The NAII's remarks in a press release came in response to the fact that the Department now includes information about insurance scoring on a section of its Web site.

The text describes what credit scores and insurance scores are. It also states that sometimes "insurance policies are not renewed because of a low credit score, even though no claim has been filed by the policyholder and premiums have been paid on time."

Mr. Bernstein said that he decided to include the information on the Web site because the Department is receiving 40 to 50 calls a week from insurance consumers asking "why their credit score is relevant to their increase in insurance or in some cases to the cancellation of auto insurance."

Noting that insurer use of credit scores has been spreading for some time, Mr. Bernstein said that the practice is "abominable."

In his view, "there is no reason to do credit scoring," which has a "negative impact" on consumers in his state.

He estimated that about 15 to 16 percent of Minnesotans are seeing lower rates as a result of their credit scores. At the same time, he suggested that about 60 percent of the state's insurance consumers are paying more, which is "unfair."

Mr. Bernstein also dismissed as "patently false" declarations by trade groups that disallowing credit scores as an underwriting or rating tool will lead to good risks subsidizing bad risks.

"People do go through trauma in their lives --the loss of a job, illness, a death," Mr. Bernstein observed.

He pointed out that a single event in a person's life, such as a long-ago bankruptcy or the loss of a small claims court case resulting in an adverse public judgment, can be "absolutely lethal" to a consumer's credit score.

The NAII criticized the Department Web site also for failing to include information from insurers that purports to demonstrate a connection between poor scores and poor claims histories.

"I have asked the industry repeatedly to provide an explanation of why the credit score impacts a person's ability to operate a motor vehicle safely or responsibly, or to maintain their property" in the case of homeowners insurance, Mr. Bernstein replied.

He declared that the reason he has not received a satisfactory explanation is that "frankly there is nothing."

While acknowledging that there is a statistical correlation between credit score and probability of filing a claim, he dismissed this as "spurious." He said that the mere fact of a correlation in data does not mean that there is "a relationship between the two variables."

Without an explanation of the relationship from the industry, "I am not going to allow credit scoring to take root in Minnesota as deeply as it has," Mr. Bernstein stated.

"That's why we've asked to ban the practice here in Minnesota," he said.

In fact, the department Web site asks consumers to contact their state lawmakers "and encourage them to reform our credit scoring laws to protect consumers from being unfairly penalized" by insurers.

Mr. Bernstein said this was important because of a credit-scoring bill currently moving through the legislature, which he predicted will pass.

He explained that while the bill does not outright ban insurer use of credit scores, it places "significant restrictions" on how the credit information can be used.

The sponsor of the legislation, Rep. Gregory M. Davids, R- Preston, chairman of the House Commerce, Jobs and Economic Development Committee, is an insurance agent, Mr. Bernstein noted.

As such, Mr. Davids has seen first hand "how abusive this practice is to his clients and perspective clients," Mr. Bernstein said.

Mr. Bernstein sits on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Credit Scoring Working Group, which has been probing this issue on a national level.

He noted that he has not received any calls from consumers or insurance agents in his state asking that credit scoring be kept because "it's a great and wonderful thing.'"

In fact, he said that credit scoring "is nothing more than a way for the insurance industry to extract more premium."

The Web site states that the Department "questions whether a person's credit history can accurately predict the person's driving skill, insurance claims activity or insurability."

Insurance trade groups have suggested that the credit score issue has been politicized by regulators and legislators who see it as a way to connect with the voters at re-election time.

But Mr. Bernstein pointed out that he was appointed by Gov. Jesse Ventura.

"I'm not running for anything here in Minnesota, and my boss, Gov. Ventura, hasn't made a decision about running again," Mr. Bernstein said

He added that the governor has not even campaigned on the credit scoring issue.

Finally, Mr. Bernstein said that trying to rein in insurer use of credit scores is not about politics but about "doing the right things for consumers here in Minnesota."