We are sometimes harshly judged by what is deemed as our “credit worthiness”. An individual’s personal credit profile is very influential and has become more important than ever before. It can be used as a large decision-making component in many areas of our life including, financing and the interest rates we pay, our ability to rent an apartment or house, and the insurance rates we are charged…
There are a number of factors which go into the computation of your home insurance premium including age, construction type (brick, wood frame, etc.), age, and roofing material. In addition, there are factors that shape the replacement cost of your home’s insured value which has a direct correlation to what you pay for insurance. These include the number of square, how many stories, the number of living areas, number and grade of bathrooms, kitchen grade (see http://50.87.248.161/~wiseinsu/kitchens-bathrooms-and-home-insurance/), and is there a fireplace or swimming pool.
Last week, numerous web sites carried the news story, wrote blog posts, and print articles on the Urban Institute’s study that 35% of all Americans are delinquent on their debt and getting to know their debt collectors on a first name basis. If you live in the Dallas metropolitan area, the news is even worse.
I met with a client earlier this week for coffee at a Starbucks in Frisco. One of the topics she wanted to discuss was her and her husband’s umbrella insurance policy. Her two questions were did they have enough coverage and what factors influenced the policy’s rate. I thought they were excellent questions and should be addressed as separate posts in our blog.
If you think Texas car insurance rates are on the rise, it’s not your imagination. Based on a report released earlier this year by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Texas premiums now rank 11th highest in the nation. Two years ago, we were ranked 14th highest in the nation. The average Texas car insurance premium, based on the 2009 data used for the NAIC report (the most recent nationwide data available), is now $1,022 a year. The national annual average rate is $901.
Living with bad credit in America today is tough. Bad credit makes many things difficult, impossible, and even more expensive. For example, did you know insurance companies often charge a higher premium rate for policy holders that have bad credit scores? If you’re getting new utilities turned on in your name, the company will check your credit to decide whether you should pay a security deposit.
No one wants to pay more for their Texas home insurance than they have to any more than they want to pay their hard earned money to someone who’ll nickel and dime a claim. What people want is to pay a fair price for their home insurance without being over or under insured. With that in mind, here are a dozen ways you can save on your Texas home insurance.
Before credit reports and scores existed, financial institutions had to guess whether someone was a good applicant (or risk) for taking out a loan. Credit reports and scores were “invented” to take the guess work out of it. The national average credit score is approximately 672 – – but how are credit scores calculated?
I was helping a new client with his home insurance earlier this week. I’d made the final modifications to the application and sent it to him to be electronically signed. We reviewed it together by phone and he wanted to ask a couple of questions about a notice on the last page of the application. The notice mentioned he had not received the “best” pricing due to a couple of items that were returned on his insurance score including inquiries.
Hopefully after last week’s blog you went online and ordered your credit report through www.annualcreditreport.com. Did you also go to www.myfico.com and order your credit score based on the FICO model? If you’re FICO score is below 650, you’re paying more for personal insurance than someone who with a higher score. How much more? According to an article in the Dallas Morning News on April 1, people with low credit scores are paying as much as 42% more for their home insurance and 15% to 46% more for their car insurance.
Subscribe to my newsletter by filling the form below.
A confirmation email will be sent to your mailbox: please read the instructions to complete the subscription.
