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Insurers defend valuable underwriting criteria     (Copyright Thompson’s World Insurance News     Not to be redistributed by individual recipients.)     State Farm Mutual Auto maintains there are a number of studies indicating a strong correlation between credit characteristics and the likelihood of future loss.     The insurer said that in light of this it is open to working with the government of New Brunswick to develop language for its Bill 43 credit scoring legislation that results in the fairest solution for its customers there.     As reported in our April 26 issue, New Brunswick superintendent of insurance Deborah McQuade released a discussion paper on the proposed legislation to do away with credit scoring as an underwriting tool for property policies.     Submissions on the issue were requested in writing by May 14.     “In New Brunswick, we apply some aspects of credit information to writing new business only,” State Farm’s John Bordignon told Thompson’s.     “These characteristics allow insurers to develop more accurate rates in accordance with the risk each consumer represents.”     He said State Farm’s credit use information model is different than that of a bank or other financial institution.     “The use of this information is revenue neutral. If we were to stop using it we would not increase our revenue but our overall premiums would be distributed differently.     “We believe the use of credit information can be beneficial to the vast majority of our customers.”     More in our May 10, 2010 edition, including comment from The Co-operators        Thompson’s World Insurance News P.O. Box 1027,  Waterloo, Ontario,  Canada  N2J 4S1 Tel: 519-579-2500 Fax: 519-745-7321 mpub@sympatico.ca THOMPSON’S WORLD INSURANCE NEWS , Canada’s only independent weekly for p&c insurance professionals, has been the industry’s most trusted news source since 1988.