12 CONSUMER FEDERATION OF AMERICA 2018 ANNUAL REPORT RESEARCH AND EDUCATION Auto Insurance and Lower-Income Households: With support from the Ford Foundation, and as part of a larger advocacy campaign, we continued to research lower-income auto insurance issues related to affordability and discrimination. The research included two reports, based on testing conducted by CFA that showed some insurers do not provide discounts to low-mileage drivers and that state regulators are allowing unreasonable rate differences based on a driver’s ZIP Code to persist. These reports, and releases related to other insurer practices, were widely covered by news media and disseminated throughout the consumer community. As well as supporting policy reform, the dissemination of these reports helped inform consumers about how to more effectively purchase auto insurance. We also worked closely with state-based CFA members that conducted public education and advocacy in support of auto insurance reform. We provided testimony to a Maryland legislative committee on the benefits of a special auto insurance program for low-income drivers, testimony to California insurance regulators concerning the effect of the use of gender in auto insurance pricing, and technical and strategic assistance on a Texas Appleseed report revealing the unfairly high prices charged to women and unmarried drivers in Texas. CFA also produced information showing that California’s Proposition 103 has had remarkable success in holding down auto insurance prices and ensuring that pricing is based more on how people drive and less on social characteristics. Consumer Protection: CFA added new components to the release of its annual Consumer Complaint Survey Report. The survey highlights the most common, newest, and worst complaints made to state and local consumer protection agencies and the assistance that they provide to the public. This year several of the agencies that participated in the survey wrote blogs with tips for consumers on a variety of topics and CFA created infographics to accompany them. These were provided for consumer information on CFA’s website, and agencies used them in their own public outreach. CFA also added new consumer education resources from a variety of sources to its www.IDTheftInfo.org website. Credit Scores: In partnership with VantageScore Solutions, CFA surveyed the nation’s knowledge of credit scores for the seventh consecutive year and also continued updating an interactive website (www.creditscorequiz.org) and related