093_HB1640enr

 
HB1640 Enrolled                      LRB093 02129 JLS 10958 b

 1        AN ACT concerning  the  use  of  credit  information  and
 2    insurance.

 3        Be  it  enacted  by  the People of the State of Illinois,
 4    represented in the General Assembly:

 5        Section 1.  Short title.  This Act may be  cited  as  the
 6    Use of Credit Information in Personal Insurance Act.

 7        Section  5.  Purpose.   The  purpose  of  this  Act is to
 8    regulate the use of credit information for personal insurance
 9    so that  consumers  are  afforded  certain  protections  with
10    respect to the use of that information.

11        Section   10.  Scope.   This   Act  applies  to  personal
12    insurance and not to commercial insurance.  For  purposes  of
13    this   Act,  "personal  insurance"  means  private  passenger
14    automobile,  homeowners,  motorcycle,  mobile-homeowners  and
15    non-commercial dwelling fire insurance  policies,  and  boat,
16    personal  watercraft,  snowmobile,  and  recreational vehicle
17    polices. Such policies must be individually underwritten  for
18    personal,   family,  or  household  use.  No  other  type  of
19    insurance shall be included as  personal  insurance  for  the
20    purpose of this Act.

21        Section  15.  Definitions.  For the purposes of this Act,
22    these defined words have the following meanings:
23        "Adverse Action" means a denial or  cancellation  of,  an
24    increase  in  any charge for, or a reduction or other adverse
25    or unfavorable change in the terms of coverage or amount  of,
26    any  insurance,  existing  or applied for, in connection with
27    the underwriting of personal insurance.
28        "Affiliate"  means  any   company   that   controls,   is
29    controlled  by,  or  is  under  common  control  with another
 
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 1    company.
 2        "Applicant" means an individual who  has  applied  to  be
 3    covered by a personal insurance policy with an insurer.
 4        "Consumer"  means  an  insured  or  an  applicant  for  a
 5    personal insurance policy whose credit information is used or
 6    whose  insurance  score  is calculated in the underwriting or
 7    rating of a personal insurance policy.
 8        "Consumer reporting agency" means any  person  that,  for
 9    monetary  fees  or  dues or on a cooperative nonprofit basis,
10    regularly engages in whole or in  part  in  the  practice  of
11    assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other
12    information  on  consumers  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing
13    consumer reports to third parties.
14        "Credit information" means any credit-related information
15    derived  from  a  credit  report,  found  on  a credit report
16    itself, or provided on an application for personal insurance.
17    Information  that  is  not  credit-related   shall   not   be
18    considered  "credit information," regardless of whether it is
19    contained in a credit report or in an application or is  used
20    to calculate an insurance score.
21        "Credit   report"  means  any  written,  oral,  or  other
22    communication of information by a consumer  reporting  agency
23    bearing  on  a consumer's credit worthiness, credit standing,
24    or credit capacity, that is used or expected to  be  used  or
25    collected in whole or in part for the purpose of serving as a
26    factor  to determine personal insurance premiums, eligibility
27    for coverage, or tier placement.
28        "Department" means the Department of Insurance.
29        "Insurance score"  means  a  number  or  rating  that  is
30    derived  from  an  algorithm, computer application, model, or
31    other process that is based in whole or  in  part  on  credit
32    information   for  the  purposes  of  predicting  the  future
33    insurance  loss  exposure  of  an  individual  applicant   or
34    insured.
 
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 1        Section   20.  Use  of  credit  information.  An  insurer
 2    authorized to do business in  this  State  that  uses  credit
 3    information to underwrite or rate risks shall not:
 4             (1)  Use an insurance score that is calculated using
 5        income,  gender, address, ethnic group, religion, marital
 6        status, or nationality of the consumer as a factor.
 7             (2)  Deny, cancel, or nonrenew a policy of  personal
 8        insurance  solely  on  the  basis  of credit information,
 9        without   consideration   of   any    other    applicable
10        underwriting factor independent of credit information and
11        not  expressly  prohibited by item (1).  An insurer shall
12        not  be  considered  to  have   denied,   cancelled,   or
13        nonrenewed  a  policy if coverage is available through an
14        affiliate.
15             (3)  Base an insured's renewal  rates  for  personal
16        insurance   solely   upon   credit  information,  without
17        consideration of any other applicable factor  independent
18        of   credit   information.    An  insurer  shall  not  be
19        considered  to  have  based  rates   solely   on   credit
20        information  if coverage is available in a different tier
21        of the same insurer.
22             (4)  Take  an  adverse  action  against  a  consumer
23        solely because he or she does  not  have  a  credit  card
24        account,  without  consideration  of any other applicable
25        factor independent of credit information.
26             (5)  Consider an absence of credit information or an
27        inability to calculate an insurance score in underwriting
28        or rating personal insurance, unless the insurer does one
29        of the following:
30                  (A)  Treats the consumer as otherwise  approved
31             by   the   Department,   if   the  insurer  presents
32             information  that  such  an  absence  or   inability
33             relates to the risk for the insurer.
34                  (B)  Treats the consumer as if the applicant or
 
