AIA Urges New Mexico Governor to Sign Credit Bill

The American Insurance Association said on March 24 that it is strongly urging New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) to sign S.B. 560, the Personal Insurance Credit Information Act, which was passed by the legislature on March 19.

“By signing this bill Gov. Richardson will ensure that New Mexican consumers are protected. This measure puts tough, uniform limitations on the use of personal credit information by insurance companies, while also ensuring that consumers pay a fair and adequate price for insurance coverage,” said Fred Bosse, AIA vice president, southwestern region. “This bill also ensures that consumers continue to have plenty of choices both in terms of auto and homeowners insurance products and insurance companies,” Bosse added.

S.B. 560 will provide New Mexico with some of the strongest consumer safeguards in the country that go beyond similar laws adopted in other states and are based on recommendations from the New Mexico Credit Scoring Task Force – a coalition of consumer and business groups established by the New Mexico Insurance Division. These safeguards include the following:

Insurance companies cannot deny, cancel or fail to renew coverage, or base a consumer’s placement on the basis of credit information or an insurance score without consideration of other underwriting factors permitted by state law;

Insurance companies cannot consider an absence of credit information or an inability to determine credit information, except under certain circumstances; and

Insurance companies must take into consideration “extraordinary life circumstances,” such as certain medical conditions, illness, injury or disease, divorce, the death of a spouse, child, or parent, involuntary loss of employment for more than three consecutive months, identity theft, a loss that makes a home uninhabitable, and other circumstances prescribed by the Superintendent of the New Mexico Insurance Division.

Gov. Richardson has until April 8 to sign the bill or it will be pocket-vetoed.