For Allstate Agents, AgencyZoom’s system has an option to upload Binding Doc PDFs for an Allstate policy, which will instantly add the policy to AgencyZoom. However, there are several common issues that can result in the Binding Document intake giving the error: “File upload failed due to internal application error”, or something similar. In this article, we’ll go over several common causes for this error occurring, along with fixes.
Document Saved As “Print To PDF”
The most common reason for this error we encounter, is that the files have been saved by selecting “Print To PDF”.
The AgencyZoom Binding Doc intake creates a policy by reading the text in the Binding Doc, and transferring that data onto a client and policy. However, if a Binding Doc is saved by selecting “Print to PDF”, then that PDF will be saved as flat images without editable text. As a result, our intake will be unable to read the file.
An easy way to check if your PDF is a Print to PDF or not is to open the file in your browser or on your computer and see if you’re able to highlight the text with your mouse. If you are able to highlight the text like the example below, it’s likely not a Print to PDF.
But if you’re not able to highlight any text like in the example above- then it was likely saved as a Print to PDF, and our system will be unable to read it. You will need to re-save the file from Alliance or Advisor Pro.
We recommend making sure that when you save PDFs from Alliance or Advisor Pro, always selecting Save As > PDF, and not the “Print To PDF” option.
Incorrect Binding Documents
There can be multiple files that the Allstate system provides when binding a policy. However, at current, there are two types of files that our Binding Doc Intake accepts.
For Non-ASC policies, the first page of the Binding Doc should look like this example below:
For ASC Based Allstate policies, the first page of the Binding Doc should look like this example below:
These are currently the only two files we accept as Binding Docs. Often the cause for the system giving an error is that instead the file being uploaded is the “Evidence of Insurance” doc, or the doc containing the client’s Insurance Cards. Our system will not accept these documents, it will only accept a document in the same format as the two examples shown above.
Not Allstate Binding Documents
The Binding Doc Intake will only accept Binding Documents belonging to Allstate policies. There are no exceptions to this. One common point of confusion is National General policies. Despite National General being an Allstate company, our Binding Doc Intake will not accept Binding Documents for National General policies. For any policies that aren’t Allstate, they’ll need to be uploaded via the “Brokered Business” option.
PDFs are Scans of Physical Paper Documents
The last common issue we run into, is cases where the Binding Docs were physically scanned from paper documents into the computer and saved as PDFs. Then, from there, uploaded to the Binding Doc intake. In cases like these, inconsistences in the alignment of the text often prevent the intake from accepting the file. Like in the example above, all the text was slightly tilted to the left when it was scanned, preventing our automated system reading it.
As a result, we recommend only uploading Binding Docs that have been directly exported from Alliance or Advisor Pro and not printing or physically scanning the documents to upload them to the intake.