How are you guys getting above 800 ? That's great!

 

I was with Hartford and like you, got a huge increase because of my credit score. I'm another one that doesn't believe in credit- I pay cash. I owe nothing but I do have a VISA card for online purchases and emergency. Yeah, how unamerican can I get. Hartford almost doubled my vehicle, home owners, and general liability insurance. The increase put it into the 5 digit column. I'm now with Kemper. Might wanna find a Kemper agent and check them out. My premiums went down considerably from that of the Hartford when I thought they had the best prices. Cut the Hartford numbers by 65%. And yeah, I paid Hartford, in advance, in cash. They'll never see a dime of my money again. But then again BJ, if we had no fault insurance in Texas, our auto rates would fall in half. My kids grandmother lives in Michigan and her rates are almost a joke. What they want per year for her F150 and Camry, full coverage per year, is about half what I pay for my 2004 SCrew full coverage per year. Texas has some of the highest insurance rates in the nation. If you notice, your home insurance rates are set by the state but the value can be set by the insirance company. My house in town which has fire unit coverage, is valued 3 times what it's valued by the county. They've got it at $120.00 per sq ft. I can build new far cheaper, the land is not going to be destroyed, and the slab would survive a fire as well as the in slab plumbing. Insurance in Texas is a rip off.

 

Sounds to me like Hartford is fibbing about credit ratings as an excuse to jack your rates and/or to get you to leave.

Probably want to reduce the number of policy holders they have in your area, and make higher profits on the ones they keep. So they are sending you on a wild goose chase and blaming it on the credit ratings.

Wells Fargo did a similar thing to me when we asked for a credit card for a new company. Put us through all kinds of hoops, then said they had to deny due to bad credit. My partner and I are like 'WTF - my credit is fine, must be YOU!". So we pulled the free reports - excellent credit over 700+ for me and my partner. Wells says not good enough - we don't like your credit scores. Pulled the pay for reports. Wells then acknowledges our credit is actually fine, we just are not issuing cards to new businesses right now. They thought we would just go away if they declined us based on credit score, so they started making stuff up.

 

I know you are well aware of numbers ( considering your vocation ), but are you sure it is due to the credit rating that the rate went up ?

You can check this against previous deceleration pages, and check the line under credit score ( or a name close to that ) it will show a letter or number with the explanation of it on the dec page addendum for your state.

800 is a high number to have, and get hammered a rate increase for it, unless they changed the discount for high credit ratings ( so it is a lower discount, and the base insurance is only with great credit, and the rate goes up from there ).

the highest score FICO is 850, the other one ( not too sure if the ins companies use it ) is a 900 some odd number.

Check the dec pages to make sure the rate increase is from the credit score.

Ask around for some recommendations on a local insurance broker. I stopped the company direct route years ago, and have used a broker to find the insurance for the bikes, house, and truck. When they find a cheaper one ( and they know what the limits need to be ) they call me with the change.

Insurance company actuaries have decades of data that show the worse your credit rating is, the more likely you are to file a claim. This is why they added the credit rating method to all but a few states ( think there are only 4 that do not allow it ).

BTW : If you pay the insurance company in full, and cancel they should have to refund the unused amount. Check with your state ins board, or the dec pages with the policy. IL as corrupt as it is has this option.
TX must be real bad if it is cheaper than MI, Cook ( Crook ) county IL is cheaper than MI rates by a long shot, and there are still quite a few underwriters that will not write policies in Cook Co due to how bad it is.
Insurance boards define how quick the ins company can take the revenue on full year policies just for this reason, most are the rev rec by qtr or half year.

 

This is thru an independent agent that I have used for many years and they do shop it around. They have kept it with Hartford the last few years as it was as good as any, rate wise and they liked the coverage.

The only thing they say about the credit rating one paragraph that they have engaged a Consumer Reporting Agency and that it caused my rates to be higher than they would have been. They don't disclose how much higher nor do they refer to it as a credit report, but I know that is what it is.

 

Time to have a talk with them. If the rates were changing, the broker knew about it in advance. The underwriters have monthly calls to cover changes and questions. If the broker did not attend or pay attention to the call, that says something about them.

Sounds like TX just started this then ??

You should be able to compare dec pages from this year to last year to see which line items went up.
I am guessing you will find that all the lines went up, and for some reason the underwriter is only wanting the >800 + customers ( their rates stayed the same ). If that is the case, time to kick Hartford to the curb.

Dumb question, is this Hartford under AARP ?

No joke, dad joined AARP straight away, and his rates are dirt cheap, and Hartford was 1 he has had in the past, if not still has them now.

 

OK, I will do some checking. Thanks!

 

There are only three categories you can fit into, good credit, bad credit, and an unknown. ALL unknowns are treated as bad credit, because nobody can tell what you are. The company is looking out for itself and its share holders. If the company assumes all unknowns are good credit they will be out of business quickly. If they assume all unknowns are bad credit they get higher profits. That's just the way is. You can not change it. Nobody can. Your rating was above 800, but now it is unknown thanks to not using credit. My rating was above 800 but is now 700 thanks to a bankruptcy.

About the only thing you can do is charge everything, then pay it off every month. If you have two or three credit accounts that works better than one. Don't change how much you spend just put it on the card. I pay mine off completely every month the day before it reports to the credit reporting agencies. My balance is always >$100, but my credit report shows payments in excess of 1K every month.

 

OK, now I'm completely out of ideas. I think I'd be looking for a new insurance company. No way they should raise your rates when you have a superior credit rating.

Edit: And I responded before reading any of the posts that followed the one I quoted. Yes, DO check AARP, us old farts should get a little recognition for surviving so long. (I'm with USAA, and I don't think it can be beat anywhere.)

- Jack

 

SSCULLY is dead on with this. I am an insurance agent, although not licensed in TX so I can only speak in general terms. Insurance companies found credit rating to be much more accurate in predicting losses than just looking at your driving record alone.

One thing that does seem strange to me is that it would go up. This is how it works in the states and with the company I handle (MS and TN). Your rate on a policy does not go up if your credit score goes down. However, if your credit score improves then the rate will improve your rate at renewal up to the top tier.

TX insurance laws could be different and allow it to increase but I really do not know.

Insurance companies are all based on statistics and credit scoring is just a tool and one of the best predictors in terms of overall statistical rating. I have experienced first hand a few folks like yourself who mostly pay cash that are a very good risk but the lack of credit history keeps them from getting the very best rate. Unfortunately there isn't much an agent can do about that.

My best advice would be to shop around and see what other companies are charging. It may be that it was just an overall rate increase in your area by your current company.

 

Yay-hoo from Texas, holding on Line 6.......

 

Just wanted to chime in.
None of those sites would give me a credit report online, they only wanted to mail it for some reason.Each one said there was a "issue" with my credit rating and I would have to request by mail.

The strange thing is, last time I took out a loan a little over a year ago my credit was 750 something, and I have not had any late or unpaid bills.
I have paid a few off this year and got married on the 3rd though.

Shame, I wanted to see my credit report.

 

I suspect there might be something questionable about the "identity confirming" data you entered? But regardless, you are entitled by law to receive the report free. Request it by mail.

- Jack

 

I forgot that I have a monthly fee on my credit card that gives me access.

And I came up with this.

Experian - 753
Equifax - 720
TransUnion - 707

After looking at the service I paid for webpage.

Thats ok I guess.

 

Yes, it's OK (median range) as far as I can tell by looking at what's published on the subject. The three agencies actually use different ranges, and different criteria when they score. Here's the ranges:I got those numbers from this link: http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/m...cores/your.htm which also gives a very good explanation of what the scores are based on.

- Jack