Monday, June 4, 2007

Insurance Rates Are Now Adverse Actions?

The Supreme Court may have got this one wrong. And its rare that unanimous courts get things wrong. In Safeco Insurance v. Burr, the Supreme Court unanimously found that if an insurance company sets it rates using a credit score, the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 applies to insurance companies in that insurance companies must make proper disclosure under the Act that explains the adverse action. Now, I'm not on the Supreme Court, but how can this be an adverse action? Inherit in the term adverse, there has to be an a priori situation. I can see them resetting an insurance rate based on a credit score, but not the initial one.

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