75% of Ontarians do not know their credit scores are used in home insurance: IBAO

The vast majority of Ontario consumers – 75% – do not know their credit scores are used to determine how much the pay for their home insurance, according to a survey commissioned by the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO).
IBAO commissioned MRP Market Research Professionals Inc. to poll more than 802 Ontarians during the first week of November.
The first question asked: In Ontario, are you aware that insurance companies use consumer credit scores to determine what a consumer pays for home insurance?
Seventy-five per cent said, ‘No, they were not aware that insurers used credit scores to price home insurance,’ IBAO president Bryan Yetman said during a teleconference.
“It tells us insurers are simply not telling consumers that they are using very sensitive and private information, nor are they obtaining their informed consent,” Yetman said.
The second question asked if respondents would be in favour of extending the ban on the use of credit scores in underwriting auto insurance to personal property insurance.
“Seventy-six per cent of Ontarians strongly favoured or somewhat favoured extending the ban while only 11% strongly or somewhat opposed extending the ban,” Yetman added.
Some industry stakeholders defend the use of credit, citing the use of Insurance Bureau of Canada’s Code of Conduct around the practice. Yetman said this was “no more than misleading.
“The IBC Code of Conduct, quite frankly, isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. To date, no company has adopted it, nor does the IBC have any authority to order compliance with it,” Yetman said.
“We would argue that this document serves no purpose but to provide consumers with a false sense of security about how their very private information is used.”