Posted On: May 29, 2008, 5:55 pm CDT

Posted By: NTXCoog

RE JohnnyBoy's comment:
"What the insurance companies need to do is not use credit scoring as such a big rating factor. When credit scoring came to our state, we agents and the public and the state regulators, were sold by the fact that the price between a good score and a bad score was only around a 20% difference. Now as the years have gone by they have increased the difference by as much as 75%. A person with good credit and a speeding ticket will pay less than someone with poor credit and a clean record. Too much rating is being placed on credit scoring and I think that's what has become unfair."

Not all companies have done that. Several, mine included, have actually lessened the impact of credit on rates over the last 5 years, especially when combined with other elements like prior insurance. We used to rate good credit alone as more important than prior insurance alone and took a beating for it. That just doesn't work. But combining the 2 is much more predictive than either element by itself.

As to clean driving record & poor credit being more expensive than 1 speed and good credit, that may be so in some cases, but since when does 1 speeding ticket indicate a pattern of driving behavior? Several violations &/or accidents is more indicative of a trend than 1 random violation just like several negative items on a credit report being weighted much more heavily than 1 late payment.