Insurers’ credit scoring rankles
Last year, Andrew and Teresita was awarded to Gnagy CSE Insurance Agency in San Diego to see if they could get a better deal to their owners policy. They told the agent, Gary Disney, home and their past claims. Two days later,
He told a late sell their rice, their political, and quoted a price.
But three days after Disney called and said she had refused, because of ill Andrew’s credit score.
“We had never been asked any questions about our funding, we had yet signed authorizations for each credit courses,” said Gnagy. “We feel wounded.”
Although California law restricts the use of credit scoring in insurance, many companies use to deny, owner and some of them to determine payment plans auto insurance.
The State Insurance Department, he said, will hurt, if indigestion. But some consumers do not know they were rejected because the credit, and even if it exists, many are not complaining.
“Day after day, things is refused, because people credit scoring,” said David Sydney, an insurance agent in Marin County. “Persons line of credit or credit, staining kicked to get used more and more on the market. It is generally not complain. ”
A credit score is a numerical evaluation on the basis of information contained in a report on their honour, as history in arrears, the number of accounts, credit balances and bankruptcies. Lenders have long been used credit assessments for interest rates.
In the last year or two, many insurance companies began with “scores of insurance” is another type of credit-Based partition.
Craig Watts, a spokesman for San Rafael’s Fair, Isaac, one of the largest distributors of credit and insurance-Scoring formulas, said that the two information systems, take the views of consumer credit report. But “they combine different weights and different ways,” he says.
“The comments of credits are mainly related to the likelihood that human rights claims file is,” said Diane Colborn, Vice President for private insurance Federation of California.
Unbewiesenen The theory is that people manage credit responsibly are more properly maintain their homes obeys laws and transport.
But some consumer groups and regulators say state, consumers’ credit history does not affect whether it could have a tube or a barrier broke a sudden storm.
“It works simply not happen to test the smell,” said Mike Kreidler, Washington’s Insurance Commissioner.
Norma Garcia of Consumers Union in San Francisco, said the practice of discrimination by low to moderate income people, because they “somewhat negatively influenced by credit inaccurate information”.
Rod Guilmette, spokesman for the National Association of Professional Allstate Agents, which he calls “a form of economic annotations.”
Insurance companies’ customers want a lifetime high values. You want to sell investment funds, CDs, retreats. People, the credit would not have value, “he says .
Some Agent hatred credit scoring, because it costs of distribution, they are and what needs to explain that customers angry.
“When the agent, there are few things more than regrettable, credit scoring,” said Disney.
More than half the country, state lawmakers have introduced, bills to limit or prohibit credit assessments in the insurance sector. Washington, Idaho and Utah have laws controlling their use.
In California, severely restrict existing laws.
AUTO INSURANCE @ TRI. In private car insurance, California law provides for three rating factors, which must be exploited (record of safety, a long driving experience and miles driven per year) and 16 other factors that may be used. Each type of information or credit customers is not a legal criterion.
But some insurers are credit assessments to determine if people can have their premiums in the car or forward in a flat rate.
State prohibit the law does not explicitly. But: “We believe it is contrary to good provisions of the proposed 103 driver,” said Pam Pressley, a lawyer with the staff of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.