WA Lege: Should credit scores help set car premiums?
OLYMPIA – A credit score should not be used to help determine how much a person pays for home or auto insurance premiums, State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler told a legislative panel Wednesday evening.
Factors that affect credit scores can discriminate against low income and minorities, Kreidler said as he lobbied for one of his top priorities, the banning of the practice in Washington state.
“Responsible people get laid off. They consolidate their debt. They shouldn’t have to pay more for insurance because of that,” Kreidler said.
But representatives of the insurance industry told the House Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee that a credit score does help predict good and bad insurance risks and should remain one of many factors the companies can use to set a customer’s rates.
“It’s not magic or voodoo, it’s science,” said Kenton Brine, a representative of the Property Casualty Insurers Association. “It’s actuarially sound.”
Most states allow the use of credit scores, Alex Hageli, another
representative of the association said. There are different theories as
to why that is, but no definitive answer.
The law doesn’t require the
companies to explain why credit scores work, they just have to be
predictive, Hageli said.
People with good or average credit scores either save money or aren’t
affected by putting that into the mix of factors, Robert Detlefsen, a
researcher for the insurance industry, said: “There is no way you can
use a credit score to identify a person on the basis of race or
ethnicity.”
Washington state started allowing the use of credit scores 10 years
ago, and tried to stop it in 2002, Kreidler said. Instead, the state
settled for a compromise with some restrictions that he says aren’t
working. He wants the practice banned, and insurance companies to
return to using factors like driving records and accidents for auto
insurance or number of claims for homeowners insurance.
“I’m not talking predictability, I’m talking fairness,” he said.
Similar bans have been proposed the last two years but have stalled in
the Legislature. This year, however, the ban may be is much of a
priority for Kreidler as blocking it is for the insurance industry.