2016 Delaware Code
Title 18 - Insurance Code
CHAPTER 83. RESTRICTIONS UPON THE USE OF CREDIT INFORMATION
§ 8303. Restrictions on the use of credit information.

(a) An insurer shall not:

(1) Refuse to underwrite a new risk or establish a premium for an applicant based solely on a consumer report or on credit information relating to an applicant, without consideration of other applicable underwriting factors independent of the consumer report or credit information;

(2) With respect to any policy currently in force, make any adverse underwriting decision with respect to the current policyholder based in any way upon changes in credit information or changes in a consumer report; or

(3) With respect to any policy currently in force, request from the policyholder or any third party any credit information or consumer report relating to the current policyholder, except as permitted in subsection (c) of this section. This paragraph does not prohibit an insurer from requesting a consumer report or credit information for the purpose of:

a. With the insured's consent, claims and fraud investigation;

b. Prescreening, as permitted under § 604(b) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act [15 U.S.C. § 1681b(b)]; or

c. Other uses as approved by the Commissioner.

(b) Nothing in this section prevents an increase in premium based upon a general adjustment of pricing factors filed with and not disapproved by the Commissioner, provided that such increase is not based upon any underwriting criteria expressly forbidden by this section.

(c) Upon request of an insured, the insurer shall, at the time of a policy's renewal or anniversary date, re-rate the insured's policy based upon a current consumer report and give the insured the benefit of any improvement in the insured's insurance score. No adverse underwriting decision may result from a re-rating conducted pursuant to this subsection. An insurer need not recalculate the insurance score or obtain the updated credit report of an insured more frequently than once in a 12-month period. This subsection shall not apply if the 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 information at initial underwriting.

(d) If, as the result of any acquisition or transfer of all or part of a book of business of an agent, insurer, or broker, a policy is transferred from one insurer to another and re-rated, the re-rating shall be considered a re-rating of the policy currently in force upon renewal subject to the restrictions and benefits set forth in paragraphs (a)(2), (a)(3) of this section, above, provided that an insurer may offer a policyholder to rewrite the policy using credit and may, at the policyholder's option, rewrite the policy using credit if it results in a lower premium for the policyholder.

76 Del. Laws, c. 175, § 1.;