History
More than 30 years of innovation
In 1977, while operating under the name of Insurance Office of America, we began offering lender-placed solutions for consumer loan and lease portfolios. We were renamed American Sterling Corporation in 1984 and introduced lender-placed hazard insurance outsourcing to mortgage providers two years later. By 1991, American Sterling shifted focus from auto insurance to lender-placed hazard insurance.
In 1997, a team of mortgage and insurance industry professionals, led by Bill Krochalis, merged ZC Real Estate Solutions and American Sterling’s lender-placed business to form ZC Sterling Corporation. The new company released a rapid succession of new products, solutions, and processes that continue to shape the industry today. In 1998, ZC Sterling introduced our streamlined underwriting voluntary homeowners insurance program to mortgage originators and homebuilders. In 2000, Sterling National introduced a reinvented tax servicing model to the marketplace, powered by our proprietary system, FIRST Property Tax System. In 2001, ZC Sterling acquired CI Direct, a high technology call center that provided marketing services and customer care services to the financial services marketplace. The acquisition further expanded the service capabilities offered to clients.
In 2008, ZC Sterling acquired Westwood Insurance Agency, a property and casualty insurance agency that provides insurance services to customers of homebuilders for more than 55 years. Westwood Insurance operates as a subsidiary of Sterling National that provides insurance services to customers of homebuilders nationwide. The year also saw the launch of Medicare MarketPlace® and the achievement of ISO 9001:2000 certification for the lender placed management system (recertified to ISO 9001:2008 standard in June 2009). In December 2008, ZC Sterling became part of QBE the Americas. We briefly operated under the name of Sterling National Corporation before becoming QBE FIRST and have more than 1,400 employees nationwide.