Not sure if this is the right place and if not, please feel free to move the thread.
I'm curious to know how one can check and or dispute anything in their insurance credit score? In shopping for policies, I've seen a couple of lenders mention my insurance score being low and can't figure out why. My credit score is ebbs and flows between 750 and 800, I have no late payments, no missed payments, low utilization, etc. One carrier, Lemonade, gives a star rating to different aspects of your application from one to five stars. My insurance credit scoring section was half a star. Surely something is amiss? Any ideas?
ETA: sorry, I was talking about overall insurability and how rates are set. Please see the post below mine for insurance scores specifically.
Your internal score is a combination of credit, claims history, and future risk calculated into a score. Typically the score is created using a proprietary algorithm. Progressive, the largest insurer, scores between 200 and 997. Anything below 500 is considered poor and I believe anything 776 and greater is considered excellent, iirc.
When it comes to insurance, LexisNexis is king. If you believe something is incorrect, that's probably where it starts. It's not uncommon for people to find out they were attached to a claim with another insurance carrier and found at fault, even if they weren't contacted about it. Usually because the carrier had enough info to ID the person, but not enough to find their insurance or contact info. LexisNexis being LexisNexis, they'll attach anything to your report that might be remotely you.
Another factor is location. In California, as long as you're not majority at fault, it typically doesn't weigh as heavily. In some states, being in an accident at all can be held against you.
Lastly, it's also hugely dependent on the company's underwriting. GEICO, for example, will never penalize you for using first party coverages like collision or comprehensive. Other companies consider any kind of insurance use as a negative factor. Some will even go as far as suing their own policyholders if the loss is large enough. *cough*farmers*cough*
So as you can see, it's not so simple to view an insurance score and figure out what the issue is. Most lenders will tell you what is the big reason(s) for their decision and you can start there. Next, you can make sure your credit score and reports are accurate. Then go through your LexisNexis to make sure that's accurate. Other than moving to a state that doesn't use credit scores, or to one with different rules, there's not much more you can do. You're in underwriting's hands and most lenders will not allow you to speak to them.
@Thomas_Thumb wrote:
@ReturnOfTheCredi wrote:Not sure if this is the right place and if not, please feel free to move the thread.
I'm curious to know how one can check and or dispute anything in their insurance credit score? In shopping for policies, I've seen a couple of lenders mention my insurance score being low and can't figure out why. My credit score is ebbs and flows between 750 and 800, I have no late payments, no missed payments, low utilization, etc. One carrier, Lemonade, gives a star rating to different aspects of your application from one to five stars. My insurance credit scoring section was half a star. Surely something is amiss? Any ideas?
Insurance based credit scores, CBIS, look at different metrics than do credit scoring algorithms than do Fico and Vantagescore. Many people have a high credit score but rather low CBIS. Credit scores reflect risk of a 90 day late payment while CBIS reflect risk of a claim being filed - based on credit related information in agency files. In NO case do CBIS look at your driving record. Insurers obviously look at driving records, vehicle to be insured and location. Those are separate factors, in your case "stars" from CBIS.
A majority of lenders look at Fico and a majority of insurance companies look at Lexis Nexis, CBIS. Secondary CBIS providers include TransUnion and Fico. Each provider has their own scoring model. You cannot dispute a CBIS score but, you can dispute something in your file. Ask what CBIS the insurer is using, they should be required to tell you. My insurer, State Farm uses Lexis Nexis. A different insurer may use Transunion or may not look at CBIS. [FWIW - LN CBIS top out at 997 and TU CBIS tops out at 950].
I contacted Lexis Nexis (LN) to get a free copy of information they had on file which they mailed to me for review. LN has an exhaustive list of reason codes on their web site that are considered in their scoring model. If something looks incorrect, the company has a dispute process.
Side note: Many insurers never contact CBIS providers to refresh CBIS for existing clients. You can require them to do up to once per year, but must submit a written request each time. For those who think their CBIS may have improved, a re-rate could save up to 50% with an existing insurer.
Below are links to a couple past threads concerning CBIS :
Thanks for the correction. In my rush I was mixing up the cbis and internal scoring for a carrier while explaining. Very important distinction.
All good info! Thanks to both of you. I'm going to contact Lexis Nexis to get a copy of my report and see if there's anything obvious. Really the only negative factor I know of that they figure into it would be inquiries as I've had a bunch in the last couple of years. In spite of that, my scores are great. We've also never had any claims, auto or home, nor moving violations in the last seven years. If mine is low, I'd hate to think of what drivers with bad credit and poor driving history look like. Yikes!😳
FWIW, TU rep tells me they don't produce any scores. Says they only provide the TrueRisk credit information and the individual carrier uses that to produce their own score. That doesn't seem right.
@ReturnOfTheCredi wrote:FWIW, TU rep tells me they don't produce any scores. Says they only provide the TrueRisk credit information and the individual carrier uses that to produce their own score. That doesn't seem right.
This PowerPoint from the NAIC may help to understand it. It's old, but you'll at least get an idea.
@Brian_Earl_Spilner wrote:
Your internal score is a combination of credit, claims history, and future risk calculated into a score. Typically the score is created using a proprietary algorithm. Progressive, the largest insurer, scores between 200 and 997. Anything below 500 is considered poor and I believe anything 776 and greater is considered excellent, iirc.
Yeah thanks for reminding me. That's another thing I'm looking forward to later this year when my reports go clean... lower insurance rates.
30+ years of driving... never late on a payment... never had a claim *knocks on wood* but yet because I filed Ch 13 my insurance rates nearly tripled.
They've since come down but still aren't where they were prior to filing. You'll never ever convince me what my credit score has to do with the possibilities of me filing an insurance claim and if I default on payment they can just cancel the policy.
Insurance rates based on credit scores is one of the biggest scams.
*rant over*
@TRC_WA wrote:
Yeah thanks for reminding me. That's another thing I'm looking forward to later this year when my reports go clean... lower insurance rates.
Good luck on that. Important to remember you need to actively ask for a re-rate, but you might discover that you are better served getting a new policy from a different company, that has no negative history for you.
30+ years of driving... never late on a payment... never had a claim *knocks on wood* but yet because I filed Ch 13 my insurance rates nearly tripled.
They've since come down but still aren't where they were prior to filing. You'll never ever convince me what my credit score has to do with the possibilities of me filing an insurance claim and if I default on payment they can just cancel the policy.
Insurance rates based on credit scores is one of the biggest scams.
*rant over*
Your financial profile logically affects your rates in two ways:
- Your ability to pay for maintenance (and the likelihood of your doing it).
- The likelihood of you committing insurance fraud.
If you are financially strapped, their models show that you are less likely to keep your vehicle or home in top shape, and so are more likely to have claims. Also, if you need money, that makes it more likely that you will file claims (either completely fraudulent ones or borderline ones), rather as a way of getting some.
Finally, like most of these scores, they are just based on correlations from looking at big data sets, not based on specificly looking at individuals.
