Steelcurtain

I recently received my car insurance bill from Allstate, whom I've been with for over 25 years. The rate was increased by $150 compared to my last bill. I have had no accidents, tickets, or anything of the like. When I questioned my agent she said my rate was increased because of my "insurance score." Ones "insurance score" is based on delinquent payments, derogatory items, number of new revolving accounts, bank related inquiries on your credit report, customer-initiated credit report inquires,current balance on cc compared to highest balance ever carried, etc.

When I compared my "insurance score" to my 21 year old son's score, who has never had a job (full time college student/ D1 athlete) I was appalled. My score was a 9, and my son's was a 3. How in the world can he be deemed a lower risk than me? He has $350 to his name.

My credit score was a 990 and my husbands was a 982. We both earn 6 digit salaries and have worked for the same companies for over 15 years. Our only debt is 98k on our mortgage which we have been paying an extra $1,300 per month for 8 years towards the principle. The value of our home is approx 400k. We have robust retirement accounts as well as generous stock options from our respective companies. Additionally we own a modest home in the city our son goes to college in. We are not wealthy by any means, just very hard working professionals that have always lived within our means, if not below them.

When I had the agent input our "insurance score" as a 3 she said our rate would drop approx $400 per year.

I began MS 1 1/2 years ago when my son left for college to fill the void and to acquire the SWA companion pass so we could travel to watch him compete. Subsequently I have solely been trying to MS in order to renew my SWA companion pass and earn hotel points for our frequent outings to watch our son compete.

When I pulled my full credit report I did have one derogatory item on my credit report which was quickly nulled by the reporting company. All of the other so called "derogatory" items are from MS. Yes, I have had banks pull my credit report, have had higher revolving credit card charges (all of which are paid 100% in full prior to due date).

I have fought with my agent. I have been fighting with Allstate at the corporate level but have not gotten anywhere!! Nothing, nada!! I do not want to leave Allstate because I fear if I were to change companies and something were to occur we would risk being dropped. I have threatened to leave when the 6 month period in which I have already paid this higher premium expires.

I am at a loss and thought I would see if anyone else has had this experience or might have any suggestions. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

cashback

Thats quite the accomplishment to be 140 points above the maximum credit score.

djk7

Have you checked other insurance companies to see how they compare? I've had companies jack up my rate for little reason before, but always ended up paying less than my original rate with someone else.

Steelcurtain

I'm not real literate on credit scores, but that is what I printed out from my Our Transunion credit reports as that is the company All state uses.

Initially I checked other ins companies but stopped because of my fear of being dropped if an incident were to occur. We live in one of the top counties in the nation with uninsured motorists and they don't drive well either!

nmp0

My insurance went down on renewal and my credit score is just above 700 because of 7 new cards in January and letting too much utilization report. It could be it would have gone down more had my score been higher but we are talking about $50 per 6 months which is nothing compared to the cash back I am earning.

cashback

Well either you:

1.) Switch insurance companies
2.) Don't sweat it. Im sure MSing has given you more than $150 worth of cashback/rewards.

ChurnandBurn

Seriously? You probably earn $400 of value from MS in a month or less. Still worth it.

rossrr

At the first of the year, I switched from Geico to State Farm because I was adding my fiancé to a plan and the price was right. Called geico to cancel and they gave me an ever better rate; in fact, it was the same as my previous rate by myself and included full coverage on two vehicles. The csr came back on the line with a quote and said "wow! You must have great credit!" I attribute this to MS and churning.

commdiver

Is this car insurance for everyone in your family? If not, you must be getting into accidents left and right if you are paying anywhere close to $150 per month. I pay $90, but I have very high limits (and a lead foot ).

horseymen

Credit Karma has an auto insurance score as part of their free scores. Mine was not very good, either..

Churnman

There really isn't such a thing as loyalty when it comes to insurance. When they up the rate beyond reason I switch. I have found cheaper deals when I shop other agents outside my area yet within my state. Certain agents in other areas of a state can sometimes quote better rates from the same company than in the area you live from what I've found (depends on your area). I was with Allstate for over 25 years, but they became unreasonable even though my score was consistently in upper 700s and low 800s (the normal FICO score with max of 850 I believe) and no claims. I churn cc all the time over all the years. Anyone at 800 is in top 1% of the nation, right?

Anyhow, I think the longer you are with a company without a claim, the chances of a claim coming is greater in their eyes and maybe our insurance score shows more risk and they raise rates fast. They don't really want you anymore unless you're willing to pay that much more it seems. Switching hasn't hurt me.

Lemma

My car insurance is with Geico, and they just told me they are raising my rate from roughly $280 to $330 for a 6 month policy (liability-only, but with max limits, good driving record but risky demographics). I just switched to Geico back in the fall, so I'm guessing I'm just losing the rate they give you the first time around to lure you in with the hopes you'll be too lazy to switch. Seems like the only way to get the lowest rates is to switch companies every time you're up for renewal. Unfortunately Geico is still the cheapest quote I'm getting, so looks like I'll be staying with them at least for another 6 months.

If you are managing your MS well, I don't see why it should affect your credit score and insurance risk. Maybe if you are applying for a ton of new cards every 91 days, but I for one am applying for a lot fewer new cards nowadays. And I always pay in full before statement cuts so utilization stays low. Last I looked it was in the low single digits. From your post it looks like you are waiting to pay in full until the due date - which is fine, you have that long to pay to avoid interest, but that will increase your util which can have negative effects beyond car insurance, i.e. difficulty getting more CCs, mortgage refi, etc. so it's better to avoid the problem by arranging things so that your statement balance is always small. Also, you might want to consider pulling your CLUE report, as you get a free one annually like with the credit bureaus and it could be that there is a claim listed on there that is raising your premiums through a case of mistaken identity or whatever.

I don't see how this makes any sense, in the same way that a coin that has been tails several times in a row still has a 50% chance of being tails on the next flip. I would think that a claim-free history, both with that company and with other companies (which they can find out about via pulling CLUE report) should be a positive thing. Someone who has a past claim is more likely than not a worse driver than someone who doesn't, all else equal, because the worse a driver is, in other words the more likely they are to have an at-fault accident, the more likely they are to have claims on their record.

whitesol

I wonder what these "so called derogatory items are from MS" as the only thing I can think of is high reported balances. If so then this is a simple issue to fix, FICO scores don't have a memory of past utilization so since you are only using one card (SW) to MS just create a cut off date a few days before the statement cuts. Then start again after that. Go have them rerun your totals after you fix your utilization reporting and you should be fine.

brc01

It SOUNDS like there was an unrelated derogatory item to MS (e.g. an unpaid medical bill). This would explain the auto insurance rate issue.

When OP says "...have had higher revolving credit card charges (all of which are paid 100% in full prior to due date)" I get the impression that MS activities might not be paid off until after statement reports high MS balances, which certainly would hurt scores.

In order to negate the score impact from MS, it's important to pay off MS in full BEFORE the statement even cuts.

Steelcurtain

I understand what you are saying and agree, but honestly that is not the point. I am not a credit risk and therefore my premium should not be increased.