Which ACORD Evidence of Insurance Form Do I Use?

An ACORD evidence form summarizes property insurance shown on the policy as of the issue date, usually on ACORD 27 or ACORD 28. ACORD 27 is a common starting point for property evidence, while ACORD 28 is designed for commercial property evidence, often for lender requests.

The form does not add coverage, change the policy, or guarantee that coverage will remain in force. If a lender asks for wording the policy does not support, stop and check before sending it.

TL;DR: ACORD evidence of insurance usually means ACORD 27 or ACORD 28. ACORD 27 is a common starting point for general property evidence. ACORD 28 is designed for commercial property evidence, often for lender requests.

What Does ACORD Evidence of Insurance Mean?

ACORD evidence of insurance means a standard form that reports property insurance information from the policy as of the issue date. It is usually sent to a lender, mortgagee, landlord, or other party with an interest in the property, but it is not the policy and it is not an endorsement.

That last point matters for errors and omissions (E&O) risk. The form should reflect what the policy already says, not what the requester wishes it said.

A customer service representative (CSR) may receive a request like this:

“Please send updated evidence showing us as mortgagee.”

That request may be easy, or it may need an endorsement first. If the mortgagee is not listed or the wording is not supported, the evidence form is not the place to fix it.

The ACORD form titles draw the basic line: ACORD 27 is Evidence of Property Insurance, and ACORD 28 is Evidence of Commercial Property Insurance. ACORD’s official forms page is the place to check current forms, edition dates, and access rules.

For a deeper field-by-field look at one common evidence form, see our ACORD 27 guide.

Which ACORD Form Should You Use?

ACORD 27 is the common starting point for general evidence of property insurance, while ACORD 28 is designed for commercial property evidence. ACORD 25 addresses liability, not property. Treat those choices as a starting point, then confirm the requester’s instructions, policy record, carrier rules, state requirements, and current form edition.

Here is the practical agency table I would keep near the service team.

Request wording	Starting form to check	What it is for	Watch for
“Evidence of property insurance”	ACORD 27	Property coverage evidence	Mortgagee or loss payee wording
“Evidence of commercial property insurance”	ACORD 28	Commercial property evidence	Loan number and property details
“Certificate of liability insurance”	ACORD 25	Liability certificate	Additional insured wording
“Certificate of property insurance”	ACORD 24	Property certificate	Requester may really mean evidence
“Umbrella or excess application”	ACORD 131	Umbrella or excess liability	Not property evidence

Do not default to ACORD 25 when the request concerns a building, mortgage, loan, or loss payee. First ask whether the requester needs property evidence. Then confirm whether ACORD 27 or ACORD 28 fits the request and carrier rules.

Do not send ACORD 25 just because someone asks for a certificate of insurance (COI). If the request is liability-only, our plain-English post on ACORD liability insurance will point you to the right liability form.

Who Can Prepare and Issue the Form?

The agency, carrier, or authorized representative may issue an ACORD evidence form when state law, carrier instructions, and agency procedures allow it. A CSR may prepare the form under the agency’s rules, but special wording, policy changes, lender clauses, and unclear requests should go to the person authorized to approve them.

Before touching the form, get the missing details in one pass. Otherwise the CSR starts, stops, sends an email, waits, and reopens the work later.

Use this script when the caller says they need evidence:

“Happy to help. Is this for property insurance, liability insurance, or both? Please send the requester’s exact name and address. We also need the loan number, property address, due date, and delivery email or fax number.”

If the requester asks for special language, add this:

“We can issue evidence based on the policy. If the wording requires a policy change, our licensed team will review it before we send anything.”

That sentence sets the right expectation and may reduce E&O risk. It also keeps the CSR from promising something the policy does not support.

How Do You Fill Out an ACORD Evidence Form?

Fill out an ACORD evidence form by matching each field to the policy, declarations, endorsements, and carrier instructions. The job is to report accurate coverage, interested party information, and property details as of the issue date, not to copy every sentence from the requester’s email.

The exact fields vary by form number and edition. Still, most ACORD 27 and ACORD 28 work follows this pattern.

Section	What to enter	CSR check
Date	Date the evidence is issued	Use today’s issue date
Producer	Agency name and contact details	Match agency standard format
Insured	Named insured on the policy	Do not list only the doing-business-as name
Insurer	Carrier providing coverage	Confirm carrier name and National Association of Insurance Commissioners number, if the form asks for it
Policy number	Active policy number	Check renewal term
Effective dates	Policy term	Make sure it is not expired
Property location	Covered property address	Match schedule or declarations
Coverage details	Building, contents, causes of loss, limits, deductibles	Match the policy exactly
Additional interest	Mortgagee, lender, loss payee, or other party	Confirm wording is allowed
Remarks	Notes supported by the policy	Avoid promises beyond the policy
Signature	Authorized representative	Follow agency and carrier rules

For commercial property schedules, a CSR may use the ACORD 140 property schedule to check the locations, limits, and property details. If your team handles commercial property, our ACORD 140 field map can help reduce retyping errors.