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 1             insured  had  neutral credit information, as defined
 2             by the insurer.
 3                  (C)  Excludes the use of credit information  as
 4             a factor and uses only other underwriting criteria.
 5             (6)  Take an adverse action against a consumer based
 6        on credit information, unless an insurer obtains and uses
 7        a  credit  report issued or an insurance score calculated
 8        within 90 days from the date the policy is first  written
 9        or renewal is issued.
10             (7)  Use  credit  information  unless not later than
11        every 36 months following the last time that the  insurer
12        obtained  current credit information for the insured, the
13        insurer recalculates the insurance score  or  obtains  an
14        updated   credit   report.   Regardless   of   the  other
15        requirements of this Section:
16                  (A)  At annual renewal, upon the request  of  a
17             consumer  or the consumer's agent, the insurer shall
18             re-underwrite and re-rate the policy  based  upon  a
19             current credit report or insurance score. An insurer
20             need  not  recalculate the insurance score or obtain
21             the  updated  credit  report  of  a  consumer   more
22             frequently than once in a 12-month period.
23                  (B)  The  insurer  shall have the discretion to
24             obtain current credit information upon  any  renewal
25             before  the  expiration  of 36 months, if consistent
26             with its underwriting guidelines.
27                  (C)  An  insurer  is  not  required  to  obtain
28             current credit information for an  insured,  despite
29             the  requirements of subitem (A) of item (7) of this
30             Section if one of the following applies:
31                       (a)  The insurer is treating the  consumer
32                  as otherwise approved by the Department.
33                       (b)  The    insured   is   in   the   most
34                  favorably-priced tier of the insurer, within  a
 
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 1                  group  of  affiliated  insurers.  However,  the
 2                  insurer  shall  have  the  discretion  to order
 3                  credit  information,  if  consistent  with  its
 4                  underwriting guidelines.
 5                       (c)  Credit was not used for  underwriting
 6                  or  rating  the  insured  when  the  policy was
 7                  initially written. However, the  insurer  shall
 8                  have   the   discretion   to   use  credit  for
 9                  underwriting  or  rating   the   insured   upon
10                  renewal,  if  consistent  with its underwriting
11                  guidelines.
12                       (d)  The insurer re-evaluates the  insured
13                  beginning   no   later  than  36  months  after
14                  inception  and  thereafter  based  upon   other
15                  underwriting   or   rating  factors,  excluding
16                  credit information.
17             (8)  Use the following as a negative factor  in  any
18        insurance  scoring  methodology  or  in  reviewing credit
19        information for the purpose of underwriting or  rating  a
20        policy of personal insurance:
21                  (A)  Credit  inquiries  not  initiated  by  the
22             consumer  or inquiries requested by the consumer for
23             his or her own credit information.
24                  (B)  Inquiries relating to insurance  coverage,
25             if so identified on a consumer's credit report.
26                  (C)  Collection   accounts   with   a   medical
27             industry  code,  if  so identified on the consumer's
28             credit report.
29                  (D)  Multiple lender inquiries, if coded by the
30             consumer reporting agency on the  consumer's  credit
31             report  as being from the home mortgage industry and
32             made within 30 days of one another, unless only  one
33             inquiry is considered.
34                  (E)  Multiple lender inquiries, if coded by the
 
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 1             consumer  reporting  agency on the consumer's credit
 2             report as being from the automobile lending industry
 3             and made within 30 days of one another, unless  only
 4             one inquiry is considered.

 5        Section  25.  Dispute resolution and error correction. If
 6    it is determined through the dispute resolution  process  set
 7    forth  in  the  federal  Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C.
 8    1681i (a)(5),  that  the  credit  information  of  a  current
 9    insured  was  incorrect  or  incomplete  and  if  the insurer
10    receives  notice  of  that  determination  from  either   the
11    consumer  reporting  agency  or from the insured, the insurer
12    shall re-underwrite and re-rate the consumer within  30  days
13    after   receiving   the   notice.  After  re-underwriting  or
14    re-rating the insured, the insurer shall make any adjustments
15    necessary,  consistent  with  its  underwriting  and   rating
16    guidelines.  If  an  insurer  determines that the insured has
17    overpaid premium, the insurer shall refund to the insured the
18    amount of overpayment  calculated  back  to  the  shorter  of
19    either  the  last  12 months of coverage or the actual policy
20    period.

