Bad Credit Services

The second explanation relates to risk-taking behavior, he continued. Different people have different aversions to risk. Some people like to skydive. Some people are afraid of the amusement park roller coaster. Some people will run a yellow light if it was yellow when they first saw it. Some people will stay under 55 on the highway. People who are more likely to take risks are more likely to get into serious financial difficulties (bankruptcies, liens, foreclosures, etc.) than those who are more risk averse. As the studies show, people who are more likely to take risks are also more likely to get into auto accidents. Therefore, some people with poor scores are more likely to engage in risky behavior and thus more likely to incur losses. Similar reasoning probably applies to homeowners insurance as well. bad credit credit creditres

Neither, either, or both of these theories may be true for a particular individual. In some instances, financial difficulties might not be caused by risk-taking behavior, but will still produce stress. In other instances, however, it is the risk-taking behavior rather than stress that leads to a greater likelihood of loss, he wrote. bad consolidation credit debt

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Sheffey letter, op. cit. Sheffey said another theory is that credit history reflects personal responsibility and that one who prudently manages one s finances is prudent and responsible in the realms of homes and cars as well.²¹⁰ A derivation would be that financially stable people would be more likely to pay for a minimal loss themselves because they have the financial wherewithal, rather than file a claim. ²¹¹ Similarly, some insurers believe that financially stable individuals are likely to exhibit stability in many other aspects of their lives.²¹² bad company credit repair

Sheffey said Allstate was not aware of any research that supported these theories, but was emphatic that the risk-taking and stress theories were well supported by research. Key Factors For Insurers According to the American Insurance Association, here are some of the kinds of data from credit reports that are of most interest to insurance scoring models: bad card credit credit

• Payment History bad car credit loan

• Bankruptcies bad credit loan mortgage

• Collections auto bad credit loan

• Length Of Credit History bad credit mortgage refinance

• Amount Of Outstanding Debt bad credit refinance

• New Applications For Credit bad credit mortgage second

• Types Of Credit In Use bad credit loan student

The debate over the link between credit reports and insurability promises to continue, as few consumer advocates have been persuaded by Sheffey s arguments. ²¹⁰ Insurance Information Institute, The Use of Credit Information as an Underwriting Tool in Personal Lines Insurance, Brookings Institution Presentation, February 27, 2003. bad card credit

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From an April 11, 2003 presentation by NAIC President and Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Mike Pickens, reported by AM Best on April 14, 2003. ²¹² Insurance Information Institute, The Use of Credit Information as an Underwriting Tool in Personal Lines Insurance, Brookings Institution Presentation, February 27, 2003. A Contrary View Birny Birnbaum executive director of the Council for Economic Justice in Austin, Texas has led the fight against insurance credit scoring. He continually has challenged industry assertions that it is fair, that there is a correlation between credit history and insurance, or that the studies supporting it were credible. bad credit financing

The evidence supporting the correlation claim comes almost exclusively from insurers, insurer trade associations, and credit scoring vendors who refuse to divulge the methodology of their studies, details of the study results, and/or the underlying data for independent verification, Birnbaum wrote in a January 2003 report for the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.²¹³ For those studies about which some information is known, the industry claims become more suspicious. For example, Fair, Isaac and Company continues to bring out the Tillinghast study as support for the correlation-even though the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Credit Reports subgroup dismissed the study as counterproductive and misleading. bad credit home loan mortgage

Birnbaum said there is plenty of evidence to raise questions about the industry s correlation theory. For instance, while economic conditions vary greatly by geographic region, credit scoring models are developed on a national basis. One survey showed that in the fourth quarter of 2000, mortgage delinquencies in the South were almost 60% higher than in the West. Consumers with high credit scores in a region with weak economic conditions were more likely to encounter problems than consumers with lower scores in a region with stronger economic conditions, Birnbaum wrote.²¹⁴ bad credit loan people

