Can insurance companies ask if you've been arrested?

[Trom]

I am in the process of buying personal disability insurance and am currently jumping through all of the hoops. In the near future I will have to have a phone interview. What they will ask, I'm not exactly sure.

When I was in college I was arrested, found not guilty, and had my record expunged (not just sealed). Other than if I were to apply for certain government jobs, the arrest "never happened." There is no record of the arrest at any agency except for the FBI - which isn't publicly available. In a normal job interview, interviewers cannot ask if a person has ever been arrested - only if they have been convicted of a crime.

Knowing that my life is just being run through an actuarial model, I'd prefer not to have any extra points in the "trouble maker/risk taker" category which could lead to a higher premium. So:

1. Can insurance companies ask the question, "Have you ever been arrested?"

2. If yes, can I say "no" since there is no public record of my arrest?

[handsomeharry]

No real answer, but, IIRC when I applied for some kind of insurance a few years ago, they asked me if I had been convicted of a crime. I don't think anybody cares if you have been arrested except for law enforcement type companies.
The reason that insurance companies care if you have been convicted is to avoid insurance fraud.
And, if you answer falsely to a non relevant
question, I think that they would still pay out on a policy (IIRC from my insurance years.)

[Procrustus]

I have read hundreds of disability insurance applications. I don't recall ever seeing a question about arrests. I would caution you, however, to be as complete and honest as you can to the questions they do ask, despite some agent telling you something like "don't worry about that high cholesterol test." If you ever have to make a claim they will pull out your application and try to find some material misstatement. It is not true that they don't care about a "non relevant question."