Auto Insurance and Wireless after BK

[Dan76]

I'm not sure if it means anything or not, but I know when you apply for auto insurance and when you get a cell phone, they check your credit. When I file BK will my auto insurance company be notified and raise my rates? What about my cellular service, could they terminate my contract because of a low credit score? I know my GF could not get a wireless plan with Verizon because she has really bad credit.

[keepinitreal]

As long as you're current with your cell phone, you shouldn't have any problem retaining it after you file bankruptcy.

Your auto insurance company won't be notified that you filed for bankruptcy. They will find out for themselves though, if they check credit reports before renewing policies.

[joh]

I regrate not bking the cell phone contret. There are a lot of good no contret phone out there now. Boost, stright talk, cricket ect. I hope that
my car insurance does not go up. I had a bk not a car wreck

[lfllffl]

A couple of years ago my auto insurance went down. When I called my insurance agent to make sure that my coverage had not been reduced I was told that they had pulled my credit score and I was given a discount based on my FICO #.

So, my renewal came up within the past month... the discount I received a couple of years ago was gone. The regular rates had not gone up - but the discount was gone...

[greg2169]

if you have geico your insurance will not go up... i got a DWI and they never found out about it and has been 3 years, they do not check your credit to renew so as long as you stay with them you will be fine.... i did check other companies with my bad credit now and the rates are 2-3 times as much as i am currently paying

[mommi2many]

if you have geico your insurance will not go up... i got a DWI and they never found out about it and has been 3 years, they do not check your credit to renew so as long as you stay with them you will be fine.... i did check other companies with my bad credit now and the rates are 2-3 times as much as i am currently paying

Yeah, Geico! I have Geico and that is great news. I was wondering this info so thanks for posting.

[wnguyen]

I applied with geico and they asked me about my credit history. At that point, I ditched. Now I really need affordable auto insurance but afraid to call those companies out there. Why did they tie credit score with insurance anyway?

[goodyphilips]

I applied with geico and they asked me about my credit history. At that point, I ditched. Now I really need affordable auto insurance but afraid to call those companies out there. Why did they tie credit score with insurance anyway?

Well they want to be assured about your payment credibility, after all who would want a liability hanging on to them.

[FishersMike]

Actually I work in the Insurance industry for one of the biggest companies. The reason for Insurance Scoring (i.e. credit scoring) is because it can be proven that statistically people with financial problems are more LIKELY to file erroneous or exaggerated claims. I personally hate Insurance Scoring as I have never had one claim in my entire life so I have a perfect CLUE Report (a report that shows all paid/submitted claims). I have also never been involved in an accident. I mean I can see a company using the Insurance Score originally at New Business, but I honestly think once you have been with them for 3+ years they should NOT care about your credit if you have not filed a claim.... if you were going to be dishonest you would not wait 3+ years.

Very few States make it where insurance carriers cannot use credit for insurance premium determination. California is one of them. So if you are in California (at least for Auto) you will not need to worry. The only thing the Insurance Commissioner will allow a company to use your credit score for in California (Auto) is if you want to make your payments in monthly installments. If you refuse to allow use of credit scoring or you have bad credit, they make you pay your premium in full at inception. This weeds out a lot of people with bad credit as they do not normally have the funds to make a large payment for insurance. I live in Indiana so my rates are personally not bad as the company I go through (not my employer) grandfathered me in when I left one of their competitors with their highest tier (best rates) and do not use my credit - though normally they do credit checks on renewals. I pay $900.00 a year for two newer vehicles with full coverage and 1/2 million dollar liability. That is really good. I am glad I do not live in California anymore! Their rates are high, like many other states (Florida, New York, New Jersey, Michigan).

[goodyphilips]

@above,

You have explained this very nicely, I did not know that there is some thing called insurance score which includes credit score as well as insurance holder's performance with a insurance policy, whether they were involved in fraudulent claims or not.

[Flamingo]

if you have geico your insurance will not go up... i got a DWI and they never found out about it and has been 3 years, they do not check your credit to renew so as long as you stay with them you will be fine.... i did check other companies with my bad credit now and the rates are 2-3 times as much as i am currently paying

It's not Geico or any insurance carrier - it's the state in which you reside. If your state allows insurance credit profiling and you have bad credit or file BK, expect your rates to increase. If your state does not allow the practice, your rates won't increase due to your credit or BK but they can for other reasons (accident, tickets, etc.). If your rates rise and your state does not allow insurance credit profiling and you suspect the increase is due to the BK or bad credit, check with your insurance carrier about the increase and if you are not satisfied with the answer contact your state Department of Insurance and complain. The key is whether or not your state allows insurance credit profiling. Many do not.

[tobee43]

It's not Geico or any insurance carrier - it's the state in which you reside. If your state allows insurance credit profiling and you have bad credit or file BK, expect your rates to increase. If your state does not allow the practice, your rates won't increase due to your credit or BK but they can for other reasons (accident, tickets, etc.). If your rates rise and your state does not allow insurance credit profiling and you suspect the increase is due to the BK or bad credit, check with your insurance carrier about the increase and if you are not satisfied with the answer contact your state Department of Insurance and complain. The key is whether or not your state allows insurance credit profiling. Many do not.

that is most certainly the truth. we moved to florida and i could NOT believe the rates. it was explained that florida had the "highest" rates in the country ....i'm not buying that one...so when it came time to renew our policy i called a few places and found out that while the state i came from didn't really do that..(with the exceptions of a few companies), florida did...so our rates went up due to our declining credit scores.

the good news is after the discharge our fico scores did go up and we are paying a bit less now! i hope it continues to improve. at least this new company...which i found through AAA (travelers) gave us a policy for one year as opposed to the once every six month renewal. hopefully, that will help us have some time improving our scores.

[iv65536]

Progressive has not significantly increased my rates at all since my BK; I currently pay about $330 per 6 months for mine.

[killinstinct]

I became concerned about this issue after surrendering my home in BK and having the homeowner's insurance cancelled when my company discovered the home was vacant. I had the same insurance company (Pemco) for my home, auto and renter's. Pemco is a top-tier company, and I've been with them for years. I was afraid I may get dropped or have my rates jacked up. However, my insurance bill has actually gone DOWN the last two years since filing BK (by about $120 a year each time). I'm not sure, but Washington State has one of the more restrictive laws about use of credit in regards to insurance rates. They can't cancel or refuse to renew because of a BK, for example. As far as claims go, I had a minor collision almost three years ago. No tickets, etc. in that period.

So once again, as I've found has happened so many times during this whole process of BK, I was worried about nothing and for no reason.

Best of luck to you all!

[bk2009]

I also wonder, for those who have been struggling for years and years before filing BK, if the BK is actually better for them than all the lates, charge offs, etc on their credit score. If nothing else, it makes their debt to income ratio much better.