Life insurance license — Michigan

Michigan has the cheapest application in this guide — fifteen dollars all in — and the hardest pass mark. The Life exam needs 72%, not the 70% almost every other state uses. Two questions that would pass in Ohio fail here.

Budget three to five weeks. The pre-licensing course sets the pace, not the paperwork.

The steps, in order

1. Finish 20 hours for the line. Michigan splits it: 14 hours of subject matter and 6 hours of ethics and Michigan insurance law. Classroom or self-study, both count. Keep the completion certificate — PSI asks for it at the door.
2. Pass the exam with PSI. 100 questions, two hours, 72% to pass. Since 10 June 2025 there is no remote proctoring for Michigan insurance exams, so it has to be in person at a PSI centre.
3. Apply through NIPR. $10 plus a $5 transaction fee.
4. Get appointed.

DIFS does not list a fingerprint or background-check step for a resident producer, which is unusual — most states require one. Confirm with the Department rather than assuming; absence from a web page is not a rule.

Two deadlines that catch people

Michigan puts clocks on this process that other states do not, and both are first-party from DIFS:

• You must sit your first exam within 12 months of finishing the pre-licensing course. Let the course go stale and you take it again.
• You must pass within 180 days of applying. Miss that window and you file a new application and pay the fee again before you can reschedule.

Neither is a formality. An agent who books the course, gets busy, and comes back eight months later is fine; one who comes back at thirteen months has bought the course twice.

What it costs

| Item | Cost | Paid to | | --- | --- | --- | | Pre-licensing course | $100–300 | Approved provider | | Exam | Varies | PSI | | Licence application | $10 + $5 | NIPR |

The $10 application plus the $5 transaction fee is first-party from DIFS. The course price and exam fee are provider-quoted — confirm both.

After you're licensed

Twenty-four credits every two years, at least 3 in ethics. The other 21 can sit in any line you hold, so a life-only agent is not forced to study property.