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…
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.
These days there are so many online credit monitoring companies offering free credit reports and scores; it’s hard to determine which one provides the best and most accurate information. Credit scores can change daily for a number of reasons and no two credit monitoring companies – – or the credit bureau’s for that matter – – score the same way!
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.
Identity theft, and the fraud associated with it, is a growing problem in the US and across the globe. Out of 2.06 million complaints reported to the Federal Trade Commission, 370,800 were identity theft related. In Texas, the rate of identity theft complaints rose 17% from 2011 to 2012, or 28, 299 up from 24,162.
I ended the day on Tuesday talking with a woman in Houston about car insurance for her and her adult daughter that lives at home. Our discussion covered the typical points I need in order to provide her with a quote; names, dates of birth, year, make and model of the cars, who is she insured with now, when does her policy renew, etc. What was interesting was, she asked me why I asked my last two questions which were…
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