With the Florida Legislature recently confirming the Oct. 2, 2008, legislative sunset of Florida's public records exemption for credit scoring methodologies and related trade secret information, some insurers may have reason to be uneasy.

Pending bills in the current legislative session would prohibit the use of credit scores or credit reports in insurance underwriting. Companion Senate and House bills would amend the Unfair Insurance Trade Practices Act to prohibit the charging of motor vehicle insurance premiums based on credit information, the refusal to insure or continue to insure based upon an individual's credit information, and the use of credit reports or credit scores in making rate and underwriting determinations.

In addition, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has proposed rules to regulate this issue. The proposed rules require insurers to utilize methodologies furnished to the OIR and to provide statistical validation proving that the use of credit scoring does not result in a disproportionate impact on certain protected classes of individuals. Any 2009 legislation could affect the disposition and substance of these proposals, which are in the rule development stage.

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