2023 New York Laws › ISC - Insurance › Article 28 - Use of Credit Information › 2802 - Use of Credit Information.

§  2802.  Use of credit information. An insurer doing business in this
state that uses credit information  to  underwrite  or  rate  risks  for
personal lines insurance, shall not:
(a)  use  an  insurance score that is calculated using income, gender,
address,  zip  code,  ethnic  group,  religion,   marital   status,   or
nationality of the consumer as a factor;
(b)  deny  a policy of personal lines insurance solely on the basis of
credit  information,  without  consideration  of  any  other  applicable
underwriting  factor independent of credit information, provided that an
offer by an insurer to provide coverage by writing a policy  through  an
affiliate  insurer  or  a tier within the insurer shall not constitute a
denial of a policy;
(c) use credit information to cancel or nonrenew a policy or  increase
an  insured's  premium  for personal lines insurance on renewal provided
that nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit  an  insurer
from  considering  an  insured's  tier placement pursuant to section two
thousand three hundred forty-nine of this chapter or  placement  with  a
company  within  a  group  of  affiliated  companies in conjunction with
factors other than credit information as part of its renewal process;
(d) take an adverse action against a consumer solely because he or she
does not have a credit card account, without consideration of any  other
applicable factor independent of credit information;
(e)  consider  an  absence  of  credit  information or an inability to
calculate  an  insurance  score  in  underwriting  or  rating   personal
insurance, unless the insurer does one of the following:
(1)  treats  the  consumer  as if the applicant or insured had neutral
credit information, as defined by the insurer;
(2) excludes the use of credit information as a factor and  uses  only
other underwriting criteria; or
(3)  treats  the consumer as otherwise approved by the superintendent,
if the insurer presents information that such an  absence  or  inability
relates to the risk for the insurer;
(f)  take  an  adverse  action  against  a  consumer  based  on credit
information, unless an insurer obtains and uses a credit  report  issued
or  an  insurance  score calculated within ninety days from the date the
policy is first written;
(g) use credit information  unless  at  least  once  every  thirty-six
months,  upon  the  request  of  a consumer or the consumer's agent, the
insurer shall re-underwrite and re-rate the policy based upon a  current
credit  report or insurance score provided, however, that this shall not
result in a premium increase  for  the  insured.  An  insurer  need  not
recalculate the insurance score or obtain the updated credit report of a
consumer  more  frequently  than  once  in  a  thirty-six-month  period.
Regardless of the requirements of this subsection:
(1) The insurer shall have the discretion  to  obtain  current  credit
information  upon  any  renewal,  if  consistent  with  its underwriting
guidelines provided that such information may be  used  only  to  reduce
premiums for the insured; and
(2)  No insurer need obtain current credit information for an insured,
despite the requirements of this subsection, if  one  of  the  following
applies:
(A)  The  insured is in the most favorably-priced tier of the insurer,
within a group of affiliated insurers; or
(B) Credit was not used for underwriting or rating such  insured  when
the  policy  was  initially written. However, the insurer shall have the
discretion to use credit for underwriting or rating  such  insured  upon
renewal, if such use would reduce premiums for the insured;
(h)  use  any  of  the following as a negative factor in any insurance
scoring methodology or in reviewing credit information for  the  purpose
of underwriting or rating a policy of personal lines insurance:
(1)  credit  inquiries  not  initiated  by  the  consumer or inquiries
requested by the consumer for his or her own credit information;
(2) inquiries relating to insurance coverage, if so  identified  on  a
consumer's credit report;
(3) collection accounts with a medical industry code, if so identified
on the consumer's credit report;
(4)  multiple  lender  inquiries,  if  coded by the consumer reporting
agency on the consumer's credit report as being from the  home  mortgage
industry  and  made  within  thirty days of one another, unless only one
inquiry is considered; or
(5) multiple lender inquiries, if  coded  by  the  consumer  reporting
agency  on  the  consumer's  credit  report as being from the automobile
lending industry and made within thirty days of one another, unless only
one inquiry is considered.