American Family Insurance is being fined for undercharging customers by using rates that were not filed with or approved by the insurance commissioner, according to a memo shared with KIRO 7 News.
The message sent to staff members included the following information to share with customers:
"Since 2009, we have applied life event exception to Washington auto and property customers who were experiencing a major life event (such as divorce, death of a spouse, medical emergency) that would affect their credit-based insurance score, which could also impact their insurance premiums. This practice was intended to be customer-friendly for those who have faced hardships."
"In preparing our advance filing, we learned the way we apply this is prohibited in Washington. We self-reported the issue to the insurance commissioner when we became aware that offering this exception, which was technically an unapproved rate (not filed) in Washington."<br/> <br/>
Cox Media Group
