NU Online News Service, May 5, 5:13 p.m. EDT–State legislatures across the country are taking a balanced approach to bills regulating the use of credit history as an underwriting factor, said a carrier association.

The Des Plaines, Ill.-based Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, in its review of legislation, said that so far this year 27 states have had legislative or regulatory activity related to insurers' use of credit information. At this time, only two states (Montana and New Mexico) have enacted legislation. The laws in both states are largely based on a model act developed by the National Conference of Insurance Legislators, the association said. The laws allow insurers to use credit information while providing consumer safeguards.

PCI said that while a growing number of states permit the use of credit information by insurers, for the past several years some states have considered bills to ban or severely restrict its use. The legislative battleground states in 2005 so far have been Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Texas and Washington, the association noted.