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Birnbaum, Birny, Insurers Use of Credit Scoring for Homeowners Insurance In Ohio: A Report For the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, January 2003 ²¹⁴ Id. Then, there is bankruptcy data. If consumers who have filed for bankruptcy in the past five years are far more likely to have claims than consumers who have not filed for bankruptcies, then we would expect an increase in loss ratios if the number of bankruptcies increases dramatically. Personal bankruptcies did increase dramatically during the 1990 s, yet private passenger auto insurance loss ratios declined. The following data show a negative correlation-just the opposite of the positive correlation claimed by the insurance industry, he wrote.²¹⁵ bad card credit credit people

Birnbaum argued that credit scoring allows insurers to price based on the profitability of the consumer, as opposed to the expected risk of loss. In sum, it provides a shortcut for underwriting and rating consumers by income. bad credit guaranteed loan

He said that other profitability factors include: bad credit refinancing

• Credit scoring makes possible the expansion beyond the traditional tiers of preferred, standard, and non-standard. With more tiers, consumers can be identified for higher rates because of their place on the credit scoring scale. bad credit equity home loan

• In most states, insurer changes to underwriting guidelines receive no scrutiny. Consequently, an insurer could simply raise the cutoff score for rating tier eligibility by, say, ten points, and effectively create a 10% rate increase without mak-ing a rate filing or any other regulatory oversight. bad credit loan payday

• Credit scoring enables larger insurers to build a base of customers more likely to purchase other financial products, including life insurance, retirement products, and traditional banking products. bad credit repair

• Since the FCRA allows insurers to use credit reports to market to consumers without their permission (prescreening), insurers can essentially bad credit home loan uk

• redline, that is, target consumers based upon their economic profiles.²¹⁶ 2nd bad credit mortgage

Further, insurers use of credit reports and credit scores have proved controversial for other reasons. Some companies have been accused of failing to provide consumers with adverse action notices informing them that they were being charged more for insurance because of information in their credit report. Other insurers have been accused of pulling the credit reports of spouses and even non-family housemates who were not included in the policy. But before discussing these issues, let s briefly examine the way in which auto insurers typically use credit reports.²¹⁷ bad credit loan unsecured

Silence Of The Agents

Birnbaum said an important voice was not being heard: insurance agents. There are hundreds of agents who want to come forward and tell why they are opposed to credit scoring, why credit scoring has worsened insurance availability, and how credit scoring has a disproportionate impact on poor and minority consumers. But they won t be here today because of their fear of reprisal by the insurance companies they represent. To hear from these agents, they must be given protection against these reprisals. To give you a sense of who these agents are, the following agent organizations have come out against credit scoring-National Association of State Farm Agents, National Association of Professional All-state Agents, and the United Farmers Agents Association.²¹⁸ bad consolidation credit loan

²¹⁶ Id

. ²¹⁷ Birnbaum, Insurance Credit Scoring: An Unfairly Discriminatory Practice, before the Michigan Insurance Committee, July 2003 ²¹⁸ Id. The Texas Study In a Jan. 31, 2005, Texas Insurance Commissioner Jose Montemayor said that his study found that credit scores were a reliable predictor future losses, finding there was a strong relationship between credit scores and claims experience on an aggregate basis. ²¹⁹ bad credit home loan new

Prior to the study, my initial suspicions were that while there may be a correlation to risk, credit scoring s value in pricing and underwriting risk was superficial, supported by the strength of other risk variables, he wrote. bad business credit loan

If that proved to be the case, Montemayor said he would have effectively banned insurers use of credit scores. The study, however, did not support those initial suspicions, he wrote. Credit scoring, if continued, is not unfairly discriminatory as defined in current law because credit scoring is not based on race, nor is it a precise indicator of one s race. Recall that not all minorities are in the worst credit score categories. Further, its use is justified actuarially and it adds value to the insurance transaction. Without a change in statute that disallows credit scoring as a matter of public policy, any action to ban may be tied up in court for several years, further frustrating public expectation. bad credit lender mortgage

