In testimony before the Washington Senate Committee on Business, Financial Services, and Trade, the Consumer Federation of America urged them to support SB 5589, which would conduct a study of credit history, credit-based insurance scores, and other rate factors that may disparately impact Washington residents.

This bill will provide badly needed information about insurers’ use of socioeconomic characteristics that result in unfair discrimination and encourage the development of policies that more fairly and accurately price insurance. Insurance companies often resist efforts to reform these pricing practices and rate factors, arguing that there is insufficient proof of the problem.