details
How to update bank account details Please note this page may only be accessed by your agency's dashboard Admins and accountants . Go to https://dash...
Carrier/MGA Payables Receipts
Occasionally, a Carriers or MGA will send a notice or invoice to an agency requesting funding for a policy that has been funded via Ascend. When thi...
Accounting Section
This article walks through each of the tabs on the Accounting section in the Dashboard: (1) Pending approval (2) Balance (3) Payables (4) Receivable...
Payout Approval
In addition to paying the MGA/Wholesaler or Carrier for financed, agency bill programs, Ascend now offers carrier payables for paid in full, agency...
Instant Carrier Payments
Note: This feature is only available to agencies subscribed to Ascend Plus . What is an Instant Carrier Payment How to process an Instant Carrier Pay...
Add a New Carrier, Wholesaler, or MGA
Add a new carrier or MGA to the platform Define funding instructions to ensure accurate payouts Go to the Wholesalers/Carriers section of your setti...
Customer Payment Timeline
Available payment methods through Ascend Processing timelines for each method The funding timeline for customer payments processed through Ascend depe...
Agency Commission - FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions Once Ascend receives your customer's initial payment (paid in full premium or downpayment amount), we will initiate a commi...
Reconcile Wire Payments from Insureds
What is wire reconciliation? How to reconcile payments on the dashboard What to do if your insured wires the wrong amount Notifications to your agency...
Batch Payments to Ascend
What the Batch Payments feature offers and when it can be used Step by step instructions The Batch Payments process allows agency partners to pay mult...
Invoices
Subscription Invoices
What is a Subscription Invoice How to Create a Subscription Invoice Subscription Invoice Timeline Email Notifications for Subscription Invoices Freque...
One-Time Invoices
What is an Invoice How to Create an Invoice Invoice Timeline Email Notifications for Invoices Frequently Asked Questions Invoices are one-time payment...
Integrations
HawkSoft Integration
To install the HawkSoft Integration, you will need to do 3 things: Subscribe to the Ascend app in the HawkSoft marketplace. In HawkSoft , click the ...
Integrate Ascend with your AMS System
Note: This feature is only available to agencies subscribed to Ascend Plus . The Ascend platforms has partnered with a growing list of AMS systems an...
Integrations: NowCerts
Video: Visit your Integrations Page , and click Learn more in the NowCerts section. Click Generate Key, and Copy your Ascend API Token. ...
AMS360: Create a program
Note: This feature is only available to agencies subscribed to Ascend Plus . How to create a program in Ascend from AMS360 Fee Mapping from AMS360 to...
Mapping wholesalers and carriers to your integration
Are you integrating Ascend with your AMS system? If so, then you will need to map your wholesalers and carriers so that they get transferred over to A...
AMS360 Integration Setup Instructions
AMS360 Admin Section WSAPI API User Subscribe to Ascend App Ascend Dashboard Settings There are two steps required here in AMS360: Create the Web Serv...