When you apply for auto or property insurance, providers may look at your credit score to help set your rates. State Representative Terese Berceau (D-Madison) says the practice doesn't make any sense and fails to see any correlation between a credit score and how a person drives.
Berceau is sponsoring legislation that would ban companies from using credit scores to determine rates. She says the practice could make rates go up for far too many people right now, due to the financial problems facing many families. The Madison Democrat says it could make it harder for people to get insurance or to afford coverage.
Industry officials say credit scores are just one of many factors they consider, and can be used to assess the risk of insuring a person. Berceau says the same could be said about other factors that aren't considered, such if a person owns a snowmobile or go hunting.
Berceau introduced a similar bill last session, but it was not taken up in the state Assembly.
AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (MP3 1:02)
