America zn Family Insurance Insurance premium increase scam Madison Wisconsin

Insurance companies have been using credit as a rating factor for years. American Family is one of the last insurance companies to start using credit as a rating factor. When you first sign up to purchase insurance, the application you sign states that you are giving the insurance company permission to pull consumer reports such as your driving record, claim loss history and credit, review your application and policy. Keep in mind that the insurance industry is very highly regulated. Insurers can only adjust their rates on factors that have a proven effect on a persons likelyhood to file a claim.

Many people are aware of the fact that young men pay higher car insuranc rates than young women based on this princple. And that rates are different in different zip codes, and for different driving records. Studies have proven that people with better credit are less likely to file claims and people with poor credit are more likely to file claims. And yes, people with good credit are seeing decreases in their homeowners insurance rates.

If you don't like the rate, shop around with other insurance companies, it's a free market. You'll be hard pressed to find one that won't ask you for your social security number in order to provide you with a quote as they'll want to check your credit as the rate they provide you will be based on your credit.

There's no need to find "Any lawyers out there with the balls to take on the big insurance carriers & represent AmFam customersin class actions?" as the practice you describe is perfectly legal and has been practiced by other insurers for years. Just be greatful that for all those years that you could have been with another insurer which was using your poor credit score to calculate your rate you were with American Family which wasn't.

My premium went from $390 to $650, for the same reason. We hit a bump in the road following a life threatening medical issue with one of our kids. Our credit score up until 2 year ago was in the upper 700's. Did AmFam give me a discount for a high credit score then? Hell no. It seems very unfair and predatory to punish those who financial issues already with higher premiums. Seems like AmFam saw an opportunity to generate some revenue.

Insurance scoring or using credit history as a variable in consumer's insurance rates has been a proven way to affectively charge the people that should be paying more for their insurance due to being higher risk and to charge people that are less of a risk...less in premiums.

The insurance industry employes some of the worlds top "staticians and bean counters". Keep this in mind as I write the following.

In general, people with less than perfect credit history have a higher loss ratio (amount in $ for claims paid out) than people with above par credit history.

For example: If I live paycheck to paycheck and have no access to credit funds...arent I more likely to get my oil changed less often than someone with lots of money or easy access to credit? Arent I more likely to go an extra 10K miles on my bald tires because I cant afford new ones? Arent I more likely to drive around with a cracked windshiled I can barely see thru? Arent I more likely to let my roof on my house get super old and crusty because I cant afford a new one?

If I am more likely to have a claim, I should be charged more for my insurance.

Now on the flipside, I am an insurance agent. I have less than perfect credit history, yet I have never been involved in an at-fault accident nor have I ever turned in a homeowners insurance claim. But just as someone that has gone 20 years without ever receiving a speeding ticket and just obtains one today...my insurance is still going to go up because if the industry were to make specialist exceptions for people........

......the insurance companies would go broke for charging less than they should.

An insurance company works like a bank. Your bank makes money by investing the funds they are holding onto for you in your account. The balance of your account is yours and not the banks. Just as with insurance. We invest your insurance premiums to make a profit and wind up paying out 98% of what you paid us in claims to our clients.

I was at a Safeco Corporate meeting one time in Seattle back when I used to sell for them. 2500 people were applauding the fact it was announced that Safeco had retained 2.4% of their premiums. Meaning that 97.6% of what they brought in as insurance premiums went right back out the door as claim payments.

thanks rebecca.
need more responses from shills
u miss the point, insurance companies are not there to help consumers, they are there to figure out ways to not pay.

j