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Can how I handle my credit affect my hazard insurance rates?

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with John Tooley Insurance Agency

Answers on this vary from state to state, but if you are in Oklahoma the answer is yes.  There is usually a base rate, then discounts applied on a sliding scale for the increased financial responsibility.  I have been asked what the corrolation is. While I am not the spokesperson for the process, it seems to be based on the thought that the more risk you are willing to take with your money, the more risk you are willing take with your other property.  Here is the upside to this.. you have an opportunity to really reduce your rates.  A few years back my wife would apply for any credit card offers just to save on the counter purchase.  What she didn't realize was how it was impacting our credit... which impacts everything from home loans to home insurance rates.  Well, after a bad experience with a credit card she stopped this practice.  By doing that alone my overall rates were reduced 10-20%.  Amazing.  Another client, I brought them on with a huge savings over their prior carrier, then when reviewing again this year we dropped another 10%.  What a great conversation it was to call them and tell them that their rates went DOWN this year. 

So when you have a client that has just cleaned up their credit history.. add value to their relationship with you.  Have them check for a positive impact on their rates. 

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Rick Trowe
Cerium Learning - Tulsa, OK
Go With Trowe

Does every insurance company in Oklahoma use the same process to factor credit history?

Sep 12, 2008 06:04 PM
John Tooley
John Tooley Insurance Agency - Owasso, OK

Rick - Every insurance company will have their own twist to this process.  Some will actually use a credit score while others just use some aspects of consumer reporting that would be found in a credit score.  Because of this it pays to shop around occasionally to see if your situation is more favored by a company different than the one you currently have if something has improved in this area.

Sep 13, 2008 05:18 AM
Bob Haywood
McGraw Realtors - Owasso, OK
BobHaywood.com

Hey John,

Haven't seen you in a while on AR.  Thanks for your help yesterday!

Aug 21, 2009 12:53 AM