Why is a company I have never heard of named on my insurance paperwork?
Because your agent placed the policy through a wholesale broker, and the wholesaler is a real party to the transaction rather than a middleman on paper. Names like Amwins, Risk Placement Services, Burns and Wilcox or CRC appear on quotes, binders and invoices because they hold the appointment with the carrier that wrote your policy. Your agent still represents you. The wholesaler represents the access.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
The detail
Surplus lines business must generally be placed through a licensed surplus lines broker, which is why a retail agent without that license places it through a wholesaler who holds one.
Wholesale brokers are compensated from the commission on the policy, and may also charge a separate broker fee where state law permits it, itemized on the invoice.
Surplus lines market practice
What this means for you
- Nothing has gone wrong. The most common reason people find this page is that they think a stranger has attached themselves to their policy. Nobody has.
- Your agent is still your agent. The wholesaler has no relationship with you, does not service the policy, and is not who you call. Everything still goes through the person you hired.
- It usually means your risk needed a market your agent cannot reach directly. Wholesalers hold appointments with surplus lines and specialty carriers that retail agencies are not appointed with, and reaching those carriers is the entire reason one is involved.
- Seeing one is mild evidence your account is not standard. A risk every admitted carrier would happily write does not normally travel through a wholesaler, so the name is a clue about your class rather than about your agent.
- It can add a fee, and that fee should be on the invoice. Wholesalers are paid out of commission and, where the state allows it, may add a broker fee. It should be itemized, and asking about it is fair.
- You cannot go direct, which is worth knowing before you try. Wholesalers do not deal with insureds. Calling Amwins or RPS about your own policy sends you back to your agent, because that is how the chain is built.
Go deeper on any of these
Related questions
- What is a wholesale insurance broker?
An insurance broker whose clients are other brokers rather than businesses. They hold appointments with carriers, particularly surplus lines and specialty markets, that a retail agency generally cannot access on its own, and they place business into those markets on a retail agent’s behalf. Three parties instead of two, which is you, your agent, and the wholesaler who reaches the carrier.
- What are Amwins and Risk Placement Services?
Two of the largest wholesale insurance brokers in the United States, which is why their names turn up on so much commercial paperwork. Neither is your insurer and neither is your agent. If one appears on your binder or invoice, your policy was placed through them into a carrier they are appointed with. RPS is a Gallagher company; Amwins is independently held. Both are ordinary participants in the commercial market rather than a sign of anything unusual about your account.
- Does using a wholesaler cost me more?
Sometimes a little, and the honest comparison is often against no policy at all. The wholesaler is paid from the commission on the premium, which does not add to your cost by itself. Some placements also carry a broker fee, which should be itemized and which you are entitled to ask about. What it buys is access to a carrier that would not otherwise have looked at you.
- Should I be worried that my policy is with a surplus lines carrier?
Usually not, though there is a real trade-off worth understanding. Surplus lines carriers are not backed by your state guaranty fund and do not file their rates and forms with the regulator. For many classes it is the only market available, and it is a different question from who brokered it.
- Admitted versus non-admitted, in full
- Can I ask my agent which wholesaler they used and why?
Yes, and a good agent answers without hesitating. Which wholesaler, which carrier, what the fee was, and why that route rather than a direct appointment. An agent who treats the question as intrusive is telling you something. The one thing to expect is that they will not list every market they intend to approach before approaching them, because that list is the agency’s working knowledge rather than a deliverable.
Need this handled?
Reading about it and having it handled are different jobs, and the second one is ours. We place the accounts other brokers decline — claims history, a cancellation, an unusual operation, a business nobody wants to underwrite twice — and we will tell you when the policy you already have is the right one. Tell us the situation and a licensed human replies the same business day.
Written by the licensed brokers at Boring Insurance. Last updated 2026-09-05. See all guides.