21        Section 30.  Initial notification.
22        (a)  If an insurer writing personal insurance uses credit
23    information in underwriting or rating a consumer, the insurer
24    or  its  agent  shall  disclose,  either  on  the   insurance
25    application  or  at  the  time  the  insurance application is
26    taken, that it may obtain credit  information  in  connection
27    with  the application. The disclosure shall be either written
28    or provided to  an  applicant  in  the  same  medium  as  the
29    application  for  insurance. The insurer need not provide the
30    disclosure statement  required  under  this  Section  to  any
31    insured  on  a renewal policy, if the consumer has previously
32    been provided a disclosure statement.
 
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 1        (b)  Use of the following  example  disclosure  statement
 2    constitutes compliance with this Section: "In connection with
 3    this  application  for  insurance,  we may review your credit
 4    report or obtain or use a credit-based insurance score  based
 5    on  the  information  contained in that credit report. We may
 6    use a third party in connection with the development of  your
 7    insurance score.".

 8        Section  35.  Adverse  action notification. If an insurer
 9    takes an adverse action based upon  credit  information,  the
10    insurer  must  meet  all  of  the notice requirements of this
11    Section. The insurer shall:
12             (1)  Provide notification to the  consumer  that  an
13        adverse  action  has  been  taken, in accordance with the
14        requirements of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15
15        U.S.C. 1681m(a).
16             (2)  Provide notification to the consumer explaining
17        the reason for the adverse action. The  reasons  must  be
18        provided  in  sufficiently clear and specific language so
19        that a person can identify the basis  for  the  insurer's
20        decision  to  take  an  adverse  action. The notification
21        shall include a description of up to 4 factors that  were
22        the  primary influences of the adverse action. The use of
23        generalized terms such as "poor  credit  history",  "poor
24        credit  rating",  or "poor insurance score" does not meet
25        the   explanation   requirements   of    this    Section.
26        Standardized  credit  explanations  provided  by consumer
27        reporting agencies  or  other  third  party  vendors  are
28        deemed to comply with this Section.

29        Section 40.  Filing.
30        (a)  Insurers that use insurance scores to underwrite and
31    rate  risks  must file their scoring models (or other scoring
32    processes) with  the  Department.  A  third  party  may  file
 
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 1    scoring  models on behalf of insurers. A filing that includes
 2    insurance scoring may include loss experience justifying  the
 3    use of credit information.
 4        (b)  Any   filing   relating  to  credit  information  is
 5    considered to be a trade  secret  under  the  Illinois  Trade
 6    Secrets Act.

 7        Section 45.  Enforcement; rates not regulated.
 8        (a)  The  Department shall enforce the provisions of this
 9    Act pursuant to the enforcement powers granted  to  it  under
10    the  Illinois  Insurance  Code. The Department may promulgate
11    rules necessary to enforce and administer this Act.
12        (b)  Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed  to
13    empower  the  Department  to regulate or set the rates of any
14    insurer pursuant to this Act.

15        Section 50.  Sale of policy term information by  consumer
16    reporting agency.
17        (a)  No  consumer  reporting agency shall provide or sell
18    data or lists that include any information that in  whole  or
19    in  part  was  submitted  in  conjunction  with  an insurance
20    inquiry about a consumer's credit information  or  a  request
21    for  a  credit  report  or  insurance score. Such information
22    includes, but is not limited to, the expiration dates  of  an
23    insurance  policy  or any other information that may identify
24    time periods during which a consumer's insurance  may  expire
25    and  the  terms  and  conditions  of the consumer's insurance
26    coverage.
27        (b)  The restrictions provided in subsection (a) of  this
28    Section  do not apply to data or lists the consumer reporting
29    agency supplies to the insurance agent or producer from  whom
30    information  was  received,  the  insurer on whose behalf the
31    agent or producer  acted,  or  the  insurer's  affiliates  or
32    holding companies.
 
HB1640 Enrolled             -9-      LRB093 02129 JLS 10958 b
 1        (c)  Nothing  in  this  Section  shall  be  construed  to
 2    restrict  any  insurer  from  being  able  to obtain a claims
 3    history report or a motor vehicle report.

 4        Section 55.  Severability.  If  any  Section,  paragraph,
 5    sentence,  clause,  phrase,  or  part of this Act is declared
 6    invalid due to an interpretation of or a future change in the
 7    federal Fair Credit Reporting Act,  the  remaining  Sections,
 8    paragraphs,  sentences,  clauses,  phrases,  or parts thereof
 9    shall be in no manner affected thereby but  shall  remain  in
10    full force and effect.

11        (215 ILCS 5/155.38 rep)
12        Section  95.  The  Illinois  Insurance Code is amended by
13    repealing Section 155.38.

14        Section 99.  Effective date.  This Act  takes  effect  on
15    October 1, 2003.