IIAA URGES CONSUMER-FRIENDLY CREDIT SCORING

The Independent Insurance Agents of America (IIAA) is telling state legislators that persuading insurers to modify their business practices offers a more effective solution than regulation in the debate over the use of credit scoring as an underwriting tool. IIAA President-elect W. Cloyce Anders offered the comments in testimony before the Spring meeting of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) in Charleston, SC. The use of credit data for underwriting and rating has become commonplace, Anders pointed out, citing a study Conning & Co. released last year. The research reported that 92 of the 100 largest personal auto insurers use credit data in underwriting or rating. It is not the use of credit information that upsets agents, Anders testified, so much as the way that some companies use it. He blamed increased reliance on credit information for a large jump in counterintuitive underwriting results that is frustrating IIAA members and their clients.