Property-casualty trade groups have called on New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to veto a bill that would prohibit using information that a consumer provides in searching for a car or home loan to determine their credit score.

The industry organizations said the bill could distort evaluations.

Assemblyman Adam Bradley, D-White Plains, who introduced the bill, said the legislation was not intended to affect insurers' use of credit scoring as a risk management tool and does not do that.

Mr. Bradley said he is hopeful but can't predict whether the governor will sign the measure. Gov. Spitzer, he said, has always been a strong advocate on consumer issues, and this bill supports consumers.

"I hope he will sign it, but I can't speak for the governor," he remarked.

He explained the bill's purpose is to keep good consumers from being penalized with an adverse score because they shopped around for a lower rate.

"It is an unfair penalty on consumers who are doing what they should be doing," said Mr. Bradley.

While some credit reporting companies may observe a 30- to 45-day rule on loan inquiries, others do not. In some cases it can take a consumer longer than the 30 days to shop for a loan, and that should not be a penalty, he said.

Asked about the opposition to the bill from insurers, Mr. Bradley said he was not surprised by it. Insurers and credit reporting companies seek to use the most conservative measures on credit scoring to reduce the potential risk to them. But the reality is this credit measure only serves to punish consumers, he argues.

Paul Magaril, Property Casualty Insurers Association of America regional manager, said the bill ignores the role that credit scores play in assessing insurance risks, and may have the unintended consequence of increasing the cost of mortgage and automobile loans.

"Prohibiting the use of such a predictive factor distorts credit scores and makes them less accurate," he said.

Paul Tetrault, regional manager for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, said that "credit-based insurance scores that carriers use commonly count multiple credit inquiries within a 30-day period as a single inquiry to account for situations for which consumers are shopping for best terms."

Mr. Tetrault said the bill was introduced primarily to deal with the credit scores banks and other financial institutions use when dispensing credit, but would apply to insurance scores as well.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Spitzer said he has not received the bill yet.

Special Reports /

N.Y. Gov. Urged To Veto Credit Score Bill

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