How to check an insurance agent's license in Ohio

How to check

1. Open Agent / Agency Locator, the Ohio Department of Insurance's own search.
2. Search by the agent's name, or by their national producer number (NPN) or Ohio license number if you have it. The NPN is the steadier search: names repeat, and a producer has one NPN in every state.
3. Open the record and read the license type and its lines of authority, whether it is active, the expiration date, and the name on the record.
4. Compare it with what the agent told you: the same name, the same NPN, and a line of authority that covers the kind of insurance you asked about.

What the record shows

A producer record in any state is built from the same parts, though each department decides how much of it to publish:

• The license type and its lines of authority, such as property, casualty, life or personal lines.
• Whether the license is active, and the dates it was issued and expires.
• The insurers the agent is appointed with, where the department publishes appointments.
• Disciplinary actions, where the department publishes them.

In Ohio the license record is kept by the Ohio Department of Insurance (ODI). Its public search, the Agent / Agency Locator on gateway.insurance.ohio.gov, finds an agent by last name, National Producer number, city or ZIP code, and an agency by National Producer number, city or ZIP. A box limits the results to active licenses, and separate searches cover other license types and navigators. Its License Type filter lists Major Lines, Personal Lines and Property & Casualty alongside the limited lines Ohio issues, such as Car Rental, Crop, Travel and Portable Electronics.

Ohio groups six lines of authority under its Major Lines license: Accident & Health, Casualty, Life, Personal, Property, and Variable Life and Variable Annuity products. ODI defines the Personal line as property and casualty coverage sold to individuals and families for noncommercial purposes, and Casualty as coverage against legal liability, so the lines named on a record say which kinds of policy an agent may sell.

A license is not the same as an appointment. Under Ohio law an agent may act for an insurer only once that insurer has appointed them, and the insurer files the notice of appointment with the superintendent within thirty days of the agency contract or the first application, whichever comes first. Major Lines licenses renew every two years on the last day of the agent's birth month, after 24 hours of continuing education, 3 of them in ethics. Nonresident agents apply and renew through NIPR, and ODI does not require prelicensing education or continuing education for nonresident licenses. ODI's Consumer Services Division, at 800-686-1526, investigates complaints involving insurance companies and agents, which can be filed through its online Consumer Complaint Form.

What we checked for Ohio

Department

Ohio Department of Insurance (ODI)Source: gateway.insurance.ohio.gov, checked 2026-09-22

Official search

Ohio Department of Insurance Agent / Agency Locator, on gateway.insurance.ohio.govSource: gateway.insurance.ohio.gov, checked 2026-09-26

How to search

Agents by last name, National Producer number, city or ZIP; agencies by National Producer number, city or ZIP; filters for residency, license type and active licenses onlySource: gateway.insurance.ohio.gov, checked 2026-09-26

Consumer help line

Consumer Services 800-686-1526 (main office 614-644-2658)Source: insurance.ohio.gov, checked 2026-09-26

Major Lines of authority

Accident & Health, Casualty, Life, Personal, Property, and Variable Life and Variable Annuity productsSource: insurance.ohio.gov, checked 2026-09-26

The Personal line

Property and casualty coverage sold to individuals and families for noncommercial purposesSource: insurance.ohio.gov, checked 2026-09-26

The Casualty line

Coverage against legal liabilitySource: insurance.ohio.gov, checked 2026-09-26

Renewal cycle

Every two years, by the last day of the agent's birth month, with CE finished before the renewal is filedSource: insurance.ohio.gov (CE Fact Sheet), checked 2026-09-26

First expiration

Last day of the birth month, 18 to 29 months after the license is issuedSource: insurance.ohio.gov (CE Fact Sheet), checked 2026-09-26

Continuing education

24 credit hours, 3 of them ethics, for a Major Lines licenseSource: insurance.ohio.gov (CE Fact Sheet), checked 2026-09-26

CE carryover

Up to 12 credits per renewal period, applied as general creditSource: insurance.ohio.gov (CE Fact Sheet), checked 2026-09-26

Late renewal

Possible with a late fee in the first month after expiration; from the second month the license is suspended, and it can still be renewed up to a year after expirationSource: insurance.ohio.gov, checked 2026-09-26

Nonresident licensing

Issued to agents licensed and in good standing as residents of their home state for the same lines, if that home state issues nonresident licenses to Ohio residentsSource: insurance.ohio.gov, checked 2026-09-26

Nonresident education and filing

No prelicensing or CE for nonresident licenses; apply and renew through NIPRSource: insurance.ohio.gov, checked 2026-09-26

Appointments

An agent may act for an insurer only when appointed; the insurer files the notice of appointment with the superintendent within 30 daysSource: codes.ohio.gov, R.C. 3905.20, checked 2026-09-26

What an appointment is

A contract between an insurer and a licensed agent to sell that insurer's productsSource: insurance.ohio.gov, checked 2026-09-26

Complaints

ODI Consumer Services Division, through the online Consumer Complaint FormSource: insurance.ohio.gov, checked 2026-09-26

Questions

Other ways to check

• The National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) assigns the NPN. Ask the agent for theirs; any licensed producer has one.
• For an agent licensed in several states, check each state on its own department's search. The fifty-state list has every department.

Lookup link last checked 2026-10-12; the department's entry in our list was confirmed on 2026-09-22.