How would you like to pay less for your home and car insurance? I don’t know of anyone who wants to pay more than they need to! Most people I talk with realize paying less for their insurance is attainable simply by improving your credit, or insurance, score. People with good credit pay less for their insurance than someone with not so good credit.
Changing our calendars to a fresh new year can cause us to reflect on what has transpired over the past twelve months. Many who do that resolve to initiate changes and renew a commitment or promise to themselves to do some things different. Along with people filling up the local gyms with a regenerated desire to get their bodies in shape, many take a look at their finances to consider ways they can improve their financial bottom line.
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…
Credit has become more important than ever before. We are all judged by what people read about us on paper. Why should individuals care about what is on their credit report, and does it really matter?
Anthem, the second largest health insurance company in the US, announced last week it had been the victim of a massive data breach. The good news appears to be no medical records or credit card data was compromised. The bad news was the names, birth dates, and Social Security numbers of up to 80 million people were compromised which could lead to an even bigger problem than had they simply taken credit card data.
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.
Credit card fraud and identity theft have been in the news a lot over the last 6 weeks. It all started with the news that Target’s card processing systems were hacked resulting in the unlawful theft of 40 million customers’ account numbers and PINs. This data was sold on various black markets resulting in fraudulent purchases being made with fake credit and debit cards.
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.
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