NU Online News Service, Dec. 7, 2:10 p.m.EST

SAN FRANCISCO–Consumer advocates again criticized theNational Association of Insurance Commissioners for dragging itsfeet on credit scoring while attending quickly to issues of concernto the insurance industry.

At the Consumer Liaison Meeting held during the NAIC WinterNational Meeting here, Birny Birnbaum, executive director of theAustin, Texas-based Center for Economic Justice, pointed to therecession and the subprime crisis and said, "If there was ever atime consumers needed some relief, this is it."

Instead, he noted, there has been "basically no action," or atleast "nothing substantive" to date from the NAIC.

Consumer representatives made similar complaints last monthbefore and during an NAIC Property & Casualty Committeeconference call.

In his statement at the Consumer Liaison Meeting, Mr. Birnbaumsaid the NAIC Property & Casualty Committee continued thecharge of looking into credit scoring into 2010 and called for areport to be issued by next November.

By comparison, he said the NAIC had acted quickly to deal withcapital surplus and relief issues that concerned insurers. Mr.Birnbaum said the NAIC response on the two issues shows a "sharpcontrast."

Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler, who waspresented with the Consumer Representative Award for Excellence inConsumer Advocacy earlier during the Consumer Liaison Meeting, saidhe is pushing for a permanent moratorium on insurers' use ofconsumer credit records, and questioned whether it would be moreeffective for consumer advocates to push the issue state by staterather than at the NAIC. "Some states will take up the challenge,"he said.

Mr. Birnbaum, who had criticized the NAIC's response tocredit-based insurance scoring last month in a conference call,agreed that going state to state might be "better use of mytime."

Last month, in an interview with NU Online, IllinoisInsurance Director Michael McRaith, chair of the Property &Casualty Committee, defended the NAIC's schedule on credit scoring,stating, "Our job is to dispense with the rhetoric on both sides"from both insurers and consumer groups, and to understand "in adetailed, nuanced sense" how insurance scores affect consumerstoday.

Insurers have defended credit scoring as something that providesfair rates for good drivers, while critics say the process unfairlyimpacts low income and minority consumers and persons with impactsfrom major medical emergencies.