What Does a Filled ACORD Evidence Example Look Like?

A filled ACORD evidence example should read like a clean snapshot of the policy record. It should show who is insured, what property is covered, which carrier provides coverage, the policy term, and who receives the evidence, while avoiding promises or wording not supported by the policy.

Here is a simple example your team can use as a model. This is not legal advice and not a carrier-approved template. Every name, address, policy number, and limit below is fictional.

Field	Example entry
Form choice	ACORD 28, Evidence of Commercial Property Insurance
Date issued	04/18/2024
Producer	Smith Valley Insurance Agency, 100 Main Street, Dayton, OH
Insured	Riverbend Coffee LLC, 44 Market Street, Dayton, OH
Insurer	Example Mutual Insurance Company
Policy number	CMP 1234567
Effective dates	05/01/2024 to 05/01/2025
Property location	44 Market Street, Dayton, OH 45402
Building limit	$750,000
Business personal property	$125,000
Deductible	$2,500
Cause of loss	Special, if shown on the policy
Mortgagee	First County Bank, its successors and/or assigns, as their interests may appear (ISAOA ATIMA), 10 Bank Plaza, Dayton, OH
Loan number	99887766
Remarks	Evidence issued for lender records only
Delivery	lenderdocs@examplebank.com

Here is the key test. If you cannot point to the policy, declarations, endorsement, or carrier instruction for a field, do not type it just because a lender asked.

What Mistakes Cause Evidence Forms to Be Rejected?

Common reasons for a rejected evidence form include the wrong form, a missing loan number, mismatched addresses, old mortgagee wording, expired policy dates, missing deductible information, or unsupported language. None of these takes long to fix, but each one creates another call or email for the team.

Common mistakes include the ones below.

Mistake	Why it happens	How to prevent it
Sending ACORD 25 for a property request	The requester said “COI”	Ask liability or property first
Missing loan number	No one asked up front	Make loan number part of the script
Property address mismatch	Mailing address was copied	Check the property schedule
Wrong mortgagee wording	Old lender wording was reused	Ask for exact current wording
Expired policy dates	Prior evidence was copied	Pull from the active policy
Promising cancellation notice	Requester asked for it	Follow policy and carrier rules
Adding unsupported language	Team wants to close fast	Send special wording for review

The cancellation wording issue deserves special care. A requester may ask for notice terms that do not match the policy, carrier instructions, or state rules. Your team should not promise notice language unless the policy supports it.

If the requester really needs a property certificate instead of evidence, compare the request to ACORD 24 before sending.

Where Can Sera Help, and Where Does It Stop?

Sera can help by answering the call when the team is busy or the office is closed, asking why the person is calling, and collecting the details a CSR needs. Sera should not choose coverage, issue ACORD forms, bind coverage, quote premiums, give coverage advice, or file claims with carriers.

We built Sera to answer these calls when the team is busy or the office is closed. Evidence requests often come during lunch, near closing, or from a lender who will not leave a useful voicemail.

For an insurance agency, Sera can collect the caller’s name, policyholder name, request type, property address, lender email, deadline, and loan number. Then your CSR gets the conversation transcript instead of a voicemail that says, “Call me back about insurance.”

Sera does not fill out ACORD forms in your agency management system. Sera does not bind coverage, quote premiums, give coverage advice, or file claims with carriers. Licensed questions go to your team.

Sera also has no direct integration with EZLynx, HawkSoft, Applied Epic, AMS360, or QQCatalyst. The transcript and notes can go to Gmail, HubSpot, Salesforce, or Slack.

If you want to see where an AI front desk fits for agencies, start with our AI receptionist for insurance agencies page. Starter begins at $49 per month. Appointment booking, live transfers, missed-call text-back, and multilingual conversations start on Growth at $499 per month, and you can review plans on Sera pricing.

What Should Your Agency Do Next?

Pick one standard process for evidence requests and put it where every CSR can find it. The process should say which form to check first, what facts to collect, who reviews special wording, and how the final evidence gets sent and saved in the account file.

Here is the short version I would post inside the agency:

1. Ask whether the request is for property, liability, or both.
2. If property, check whether ACORD 27 or ACORD 28 fits.
3. Collect exact lender wording, loan number, property address, due date, and delivery email.
4. Match every coverage field to the policy.
5. Send special wording to the authorized person before issuing.
6. Save the final evidence and request notes in the account file.

That small checklist will prevent rework better than another meeting. It also gives a new CSR a clean way to handle the next Tuesday-afternoon lender call.