Senate Bill No. 416
(By Senators Chafin, Bailey, Helmick, Edgell, Plymale, Yoder,
Foster, Hunter and Love)
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[Introduced January 30, 2006; referred to the Committee
on Banking and Insurance; and then to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §33-11-5b, relating
to prohibiting the use of a person's credit history in
insurance transactions.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §33-11-5b, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 11. UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES.
§33-11-5b. Use of credit history prohibited.
With respect to insurance policies for passenger motor
vehicles, residential property or other personal insurance lines,
no person may:
(1) Refuse to underwrite, cancel, refuse to renew a risk or
increase a renewal premium, based, in whole or in part, on the
credit history of an applicant for insurance or an insured person,
or
(2) Rate a risk based, in whole or in part, on the credit
history of an applicant for insurance or an insured person in any
manner, including, but not limited to, the provision or removal of
a discount, assigning an applicant or insured person to a rating
tier, or placing an applicant or insured person with an affiliated
company; or
(3) Require a particular payment plan based, in whole or in
part, on the credit history of the applicant for insurance or the
insured person.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit the use of a
person's credit history in insurance transactions.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.