On the other hand, the study found a consistent pattern of differences in credit scores among the different racial/ethnic groups. The average credit scores for Whites and Asians are better than those for Blacks and Hispanics. In addition, Blacks and Hispanics tend to be over-represented in the worse credit score categories and under-represented in the better credit score categories. bad credit home loan mobile

It also found a consistent pattern of differences in credit scores depending on an individual s age, with younger people having worse credit scores than older people. The best average credit scores are for individuals older than 70. bad cash credit loan

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Jan. 31, 2005 letter by Jose Montemayor to Gov. Rick Perry, et al. www.tdi.state.tx.us/general/pdf/credit05sup.pdf; also see Dec. 31, 2004 study www.tdi.state.tx.us/general/pdf/creditall04.pdf bad credit loan private

It Started With Marketing

The move to start using credit reports probably was in part due to effective marketing by the Big Three credit reporting agencies (CRAs). The pitch was that credit scores were a better predictor of future losses than were the insurers customary methods at the time. To test this theory, some insurers provided CRAs with a list of customers, some of whom had losses. The CRAs would then append each customer s credit score and return the list. This allowed the insurers, using their own statistical tools, to correlate credit scores to losses. Most insurers became convinced that consumers with lower credit scores were more likely to have future losses. bad card credit debt

Three out of five students with credit cards in our survey had already maxed them out during their freshmen year and, three out of five freshmen with multiple credit cards were already using bank cards to pay for other revolving credit accounts. Furthermore, this survey reveals that nearly three-fourths of students use their student loans to pay for their credit cards. Not incidentally, recent studies indicate that this indiscriminate marketing to college students has led to high incidences of fraud and identity theft among this young adult population, Manning testified.²⁹⁷ bad business credit loan small

Not surprisingly, Manning recommends that students check their credit reports. Clearly, today s graduates face greater challenges in managing their finances so as not to jeopardize their finances. The National Consumers League has a page on its Web site dedicated to student debt issues.²⁹⁸ Divorce Divorce can have a dramatic impact on the divorcee s credit score and credit report. A major problem is that divorcees often don t realize the extent to which their credit relationships can continue to entangle each other s lives well after divorce. Or, they are so overwhelmed with the emotional and logistical difficulties of separation that there is little time left for separating and straightening out credit relationships. But that is precisely what you need to do: ensure that your name is no longer on accounts for which you are not responsible for paying. During the divorce, the husband and wife usually work out a division of debts that receives final approval from the judge. Divorcees often think that any debt assigned to their ex-spouse by the court frees them from that debt for ever after. bad bankruptcy car credit loan

²⁹⁷ Id

. ²⁹⁸ www.nclnet.org/moneyandcredit/index.htm The problem is that your creditors usually don t know about your divorce. In terms of the credit report, problems arise when the ex-spouse who is responsible for paying an account, fails to, and the other spouse, according to the creditor s records, is still a co-signer or joint user or otherwise associated with the account. The failure to pay goes on the credit report of the innocent spouse, creating a fresh derogatory that slams that spouse s credit score. bad credit instant loan

Thus, it is vital that divorcees identify all of their accounts and separate them completely. This includes mortgages, credit cards, bank loans, debit cards, store charge cards, lines of credit, and overdraft checking. Some authors suggest that spouses begin separating accounts as soon as they consider separating.²⁹⁹ bad credit equity loan

Of course, it s also crucial that divorcees obtain their credit reports to check the accuracy of information. Bankruptcy Bankruptcy is the most derogatory item that can appear on your credit report. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a bankruptcy can stay on your report for 10 years. But that does not mean you can no longer get credit. As Gerri Detweiler, a renowned expert on credit explains in her 1997 book, The Ultimate Credit Handbook, (Plume) people can rebuild their credit after bankruptcy or other traumas. It requires patience and a plan. It starts with checking the credit report to see where you stand. If you still have open accounts, try to negotiate with creditors to improve the way they report on you to the credit bureaus, Detweiler advises. Try to catch up on any accounts for which there might be late payments. bad credit georgia home loan

