I'm w/ Brandy on this one. If they use the info, they have to get the info from somewhere. Since it's not on the credit report then I would like to know where they get it.
Cathiea, if you don't believe us then I suggest you go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com and pull a free copy of your report and check it for utility information. And before anybody accuses me of being a spammer again, that site is run by a government organization, not me.
Insurance Credit Scoring Assitance
Moderators: Josh, independent guy
Brandy,
Each company puts their criteria together for credit which is why you can get a great score with one and an unacceptable with another. As far as the utility bills - I really don't know how choice point collects them - this was provided to me by hartford when I requested details on what they use for criteria. Because this information is available by property address not just by individual it probably is linked to the clue collection tools.
Each company puts their criteria together for credit which is why you can get a great score with one and an unacceptable with another. As far as the utility bills - I really don't know how choice point collects them - this was provided to me by hartford when I requested details on what they use for criteria. Because this information is available by property address not just by individual it probably is linked to the clue collection tools.
Cathiea,
I'm sorry, but your wrong. Neither Choicepoint nor any of the three credit bureaus have a report for utility bills. Only lines of credit appear on reports and a utility service is not a line of credit. You purchase a product from them, that's all.
My company's Choicepoint rep was in the office today and I asked him. He verified that not only do they not collect that info, but there is no way to do so.
So far I've backed up each of my statements w/ published, unbiased research to support it. I'd like to see you come up w/ something other than your own thoughts to support this.
I'm sorry, but your wrong. Neither Choicepoint nor any of the three credit bureaus have a report for utility bills. Only lines of credit appear on reports and a utility service is not a line of credit. You purchase a product from them, that's all.
My company's Choicepoint rep was in the office today and I asked him. He verified that not only do they not collect that info, but there is no way to do so.
So far I've backed up each of my statements w/ published, unbiased research to support it. I'd like to see you come up w/ something other than your own thoughts to support this.
Allstate's decision to alter the way they score customers in no way means that the way that they were scoring customers didn't work. Nowhere does it say that scoring doesn't work. What's said is that minorities are complaining because they don't score as well. Since race, income, or location are not used in scoring and minorities were included in the 170,000+ people that were used to come up w/ the insurance scoring equation then it's safe to assume that it's not the fact that they are a minority that's causing them to pay more for their insurance.
If there is a true statisctical link between not paying bills on time, carrying high balances, having certain types of credit and an increased liklihood to have an insurance loss then I contend that it's not the color of their skin that makes them pay more for their insurance it's the fact that they spend their money unwisely. Minorities are just as able to spend within their means but a larger percentage of them don't than a similar sample of people in the majority. I contend that a person (black, white, or other) that pays their bills on time is less likely to experience an insurance loss. It can't be helped that a greater percentage of certain subsegments of the population decide not to spend their money wisely and that those people are more likley to experience an insurance loss.
And as a sidenote, before anybody starts calling me a racist or a bigot. I'd like to go on the record as saying that I am African-American person that has a high insurance score and I take great pride in the fact that I spend my money wisely.
If there is a true statisctical link between not paying bills on time, carrying high balances, having certain types of credit and an increased liklihood to have an insurance loss then I contend that it's not the color of their skin that makes them pay more for their insurance it's the fact that they spend their money unwisely. Minorities are just as able to spend within their means but a larger percentage of them don't than a similar sample of people in the majority. I contend that a person (black, white, or other) that pays their bills on time is less likely to experience an insurance loss. It can't be helped that a greater percentage of certain subsegments of the population decide not to spend their money wisely and that those people are more likley to experience an insurance loss.
And as a sidenote, before anybody starts calling me a racist or a bigot. I'd like to go on the record as saying that I am African-American person that has a high insurance score and I take great pride in the fact that I spend my money wisely.
My comment regarding the Allstate article was in regards to the following - -- Allstate will adopt an appeals program under which all customers who experience extraordinary events that negatively impact their credit history information can potentially obtain premium reductions.
The point here is that it took a lawsuit for them to even consider giving a break to those with "extraordinary events" and the key words in here are "can potentially".
Business as usual.
The point here is that it took a lawsuit for them to even consider giving a break to those with "extraordinary events" and the key words in here are "can potentially".
Business as usual.