Credit Report Tomfoolery

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Sat May 29, 2004 1:54 am

I don't get it. My homeowner's insurance company sent me a letter saying that my credit report has new information on it that adversely affects my policy and/or premium. Yet, they can't tell me what it is, how they got the info, or how it affects my policy/premium.

I found out my credit rating is down about 60 points from the last time I checked, so I can only assume this is why. At the same time, I have never missed a payment to anything, ever.

But, I found out that your credit score can go down if there are numerous inquiries into your credit history. Such as when you're shopping around for cheap auto insurance, and 3-4 companies make inquiries to give you a rate quote. So they check your score, the score goes down, and they charge you more money because your credit rating is lower. What a racket!

Oh, and I have 5 open charge accounts. It doesn't matter that only 2 have balances, and I have no problem making my payments to anything. I have "too many open accounts" for my income level. Except that nobody has any idea what I make.

Insurance Company: "Hey, let's only offer good rates to people with good credit scores <wink>. Then when we inquire into their credit, it'll cause theire credit rating to go Tdown, and then we can charge them more money."

Can anyone tell me the logic in having a bad (ok, it's not that bad, but is considerably lower than it used to be) credit score, simply becaues insurance companies want to look at your credit score, or you have a few open charge accounts without balances? What kind of horsehit is this fucking conspiracy??????

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sat May 29, 2004 2:18 am

This shit happens. The credit system as a whole is fucked up.
Examples:

Too Many Credit Cards, which you mentioned. If you have any sort of charge card, even if you never use it, it stays on your credit report for seven years (usually longer, companies are really bad apbout removing them). If you have "too many," your credit goes down. If (I love this one) you do not use the credit cards, your credit rating goes down. If the company that issued the credit card (say a department store card) closes, then you still have the card on your report and it can count against your credit rating.

All Reported Accidents Increase Your Rates. No matter whether you are at fault in an accident or not, no matter if the insurance company has to pay any amount of money (say someone bumps into you for $300 worth of damage, and you have a $500 deductable), your insurance rates still increase because you reported that you had an accident.

And people ask why I don't want a car yet. Shit, males can't get reasonable rates unless they're driving indestructable machines and they're between the ages of 25 and 80 (maintaining at least a 3.0 in college, if enrolled).

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Sat May 29, 2004 2:25 am

Yeah, I love how a responsible person can have a lower credit rating, regardless of how they are able to pay all of their bills, and have never demonstrated any financial irresponsibility in their life...

Spiral · Post by **Spiral** » Sat May 29, 2004 5:23 am

Makes you pine for Tyler Durden and the space monkeys, don't it?

The Eclipse · Post by **The Eclipse** » Sat May 29, 2004 7:01 am

I don't get it. My homeowner's insurance company sent me a letter saying that my credit report has new information on it that adversely affects my policy and/or premium. Yet, they can't tell me what it is, how they got the info, or how it affects my policy/premium.

If this is right, what they did is illegal.

A. - A credit check cannot be made without your authorization.

B. - Any time a credit check is made on you, THEY MUST surrender a copy of that credit report to you on demand.

This sounds suspiciously like they are trying to jerk you around.

Buzzed · Post by **Buzzed** » Sat May 29, 2004 4:12 pm

This is why insurance is bullshit. There should never be laws requireing you to have insurance. If you drive, that is your risk.

If insurance didn't exist, life would be so much less expensive on many levels.

Serious Paul · Post by **Serious Paul** » Sat May 29, 2004 10:08 pm

Insurance is rape by another name.

UncleJoseph · Post by **UncleJoseph** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 12:52 am

Ok, so I got my credit report today. It is supposed to contain the "data that adversely affects your premium or policy." The only thing in the activity section, is an inquiry by my insurance company. There's nothing to show a reduction in credit (except perhaps the inquiry itself). The inquiry by my insurance company was back in 2002. The total claims listed at the top of the report is zero, the total risks listed at the top is zero.

I think I'm going to have words with my insurance company. If I understand my report right, and I'm pretty sure I do, then their inquiry is what caused my credit score to go down. They had no reason to run an inquiry when they did, and they should not penalize me for making my credit score go down.

Chopper · Post by **Chopper** » Sun Jun 06, 2004 1:19 am

Sue them for making your credit score go down, that will raise some eyebrows.

[EDIT] Oops. Wrong account. *Goes back to eating french fries.*[/EDIT]