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Give Floridians some credit

Palm Beach Post Editorial 

Friday, March 20, 2009

Mad enough at Florida’s insurance companies? Here’s another reason to be mad.

Auto insurers are using credit scores to determine coverage and rates. Lower scores mean higher rates. As Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink noted during a Thursday news conference, credit scores for many people – even those who pay their bills on time – are going down because credit-card companies are overreacting to their own excesses. Having lent to anyone during the housing bubble, they’re now lending only to those with the very best credit.

So Floridians who played by the rules when buying their own homes but, through various bailout plans, are paying for the mistakes and greed of others also might have to pay more to insure their cars even though they’ve followed the rules on personal credit.

Auto insurers could do their image and the state a big favor by taking Ms. Sink’s complaint seriously. It won’t help if they just get mad at her.