Prohibited transactions

The following practices, when engaged in by insurers in connection with the sale or placement of credit insurance, or as an inducement thereto, shall constitute unfair methods of competition and shall be subject to the Unfair Trade Practices Act of this state. 1. The offer or grant by an insurer to a creditor of any special advantage or any service not set out in either the group insurance contract or in the agency contract, other than the payment of agent's commissions; 2. Agreement by an insurer to deposit with a bank or financial institution money or securities of the insurer with the design or intent that the same shall affect or take the place of a deposit of money or securities which otherwise would be required of the creditor by the bank or financial institution as a compensating balance or offsetting deposit for a loan or other advancement; and 3. Deposit by an insurer of money or securities without interest or at a lesser rate of interest than is currently being paid by the creditor, bank, or financial institution to other depositors of like amounts for similar durations. This subsection shall not be construed to prohibit the maintenance by an insurer of such demand deposits or premium deposit accounts as are reasonably necessary for use in the ordinary course of the insurer's business.