The spread of the credit check as civil rights issue

So far, there's a lack of data supporting a relationship between bad credit and theft by employees. In perhaps the only study published .....found no correlation between employee credit reports and negative performance or termination for dishonesty.

Flawed Study! Don't you think there is no correlation because the embezzlers have more money than they should have? They use their stolen funds - no need to borrow money.

People who save and refuse to borrow (thereby having little in their credit histories)

I paid cash for a car back in 2001. The credit agencies know about it. Although it didn't show up directly as a line item in any of my credit reports, they used it as a question when I logged on to get one of my free annual credit reports.

I think I mentioned that there are exceptions in my first post. I also said that I wrote as someone who had bad credit at one time.

Because I don't play the credit/debt game anymore. No credit card or loans! Pay in cash or debit card (same thing almost)

" i asked him who gets their "best" rates and he told me it's people just out of college. after ~ 20 years with Farmers i told them "no thanks", switched insurance companies (and got lower premiums)."

Lots of factors are used to set insurance rates, having a college education is one of those factors.

All insurance companies want the people that are least likely to ever file a claim. If the stats show that upper middle income is the best group to insure they will ask seemingly unrelated questions to find out if you may be in that group.
Few people would want to disclose their income ( if it were even legal to ask) to get insurance, so by being college educated they can sort out those most likely to fit the group they want to insure.

I was tired when I wrote my post and perhaps was unclear.
What I meant is that Blockbusters uses an application styled after the MMPI ( Minnesota Multiphase Personality Index) it is a psychological test used to determine
( along with patient interviews and other means) if a person has one of the personality disorders or psychological illnesses listed in that Bible of mental illness the The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

As you can imagine this test is quite intrusive and not at all warranted for companies such as Blockbusters.

You seem to think we in FL have enjoyed "low" home insurance rates relative to the risk involved. This simply isn't true and no insurance company would be so stupid as to ignore a risk factor. That's not the issue.
Also, we're not a "New Orleans waiting to happen." We've had far more category four and five hurricanes (which, by the way, N.O. did not experience) than New Orleans could even imagine. The fact is we're used to that reality and are FAR better prepared to deal with it.
When Andrew (at times a "5") hit Miami Dade in '93 the recovery, despite widespread devastation, was efficient and as rapid as could be expected.
Also, the sheer incompetence and panic (along with the criminal anarchy) that was revealed on the local and state level in New Orleans never could occur here.
The real issue for Floridians is that something new and different is taking place with respect to insurance providers, and that's what Crist and our legislature are dealing with.

The fact is that the insurance companies have engaged in some "selective price gouging". And, by the way, all our elected officials know the insurance business inside-out. For example, Sen. Bill Nelson was State Insurance Commissioner. Homeowners property insurance has always been a vital and integral part of daily life here - moreso than almost anywhere else. In short, we didn't just get off the bus from Pumpkin Creek.

I'll just give one specific example (and there are many) of what Crist and the legislature are doing. They're going to eliminate the Florida-only subsidiaries of insurance insurance companies, such as Allstate Floridian Ins. Co., which is a separate company from the national parent company. That allows the Florida company to raise rates arbitrarily because of FL losses while the national parent company makes huge profits. That's an obviously contrived shell game. What will be required is that the national parent company's profits will be considered in subsidiary rate filings.

I've had some personal experience with hurricanes. I live about six miles from the ocean and my residence was damaged by two of the eight hurricanes we've had in the past five years. If you're interested, I'll tell you about that and why our FL gun laws had much to do with why we had no such disgraceful episodes as occured in N.O.

"Lots of factors are used to set insurance rates, having a college education is one of those factors.

All insurance companies want the people that are least likely to ever file a claim. If the stats show that upper middle income is the best group to insure they will ask seemingly unrelated questions to find out if you may be in that group.
Few people would want to disclose their income ( if it were even legal to ask) to get insurance, so by being college educated they can sort out those most likely to fit the group they want to insure."

i assume Farmers already knew my level of education (from my occupation) and income bracket (from my address).

they lamely insinuated that my credit (probably along with > 97% of their other customers) was less than excellent and, as a result, lost a long term customer who had few claims.

as a group, people with good FICO scores and decades of steady emplyment and credit history (IN ADDITION TO having college educations) will always be a better credit risk than someone right out of college.

I learned early on that you are better off with an independent insurance agent that can sell ins. from many different companies.

My agent explained all the crap they pull to set rates. She would always check other companies to keep me with the lowest possible cost for the coverage.

I switch insurance companies on average every 3-5 years but I always have the same agent.