Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 19 - Department of Insurance › Part 1 - General › Chapter 31 - (2003-1) Use of Credit Information for Determining Rates and Eligibility for Personal Insurance › Rule 19-1-31.07 - Notice Requirements

Current through June 25, 2024
A. If an insurer
				writing personal insurance uses credit history or an insurance score in
				underwriting or rating an applicant, the insurer shall disclose, either on the
				insurance application or at the time the insurance application is taken, that
				it may obtain credit history and/or an insurance score in connection with such
				application. Such disclosure shall be either written or provided to an
				applicant in the same medium as the application for insurance. The insurer need
				not provide the disclosure statement required under this section to any insured
				on a renewal policy, if such insured has previously been provided a disclosure
				statement.
Use of the following example disclosure statement constitutes
				  compliance with this subsection: "In connection with this application for
				  insurance, we may review your credit history or obtain or use a credit-based
				  insurance score based on the information contained in that credit history. We
				  may use a third party in connection with the development of your insurance
				  score."
B. Any adverse
				action by an insurer as defined in Section 4.A. of this Regulation shall comply
				with the notice requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. §
				1681.
C. If an insurer takes an
				adverse action based upon credit history or an insurance score, the insurer
				shall provide notification to the applicant that an adverse action has been
				taken in accordance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. §
				1681m(a). The notification may be done in writing, orally or by electronic
				means and must include the following:
1. The
				name, address and telephone number of the consumer reporting agency, including
				a toll-free telephone number if it is a nationwide consumer reporting agency
				that provided the report.
2. A
				statement that the consumer reporting agency did not make the adverse decision
				and is not able to explain why the decision was made.
3. A statement setting forth the applicant's
				right to obtain a free disclosure of the applicant's report from the consumer
				reporting agency.
4. A statement
				setting forth the applicant's right to dispute directly with the consumer
				reporting agency the accuracy or completeness of any information provided by
				the consumer reporting agency.
5. A
				statement explaining the reasons for the adverse action. The reasons must be
				provided in sufficiently clear and specific language so that a person can
				identify the basis for the insurer's decision to take an adverse action. Such
				notification shall include a description of up to four factors that were the
				primary influences of the adverse action. The use of generalized terms such as
				"poor credit history", "poor credit rating", or "poor insurance score" does not
				meet the explanation requirements of this subsection. Standardized credit
				explanations provided by consumer reporting agencies are deemed to comply with
				this subsection.