These scores are known in the trade as CBIS: Credit Based Insurance Scores.
There are two main CBIS. One is made by LexisNexis and is drawn on Equifax data. The other is not quite as widely used; it is made by TransUnion and is drawn on TU data, and is available for free through Credit Karma.
CBI scores are like FICO scores in a number of ways. One important way is that the score is based purely on the credit data from one of the three big bureaus. Thus, for example, the LexisNexis CBIS does not draw on LN's driver history data, since those data are not part of EQ.
Other similarities between FICO and CBI scores:
* They are not influenced by zip code, city, or state. Nor are they influenced by gender, race, religion, age, educational background, etc.
* They are not influenced by the color, make, or model of the car you drive.
* They are strongly influenced by the traditional "derogs": Late payments, collections, chargeoffs, etc.
* They are strongly influenced by CC utilization.
Scoring factors shared but upon which FICO and CBI scores place different levels of weight:
* New credit. Inquiries and new accounts hurt you more in CBI scores and longer. (E.g. inquiries affect you for 24 months rather than 12 months.)
* Too many accounts. This has very little effect in FICO (you can probably have 15 accounts with no penalty and 50 accounts with little penalty). But in CBI scores you begin to take a penalty at a much lower number -- maybe 6-7?
* Average Age of Accounts and Age of Oldest Account.
Scoring factors not present in FICO but which are present in CBI models:
* The mere presence of store cards hurts you.
* The mere presence of "auto-related" accounts (Firestone, Pep Boys, etc.) hurts you.
* Average Credit Limit (as a dollar value). The last I looked, there was no CBIS penalty if your ACL was above $10,600. Less than that and you begin to take stiffer and stiffer penalties.
* Total dollar value of installment debt affects you as does total dollar value of revolving debt.
* If your oldest account is a loan, there's a penalty for that. CBIS like it better when your oldest account is a credit card. The penalty gets stiffer if the loan is much older than your oldest credit card. (Yeah, this scoring factor is a bit strange.)
Note that nearly all insurers who use CBI scores couple them with additional considerations: your age, the color, make and model of your car, your zip code, your driving history, etc. Those factors are not present in the CBIS itself, however.
Finally note that a CBIS is used to assist the insurer in estimating the probability that you will file a claim. That's not the same thing as the probability that you will get in a wreck, get a speeding ticket, or otherwise engage in dangerous driving.
