For FishingMagician.com, I'm Eric Granstrom. I received a shock in the mail this week. My annual premium for my boat insurance arrived and I was dismayed to find it had gone up 14-percent from a year ago. Nothing had changed with the boat, other than it's a year older, and nothing had changed in any other aspect of my life. Come to find out this has to do with a ban in Washington State on using credit scores to determine interest rates. During the pandemic in 2001, the state decided it was unfair and possibly profiling to minorities to base insurance rates on whether you had good credit or not. This was an emergency rule that was only supposed to last through the pandemic or for three years, whichever was shorter. Washington insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler vowed to make the ban permanent. Here's the thing. Insurance companies braced for the hit by adjusting rates on those in Washington with good credit to help balance out those with poor credit. As a result, I'm seeing a 14-percent increase in my premium for my boat. I'll be checking around with other insurance carriers today. Until next time, Good Fishing!