Bank Accounts

Advance moves money on your behalf: it collects premium and fees from your insureds, then distributes that money to the parties it belongs to — your agency, your producers, and your markets (carriers). Because the money belongs to different parties at different points in that journey, it doesn't all sit in one place. Several Advance-managed accounts work together, each with a specific role.

These accounts are opened and connected when you onboard with Advance. You can list your existing accounts and open new ones through the public API. They exist to keep collected money correctly separated until it's distributed.

Opening an Account

Opening an account through the API opens a real Advance-managed bank account, not a placeholder. Behind the scenes Advance submits a bank account application on your behalf, so a newly created account starts in a Submitted state and then activates automatically once the bank approves it — at which point it becomes Open and can send and receive money. You don't need to take any further action for it to activate.

Your banking onboarding must be complete first (opening an account relies on the business and ownership details you provided then), and each account name must be unique within your organization. The account owner is taken from your onboarded business details, so you don't supply it. For the exact request and response fields, see the API reference.

You can open up to 5 accounts through the API. Only accounts opened via the API count toward this limit — accounts opened for you during onboarding or through the Advance dashboard don't. If you need more, contact us.

Account Types

Transitory Account

The landing pad. When an insured pays, the money first arrives here. It's temporary — funds should flow through to their destination rather than accumulate. A high transitory balance usually means payments have been received but not yet distributed.

Money here belongs to no one yet — it's in transit.

Operational Account

Your agency's operating account. This is where your revenue lands — agency commissions, and producer commissions before they're paid out to producers.

Money here is your agency's money.

Fiduciary Accounts

Trust accounts holding net premium on behalf of your markets. Each market has its own fiduciary account. This separation is a regulatory requirement: the money in a fiduciary account is held in trust for the market and is not your agency's money to use.

Money here belongs to the market — you're holding it in trust until it's remitted.

Surplus Lines Account

An escrow account for Surplus Lines taxes and fees (also called Excess & Surplus, or E&S) collected on non-admitted business. These taxes are collected as separate line items on invoices, held here, and later paid to the appropriate government authorities. Not every agency has this account — only those writing non-admitted business.

Money here is held in escrow for tax authorities.

How Money Flows

                  Insured Payment
                        │
                        ▼
              ┌──────────────────────┐
              │  Transitory Account  │   (landing pad — temporary)
              └──────────┬───────────┘
                         │
            ┌────────────┴────────────┐
            ▼                         ▼
   ┌──────────────────┐    ┌────────────────────────┐
   │   Operational    │    │   Fiduciary Account(s)  │
   │   Account        │    │   (one per market)      │
   │ (agency + producer│   │   net premium in trust  │
   │  commissions)    │    │                         │
   └──────────────────┘    └────────────────────────┘

Collected money lands in the transitory account, then splits into the operational account (your agency's commissions) and the per-market fiduciary accounts (net premium held in trust). Surplus Lines taxes, when applicable, are held separately in the Surplus Lines account until remitted to tax authorities.

From there, payouts are sent to the External Accounts registered for your producers and markets.

A Note on Balances

Because money is separated by who it belongs to, "total balance" rarely answers a real question on its own:

• What's my agency's money? Your operational account balance — fiduciary balances are market funds, not yours.
• How much do I hold for markets? The sum of your fiduciary account balances.
• Why is my transitory balance high? Payments have been received but not yet distributed.
• How much do I owe in Surplus Lines taxes? Your Surplus Lines account balance, if you have one.