Underwriting rationale notes
Commercial and specialty lines underwriting files where the underwriter wrote down why they priced, declined or referred the risk.
- Domain
- Insurance
- Format
- One underwriting file per note: the submission summary, the underwriter's rationale, and the decision, 300 to 1,500 words
- Rate
- $45 to $70 per accepted file
- Window
- Opened 9 September 2026 · Closes 6 November 2026
- Attestation
- Contributor agreement only
- Agreement
- Firm or institutional agreement
The call
Underwriting judgment is mostly tacit. The files where an underwriter wrote their reasoning down, whether to justify a referral, document a decline, or explain a pricing deviation, are the closest thing to a record of that judgment.
We are acquiring these across property, casualty, professional lines and specialty. Each note should carry enough of the submission for the reasoning to make sense on its own.
What qualifies
- Files from live submissions, 2018 onward
- A written rationale of at least 150 words by the underwriter of record
- The decision: bound, declined, referred, or bound with conditions
What is excluded
- Personal lines files
- Files where the insured could be identified from the risk description
- Rationale written after the fact for this call
De-identification
Remove insured names, broker names, addresses and policy numbers. Premiums may be kept as ranges or as rate per unit.
Review
Read by a senior underwriter in the relevant line. Files with thin or templated rationale are returned.
Rights
Full license transferred to Gridfile at acceptance. Where the file belongs to an employer, submit under a firm agreement (see Rights).
GF-0110 · Reviewed by a senior commercial lines underwriter