Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 8307 – Notification
(a) If an insurer writing personal insurance uses credit information in underwriting or rating a consumer, the insurer or its agent shall disclose, either on the insurance application or at the time the insurance application is taken, that it may obtain credit information 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 consumer has previously been provided a disclosure statement. The following example disclosure statement constitutes compliance with this paragraph:
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 8307
- Applicant: means an individual who has applied to be covered by a personal insurance policy with an insurer. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 8303
- Consumer: means an insured whose credit information is used or whose insurance score is calculated in the underwriting or rating of a personal insurance policy or an applicant for such a policy. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 8303
- Credit information: means any credit-related information derived from a credit report, found on a credit report itself, or provided on an application for personal insurance. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 8303
- Credit report: A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness. Source: OCC
- Credit report: means any written, oral, or other communication of information by a consumer reporting agency bearing on a consumer's credit worthiness, credit standing or credit capacity which is used or expected to be used or collected in whole or in part for the purpose of serving as a factor to determine personal insurance premiums, eligibility for coverage, or tier placement. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 8303
- Insurance score: means a number or rating that is derived from an algorithm, computer application, model, or other process that is based in whole or in part on credit information for the purposes of predicting the future insurance loss exposure of an individual applicant or insured. See Delaware Code Title 18 Sec. 8303
- State: means the State of Delaware; and when applied to different parts of the United States, it includes the District of Columbia and the several territories and possessions of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
“In connection with this application for insurance, we may review your credit report or obtain or use a credit-based insurance score based on the information contained in that credit report. We may use a third party in connection with the development of your insurance score.”
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(b) If an insurer writing personal insurance used credit information in underwriting or rating a consumer, the insurer or its agent shall disclose either on the insurance application or at the time the application is taken, that if the application is approved and the applicant becomes a policyholder, he or she has the right to request a re-underwrite or rerate of his or her policy on an annual basis based upon current credit report. The notice shall state that the review will be conducted for the sole purpose of determining whether the use of the new credit information would lead to a reduction and will not be used for any other purpose, including an increase in premiums. The following example disclosure statement constitutes compliance with the paragraph:
“If we do use a credit based score, you will have the right on an annual basis to request that we obtain a current credit report for you and determine whether use of the new credit report would result in a decrease in your insurance premiums. If the new credit report that we receive would result in a decrease in your insurance premiums, we will make that reduction. If the new credit information would not reduce your insurance premiums, the credit report will not be used to impact your premiums in any way.”
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This subsection does not apply if an insurer’s filed rating plan does not use any credit information for the purpose of rating renewals, including any residual effect from the use of credit at initial underwriting.
(c) On an annual basis, the insurer shall inform its policyholders of their right to have their credit information reviewed to determine whether the use of the current credit report would result in a lower premium, in accordance with the procedures set forth in this chapter. This notification shall be in at least 18-point type and included with the renewal notice. The notification shall be accompanied by a form that the policyholder must complete and send to the insurer to request that the credit information be obtained and reviewed. The notification shall advise the policyholder that the request form must be mailed within 2 weeks of the date of mailing of the renewal notification by the insurer for a premium adjustment to be made for the upcoming policy period. The notification shall also advise the policyholder that they must comply with the renewal notice requirements regarding the payment amount and due date regardless of whether they choose to request a review of their credit report and that any decrease of premium as a result of the new credit report be effective on the upcoming renewal date provided in the renewal notice. This subsection does not apply to any renewal for which the insurer’s filed rating plan does not use any credit information, including residual effect from the use of credit information at initial underwriting. An insurer that is exempt from this subsection shall advise its policyholder of the exemption and the reason for the exemption with the policyholder’s renewal notice.