How Does Credit Scoring Affect Home Insurance?

Summary: It is thoroughly advisable for everyone who owns their own home to get home insurance to ensure that they are protected should something unfortunate happen to their property. Most people who look into getting home insurance realise that there are a number of factors that influence their policy value and the types of policy that they can actually get. However, very few of those people actually realise that one such factor is in fact an individual's credit history. It can, in f...

It is thoroughly advisable for everyone who owns their own home to get home insurance to ensure that they are protected should something unfortunate happen to their property. Most people who look into getting home insurance realise that there are a number of factors that influence their policy value and the types of policy that they can actually get. However, very few of those people actually realise that one such factor is in fact an individual's credit history. It can, in fact, seriously affect your homeowner insurance rate. Home insurance owner bad credit actually affects the application process and ultimately the policy that you are actually offered. An underwriter at the home insurance company you choose to apply with will check on your credit score by performing a credit check. This has been a standard process for years because it helps to determine final homeowner insurance rates. Your credit score effectively determines whether you are offered a policy because it can place you in a high, medium or low risk category. This may sound complicated but, when fully explained, it is actually very simple. An underwriter will run your credit information through a computerized program after inputting your details. The computer will then return an insurance score based on a sliding scale and will also determine your homeowner insurance rate if your application is successful. The insurance score will tell the individual underwriter how likely you are to make a claim on your home insurance. Those with a high-risk insurance score will either be offered a more expensive homeowner insurance rate or will have their application declined, whereas those with a low-risk score will have a low home insurance rate and will certainly be accepted. In other words, you pay extra if you are more likely to claim. Therefore, home insurance owner bad credit can cost your far more in terms of high premiums than good credit ever would. Home insurance companies have to stay competitive, and that is the reasoning behind using credit scoring to determine homeowner insurance rates. By penalizing those customers that do claim, they are keeping their prices low for everyone else. As the risk determines the cost, some customers will inevitably have problems getting home insurance at all. However, there are home insurance companies that specialize in home insurance owner bad credit cases so there are still options available. For more info see http://www.homeowners-insurance-help.com/Home_Owner_Flood_Insurance on Home Owner Flood Insurance. Some countries do not employ this method of assessment to determine homeowner insurance rates. The UK is a prime example. They go purely on address rather than owner. This method works for them, just as credit and insurance scoring works in the United States. It largely relies on the financial regulation boards of the country. However, whichever method is employed, home insurance is open to all and can give peace of mind that neglecting to take home insurance cannot.