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What credit information insurers cannot use

Insurance companies cannot use your credit history to deny you coverage or cancel your policy. They also cannot use the following factors to deny you coverage or set your rates:

• The number of credit inquires
• Collection accounts identified as medical bills
• The initial purchase or finance of a vehicle or house that adds a new loan to your existing credit history
• The use of a particular type of credit card, debit card, or charge card
• Your total available line of credit

No credit history?

Insurers cannot use absence of credit history to deny coverage. However, they can use that factor to set rates if they have data showing that consumers without credit histories are more likely to file claims.

Insurers must tell you why you didn't get the best rate

If your rate is going up or you don't get the best rate possible, your insurance company must tell you the top four reasons why. And you can list up to four reasons why you didn't get the best score.

If this happens, you're entitled to a free copy of your credit report from the credit agency that your insurer used.

What to do if there's a mistake in your credit history

If you think there's a mistake in your credit history that's impacting your insurance rates, contact the credit reporting agencies.

Once it's been corrected, notify your insurance company in writing. They must reissue or re-rate the policy back to the policy's effective date.

Updated 05/07/2012