Most insurance companies are now using insurance scores as a factor in determining rates for auto and sometimes home insurance. The formulas, which vary by company, use information from your credit history to establish an insurance score for you. Based on this score, you are assigned to a tier or rating group. Of course, many other factors affect your auto insurance rates, including your driving history, vehicles, and coverages selected. Insurance scores are different than credit scores. Insurance scores use only those factors from your credit history that show a direct correlation to future claim potential. Insurance scores generally do not consider income, assets, or total debt. Because there are fewer factors determining your insurance score, it can change much faster than your credit score does. While this can be frustrating, it gives you the opportunity to improve your insurance score over a relatively short time.

Step 1:  Check your credit reports

What you can do:

Get your free credit file disclosures at a site like AnnualCreditReport.com. You can get one free report each year from each of the major credit bureaus. You can get them all at one time, or spread them out over the year as a sort of do-it-yourself credit monitoring program.

Note: You do not need your actual “credit score.” Your credit score is not free, and only affects you if you are applying for credit.

Next step: Step 2 – Clear Up Any Errors

For more information, drop by our website at www.albionagencies.com, or get in touch with me.

The information in this post is general in nature, and geared toward insurance conditions in Western New York.  As always, you should speak with an insurance adviser to determine your specific insurance needs.