Notice in Auto Insurance Bill

8 years ago

Seems the insurance companies have been 'found out' on using a person's credit reports to set their rates. Our State Farm car insurance bill contains a statement in teeny type that says they do this, and that if they can't see your reports, your rate is set using 'averages' of other insured drivers.

Our credit reports are frozen. No wonder our bill seems so high!

I've called our agent to see how this can be rectified. Maybe they can tell me *when* they want to look at our reports; I can 'un-freeze' for set periods or for only State Farm. I suppose I can obtain a copy of our report and send it to them, too.

What do you think?

Featured Answer

Elmer J Fudd

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Sorry nicole, I've never heard of Clark Howard. I googled and saw he was a talk show host. Sounds from your mentioning him that he's popular. I don't tend to find people on the radio talking about financial matters to be very interesting (and that's probably just because of my own background), maybe he's different. The example you cite sounds like the product of someone's imagination.

There's a big difference between something that could happen (ie, it's not impossible but has happened only in limited numbers) and something that's common and more likely. That's what that example sounds like to me, not impossible but also not common. My comment was that I know of credit rating freezes, I don't know if it's a good idea or not. This could very well be common knowledge to all the world but still something I don't know (I'm a CPA but did mostly corporate rather than individual work).

There's an ocean of stuff I don't know. I'll ask around on this topic and see what I find out. I'll look for when I can listen to this guy's show. Thanks for the info.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (11)

socks
8 years ago
I think they will try to give you the brush-off. Let us know what happens. If your credit report has not changed much since they last accessed it, probably won't affect your rate.
nicole___
8 years ago
My credit reports are frozen and my rates aren't high because of it.Maybe you should shop around for new insurance, I did....saved a $1000 on my primary home insurance this year. The reason my rate was high was because of the fire danger of living next to a dense wooded area. Some insurance companies don't care, some do.

http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0497-credit-freeze-faqs
Related Discussions
Auto and Home Insurance
Q
Comments (7)
I keep the rider with the original policy. I have a file for each policy. Life policy's are kept in a safe along with trust and will copy's. My agent , a personal friend, told me she could get me copy's of any policy we ever needed if mine were ever destroyed or lost. Sue, This is how I got myself out of the paper work mess after years of putting it off. When we moved, 4 years ago, I had to do something I didn't want to take all the mess with me. I went through everything and shredded papers for three days. On the advice of our attorney and CPA I put all tax returns older than 5 years in a box. I have a note in that box to my daughter saying" If you are reading this I am gone, you don't need this stuff so shred it. Love ya MOM". CPA said to keep the tax returns forever no matter what the IRS says. I keep the current 5 years worth in the file. I made up a box and put everything from the house we were selling, blue prints, permits, warranty's, manuals, in it and left it for the new owners. For household bills I keep one months worth. When the new bill comes in I pay it, file the new bill , take out the previous bill and shred it. Every January I go through and clean out all the files and shred anything that I missed the previous year. I shred all pay stubs except the year ending one and keep that with the tax returns. I have 3 file drawers, one for household and personal stuff, one for household appliance manuals and one for household repairs. I keep all receipts with the proper bill, invoice, manual, ect. One of the handiest thing I did is make up a file for each month, January through December where I put every receipt for every penny we spend, cash, ATM, charges even deposit receipt. It has really come in handy. I shred a month as I come around to it. I will be shredding April at the end of this month. It took me several week to get this set up and I did and do change things along the way but it has made the paper work mess go away. I pay, file, shred almost every time I come home from the post office. We are on the "Do not call', Do not send" list for everything I know about so junk mail is not a problem. If I do get any I call and ask to be removed from the list. With all that said I do have one file that is totally out of control. I have a file that just says Dad. In it is piles of paper work for thing I am involved with for my father and it seems that anytime I shred anything in that file I end up needing it. LOL so it will stay the mess it is. Just start and do one file at a time. It sure has made my life easier, less cluttered and I can find anything I need in a hurry. Well except for the dad file.
...See More
Can we talk insurance companies (home/auto) again?
Q
Comments (25)
We have Farm Bureau for home and auto. Also have a life insurance policy with them (hubby) and have had both boats and rvs insured through them. We have had FB for probably 25-30 years. In this house we have had 3 roofs in 18 years. This one has been on a while (knock on wood!). For several years we had some bad spring storms with some serious hail. Both times FB was wonderful to work with. We didn't have to submit multiple estimates and the claim was paid quickly. Last year on a day I was working, I was coming back from lunch and a student and I collided. Police could not assign blame (I honestly think we were changing lanes at the same time) so each of us handled our own vehicle. They are great to work with on an auto claim. We had to use them once before for an auto claim and the one body shop in the area we would choose to use is set up with FB. All you do is take your car in. They handle everything, even a rental car if needed. My only complaint is we had a wonderful agent for years, and are not so fond of the younger agent who took on his clients (original agent retired). But it's a personality thing, I can't say he doesn't do his job. In both the roof claims and the recent car claim, our rates didn't go up. The home owners did eventually, with an explanation of so many claims, etc. due to storms in the area. It was not a major increase though. We do get discounts for having multiple policies, for having an alarm system, for having fire coverage, etc. I manage my grandmother's affairs and she has had Travelers for years. She also had a claim a few years back due to hail and they were good to deal with. However, they did the depreciating method, which I do understand. Her rates seem high compared to ours.
...See More
Separate insurers for house and auto? Better to consolidate?
Q
Comments (27)
We ended up going with Citizens/Hanover. I was actually a little worried because I didn't know much about them, but I did some research on my own and found high reviews. They are also rated AA in the Best Book so we decided to give it a shot. In Michigan, if someone is injured or even has a heart attack in their car, the AUTO COMPANY is responsible for all the medicial bills. It's horrible and has raised our rates to unreasonable amounts; highest in the country actually. State Farm is notorious for not paying, fighting everything tooth and nail and for using very sneaky methods to get out of their obligations. They're going to be great for you until you have a claim or a problem. There is no charge from an insured to use a broker and it really took no time for them to compare rates with 15 different companies. It was 3 days from the day I first called, to the day I had policies in hand. Wonderful experience. I would highly recommend you give a broker a call, send them a copy of your deck sheets and let them see what they can do. There is no obligation, so really what do you have to loose?
...See More
Auto insurance during Stay at Home order
Q
Comments (12)
We declined the tracker, so don’t have one. “How do they KNOW this?” My guess is that the insurance company (All State) sent the same email to everyone who they cover. We are not THAT special. It’s not a huge amount that will hurt their bottom line, but it’s a nice consideration on their part. Good business move IMHO. Arcy, many companies DO help those in need. Why do you think they don’t? In your posts you seem to have a lot of negativity in your life. I hope that you can find some happiness soon.
...See More
Elmer J Fudd
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Is having a credit report freeze warranted or an over-reaction? Is it more trouble to have one or to not have one? If it's important, is there any jeopardy pulling it off for some period of time? I don't know.

