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ANCHORAGE, Alaska -The Credit Scoring Working Group of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) adopted its "best practices" document today in Anchorage, despite strong objections from insurers.

September 14, 2004 -MI-Assistant, a division of Fiserv FSC, Inc. announced today that independent insurance distributors in five Midwestern states are now writing auto insurance faster and more efficiently using a bridging system that connects MI Comparative rater, MI-Assistant's rating program with Safeco Insurance's Safeco Now online sales platform.

SAN FRANCISCO--Esurance, a direct-to-consumer personal auto insurance company, announced the launch of its new service powered by eStara, Inc. eStara's Push to Talk is a fully-hosted, Voice over the Internet (VoIP) "click to call" service, the most widely-deployed service of its kind in the world. The click to call feature allows Esurance customers to click a button to speak with an Esurance insurance advisor directly from Esurance's Web site, from PC-to-phone or through phone-to-phone calls.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Humana Inc. is taking full advantage of processing efficiencies from technology investments and changing market dynamics by naming Availity LLC its primary gateway for the submission of claims and encounters. Under this national arrangement, Humana is asking all of its major clearinghouses to send submissions destined for Humana through Availity.

The Citizens and Hanover Insurance Companies have launched The Agency Place, a new, web-based agency portal that provides its network of independent agents with centralized access to all of the information and tools they need to conduct business in the most efficient and simplest manner possible. The Agency Place is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, making it easier for agents to conduct business on their own schedules.

BETHLEHEM, Pa.--A new Web site, InsuranceGripe.com has been created in an effort to help consumers complain to their respective insurance departments about insurance problems. The site was created specifically to walk consumers through the process of collecting the proper information, preparing a letter and sending the letter to the appropriate address. According to Rick Weidman, President and CEO, "this site has been long overdue for insurance customers and shoppers. If you have ever had an insurance problem and attempted to contact your insurance department to complain, it can be a daunting experience.

ST. LOUIS--With 120-mile-per-hour winds and devastating force, Hurricane Charley ripped into the Alligator Mobile Home Park in Punta Gorda, Florida earlier in the month. If the destruction wasn't enough, just two weeks later Hurricane Frances hit Florida 's East coast with 100 mile-per-hour winds. RVs were overturned, belongings strewn for hundreds of yards, and in its wake, hundreds of RVers were left homeless and stranded, their lives threatened to come to a screeching halt.

LONGMONT, Colo.--- First MainStreet, a northern Colorado financial services organization offering banking, insurance, trust, investment and mortgage products and services, announces that First MainStreet Insurance acquired Value Quote Insurance, a Longmont-based insurance agency guiding individuals and businesses through the health insurance purchase process, and providing administrative services for employee benefit programs. Details about the transaction are undisclosed.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then U.S. insurance companies are making their contribution to this well-worn axiom.North American insurers currently are pursuing global expansion at the brisk pace rivaling European insurers' foray into U.S. markets in the early 1990s, according to a recent report by Needham, Mass.-based research and advisory firm TowerGroup.

Despite all the progress that has been made in developing agent-carrier interfaces, insurance agents, particularly those who are independent, want more workflow support than they're currently receiving from the insurance companies with which they conduct business.In a survey conducted by Scituate, Mass.-based Deep Customer Connections (DCC), there's a gap between agents' expectations and carriers' performance-a gap that has widened since DCC's first survey last year. The Web-based poll was sent to more than 40,000 independent insurance agencies and brokerages nationwide.