Be VERY Aware of Lexis Nexis Insurance Scoring

[Gonzozap]

As most of us probably know, the insurance companies are robbing (many of) us blind with the "insurance scoring" charade. It all starts with Lexis Nexis (LN).

The issue with Lexis Nexis is that their data is often wrong, VERY WRONG.  They confess that they pull data from all over the internet AND they make the claim that they are not responsible nor liable for any of the foolish, incorrect information they have about consumers.  I have this in writing in a letter from them.  AND, Lexis Nexis had a class action against them that began about 3 to 4 yrs ago.  I received $810.00 from the settlement.  $810 is a large settlement compared to what is usually paid to consumers in class actions.  

BE VERY AWARE OF LEXIS NEXIS.   Get a copy of your report, correct any errors, and be certain your insurer is using an updated report from Lexis Nexis, not one from 6 yrs ago when your credit wasn't as good.  My recent report was 40 pages long and DID NOT include all the account information shown on the normal credit bureau report.  The LN report contains a boatload of other personal information.

In my state, insurers are permitted to use old, outdated reports and the insurer NEVER has to update the report UNLESS the insured requests an update.  The problem with that is that the insurer doesn't tell the consumer about any of this.  There are a few states that don't use insurance credit scoring.  This type of scoring is nothing but a racket to scam more money from insureds.  Note that they do NOT use your FICO credit score at all.  Instead, the model takes all the info in your report and devises a new score.  My scores are all over 800, yet I was still punished by the insurance scoring system for both my auto & homeowners. You'll be punished for having inquiries, for having too many accounts, for recently opening as few as 1 new account, blah blah blah.  What the heck does any of this have to do with filing an insurance claim?

Some actuary from another planet has devised this nonsense and we are paying for it.

[CorpCrMgr1]

Thank you for posting this information.

[Zoostation1]

CBIS models punish you for too many cards, low average CL, any store cards at all, and more IIRC.

[TrapLine]

Obtained my report and it was 52 pages.

Fortunate thing after a good review was everything was correct.

My view ... there are too many people keeping and reporting data!

Pull your Early Warning Report and get a shock ... add to that ChexSystems. Start your day all right?

[WhiteSturd]

Wow, 52 pages is a lot of information to review! I'm glad to hear that everything was correct though. I agree that there seems to be an overwhelming amount of data being collected and reported these days. I'll take your advice and pull my Early Warning Report and check in with ChexSystems. Thanks for the heads up and have a great day!

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

LexisNexis is a data aggregator and analytics company. Their whole business is to gather any and all data about you to sell to other companies. A typo can end up in your report if they can link it to you. And while insurance does rely on LexisNexis pretty heavily, they're not the only ones making CBIS's. FICO actually created it. EX just notified me my new CBIS is ready, not that I care, as it can't be used in my state. If you're really concerned about accuracy you should also be pulling Sagestream, ARS, etc., as well, as many identification questions come from those reports along with LexisNexis and the big 3.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

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@WhiteSturd wrote:

Wow, 52 pages is a lot of information to review! I'm glad to hear that everything was correct though. I agree that there seems to be an overwhelming amount of data being collected and reported these days. I'll take your advice and pull my Early Warning Report and check in with ChexSystems. Thanks for the heads up and have a great day!

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There's a lot of redundancy. For example, they will have multiple versions of your name and typos. Using my screen name you might find

Brian Earl Spilner

Brian Spilner

Brian E Spilner

Brien Spilner

Earl Spilner

Earl Brian Spilner

B E Spilner

E B Spilner

Then the same thing for your address history. Then your court history. And so on and so on. If there's a document or record online with your info, they probably have it. You'll see the same thing on your big 3 reports, but not quite at their level. 

[Household61974]

I realize there's some age on this post, but I got wind of LexisNexis last year and pulled it. 

Was surprised to see my driving history in the way of quick braking and quick acceleration on it. Made me look like a bad driver (though in my 50 years I've never had a ticket and had precisely one at-fault accident - I backed into a cement pillar.) 

Where did that info come from? Bought a new 2022 GM vehicle two years ago. Came with a free one year subscriptions to Onstar, Sirius and wifi on it along with an app that I can start the vehicle with from anywhere. 

I suspect one of those "features" is the culprit LN pulls from. 

Right after that, our premiums DOUBLED (no exaggeration).

To add some fury, our 17 yo son got his drivers license last year. We expected the premium jump, but not doubled AGAIN! 

$250 to $500 to $1000 per MONTH over about 18 months. 

I did a wee bit of looking into at that time. Can't recall the specifics, but found something stating that once you purchase a car and allow those free services they forever track you, even if you don't subscribe to the service. 

The super sleezy thing about it is that we PURPOSEFULLY do/will not allow our ins providers to install the "how you drive" tracking devices in our vehicles, no matter the discount offered. Yet, they're still accomplishing this. 

Thanks for the reminder I need to look into this and find out who and how to stop it. 

[TrapLine]

Just for a laugh (I am not) Equifax many years back collected credit information but that was just part of it. They actually collected virtually any kind of information such as the neighbor does not like you, you part your hair funny, gossip and I could go on. It was obtained and used for ratings.

Now fortunately this practice was stopped by others as the person profiled had NO access to their file or ability to update or delete the erroneus information. I was part of their data base back then. Unreal ...

[Thomas_Thumb]

The key point is insurers NEVER, let me repeat that, NEVER, need to pull an updated CBIS score unless YOU, the insured demand it IN WRITING. They typically only do it for the initial policy.

I've had State Farm for 40 years. Not sure when they started using LN CBIS as a factor in setting premiums. However, in 2018 I purchase an Audi A6 3.0T. I had them quote it as a replacement vehicle on my existing multicat policy. Also had it quoted as a stand alone policy. I expected the stand alone would cost more. NO, it cost 40% less. After much investigation, I come to find out new policies require them to pull a CBIS while old policies do not.

I mention having requested a CBIS check just 4 years ago. He said there is no record of an update and asked if I had filled out and signed a form. I said no form was involved. My new agent said a written request is required.

I filled out the request form and he submitted it. SF won't divulge your score but, my insurance premium putting the new car on my existing policy dropped $300 for 6 months - or $600 per year. Wow.

I have no doubt that my CBIS had been top tier since before 2005. Why? I rarely open accounts and our mortgage loan officer in 2005 said all my Fico scores and my wife's were above 800 at that time. Sure LN looks at other things but, based on reviewing those factors, I would have been top tier.

Clearly, the LN CBIS State Farm was using for me was likely from around 2000 and NEVER updated. Based on 15 years of an unjustified low rating vs what should have been top tier, I paid $6k to $9k in excess premiums.

IF YOUR CREDIT HAS IMPROVED DEMAND A RE-RATE BASED ON A NEW CBIS. Of course, if credit has tanked or you have a lot of new inquiries, don't ask.