I know about them, but I've never considered doing it for myself and I've never heard anyone talking about it. These mean nothing, maybe people I know have done it and simply haven't mentioned it. Maybe I'm an outlier?
marie_ndcal
8 years ago
Some people freeze their credit information due to identify theft or other legal reasons. As easy as it is to get information on people now, many are doing it to stop every one from finding out about your "life". Just found out today that even some charities are doing that especially if a person makes a large donation etc. Had a special seminar at the assisted living home and when I remember the origination that gave it, will report on that.

As to auto insurance? Mine dropped almost 100.00 when I moved from a small town to a bigger city--we can't figure that out. But I did change companies Many companies operate under several different names and it that way they find out way too much for me. Allstate does that.
nicole___
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
SnidelyWhiplash...the example Clark Howard used, yes his is frozen too. was a college student fraudulently gets a loan in your name for instance to pay for their college tuition. They don't owe the money until they graduate and they come after YOU. The money can be automatically taken out of your bank account for an over due loan, without your permission. Then YOU have to prove it wasn't you that took out the loan in order to get your money back. How about just skipping all THAT and no one, even yourself can take out a loan.

If you need a loan, then unfreeze the one agency the credit check will be run through, then refreeze it when the loan is complete. The fee for unfreezing is generally $9 for each of the 3 agencies.

Snidely....if you want to read more I furnished a link in my prior post.....
joyfulguy
8 years ago
Yuck.

o j
redcurls2
8 years ago
This isn't something new. MOST types of insurance check your credit..Auto and homeowner's especially.
chisue
Original Author
8 years ago
I'm sure this insurance company practice has been common -- but generally unknown to the public. I was surprised to get a notice in our auto insurance bill INFORMING me that State Farm does consider your credit rating when setting your rates. They stated that my DH's report was closed to inquiry, so they had used mine!

Years ago we applied for a store CC to save 10% on a large purchase. When the clerk ran my DH's soc. sec. number our report was incorrect, listing another name and another address! We contacted one of the reporting agencies to rectify it. (Partial success.) It was then that we decided it would be prudent to freeze.

I think we have 'unfrozen' on only two occasions since then -- simple to 'open' the record at one reporting agency for X hours and to only X company. We seldom require credit -- not opening new accounts for CC's or establishing utility service, etc. However, I had not thought about hiding our *good* credit causing us trouble. Now it's State Farm...what else?

The credit reports are so rife with errors -- that the report keepers refuse to correct -- that I wonder how *credible* they can be!
Elmer J Fudd
8 years ago
There was a thread discussing insurance companies and credit ratings not too long ago.

I checked with my own agent at that time and learned that my state (California) doesn't permit that practice. Obviously other states do.
cynic
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Been 'found out'? I've know about them doing it here for over a decade or more! LOL Nothing new. Nothing hidden. Mostly ignored by people who don't read their bills. (And yes, that includes me until I saw that tidbit.) What's more, if you put in a claim, you get a credit report pulled on you too, and that's before it's even submitted. As I recall they did a background check on you too, at least on claims. An associate of mine was a high-level insurance company investigator for a lot of years. You might be amazed at some of the stuff that goes on.

Notice in Auto Insurance Bill

Elmer J Fudd

Comments (11)

socks

nicole___

Related Discussions

Elmer J Fudd

marie_ndcal

nicole___

joyfulguy

redcurls2

chisue
Original Author

Elmer J Fudd

cynic

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Notice in Auto Insurance Bill

Comments (11)

Related Discussions

chisueOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

chisue
Original Author