An unconventional broker has found a way to help one of the most marginalized groups in Canadian life.
A criminal record may preclude Canadians from a host of luxuries, but thanks to Vincent Boulanger, it is never a barrier to obtaining home or car insurance.
Boulanger, an advisor with 2e Chance Assurance, maintains a professional ethic that lives up to his firm’s name. He believes in providing almost any Canadian with insurance coverage, even it means thinking unconventionally to form a policy.
“We don’t like to take orders, and that’s one of the main ways we are different from other brokers,” Boulanger said.
Whereas other brokerages primarily follow a traditional model of “taking notes and giving prices,” Boulanger feels that his firm needs to more pioneering since “clients call us when they’re in a position that they need help.”
He is referring to clients who have criminal records that prevent them from securing such financial products as insurance. He represents policyholders who have convictions ranging from “minor ones from 15 years ago, a big one this year or even people in jail right now.”
Contrary to commonly held beliefs, 2e Chance Assurance is able to succeed with this demographic because it embraces its members’ pasts, instead of trying to conceal their wrongdoings.
“We strive to be 51% perfect and 100% honest, and that’s why we have such a good reputation with insurance companies,” he said. “When it’s black, it’s black, and when it’s white, it’s white.”
As a result, his clients actually boast favourable loss ratios. Whereas insurance companies in standard markets have 50% loss ratios, his specialty market averages about 25%.
“Their premiums are of course higher, but they claim less because they have higher deductibles and aren’t covered for such common claims as water,” Boulanger explains.
