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Florida insurance regulators and industry representatives continue to spar over credit scoring rules aimed at quantifying the impact on groups based on race and income factors.

The Office of Insurance Regulation issued a new set of rules yesterday requiring insurers to document the effect of credit scoring on groups based on "race, color or national origin."

The industry succeeded in having similar rules overturned in January by a state administrative law judge and said the revised rules offer no improvement.

William Stander, Tallahassee-based regional manager for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, said "the OIR is seeking to prohibit insurers from using credit information by making it virtually impossible to comply with the rules."

Mr. Stander said the rules require the industry to document the effects of insurance scoring with demographic information not collected by or available to insurers.

Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty interpreted the January ruling as favoring the OIR on substantive matters, although it denoted some "vagueness in defining the terms 'disparate impact' and 'race, color and national origin.'"

Sam Miller, executive vice president of the Florida Insurance Council, took issue with Mr. McCarty's interpretation, noting the entire rules were thrown out, forcing the OIR to start from scratch.

Mr. McCarty said he will continue in efforts to ensure low-income groups are not harmed by credit scoring.

Special Reports /

Florida Regulators, Industry at Odds on Scoring

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