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Ventura, John The Credit Repair Kit (Dearborn 1998 3rd Edition); or see Sember, Brette McWhorter, Repair Your Own Credit and Deal With Debt (Sphinx 2003 2nd Edition) Next, try to re-establish positive lines of credit. A bank card, paid on time over time, is one of the stronger credit references you can add. In the beginning, she says, you might need to get a secured credit card, which requires you to deposit money so use of the card is secured against those deposits.³⁰⁰ But be careful: both Detweiler and the FTC warn there are a lot of scam artists offering secured credit cards. The BankCard Holders of America (BHA) provides a list of institutions offering secured cards.³⁰¹ application bad card credit

Perhaps the best scholarship on bankruptcy is found in the books of Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren.³⁰² Warren has pointed out that of the 1.66 million bankruptcies filed in fiscal year 2003, nearly 40% were by husband-wife couples, meaning that the number of people who actually filed for bankruptcy in that year was 2.14 million.³⁰³ bad credit home loan va

Warren said that women were both the fastest growing and largest demographic group in bankruptcy. There were 1, 661, 996 bankruptcies filed in fiscal year 2003, up 7.4% from the 1, 547, 669 filings in fiscal year 2002. Since 1994, when filings totaled 837, 797, bankruptcies in federal courts have increased 98%. From 1991-95, annual bankruptcy filings hovered around 870, 000. The biggest noticeable jump occurred in 1995-1996, when they went from 874, 642 to 1, 125, 006.³⁰⁴ Interestingly, that is when credit card companies sharply escalated their use of direct marketing solicitations offering pre-approved credit card offers. It is estimated that the industry now sends out five billion unsolicited credit card applications annually. bad credit home loa

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Detweiler continues to advise consumers and publish, see www.ultimatecredit.com, and www.DebtConsolidationRX.com, or for her new E-Book, www. .com ³⁰¹ Send a check or money order for $4.00 to: Secured Credit Card List BHA Customer Service, 524 Branch Drive Salem, VA 24153. Also see http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/secured.htm ³⁰² Warren, Elizabeth, Bankruptcy (West 2002), and, Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi, The Two-Income Trap, (Basic Books 2003) bad car credit loan new

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http://www.bankruptcyaction.com/USbankstats.htm ³⁰⁴ http://www.abiworld.org/stats/1980annual.html Many consumers who complete a bankruptcy find that bad debts that were supposed to be discharged as part of the bankruptcy are later erroneously included on credit reports. Robert Weed, an Alexandria, Virginia attorney, said he regularly must file motions in federal bankruptcy court in order to get creditors to stop reporting discharged debts and to get the credit reporting agencies to remove them. bad credit home loan really

Included In Bankruptcy

A special problem arises for individuals who are co-signers, or are otherwise legally obligated for credit cards or loans, when the other co-signer files for bankruptcy. For many years, the CRAs would report such accounts as Included In Bankruptcy even if the non-bankrupt co-signer met his or her obligation and paid the bill on time. This had an adverse impact on the creditworthiness of non-bankrupt consumers. Not only did it seem to have a negative impact on their credit scores, but also major institutions like Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and insurance companies do an automated scan of credit reports for serious derogatory items like bankruptcy, foreclosure, or judgment. This meant that a co-signer could be denied credit for an account that he or she in fact paid responsibly. bad credit fix

A class action lawsuit was filed over the issue in federal court in South Carolina. U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie had given preliminary approval to a settlement with all three CRAs that if adopted, would stop them from reporting the term bankruptcy to the credit reports of consumers who have not filed for bankruptcy.³⁰⁵ bad credit down home loan

³⁰⁵ Franklin E. Clark, et al. v. Experian Information Solutions, Inc.

: C/A No. 8:00-1217-22; www.fcraclassaction.com; Equifax had proposed allowing it to continue reporting included in the bankruptcy of another, but the proposal was abandoned after additional attorneys entered the case to object. The objectors were led by Michael Caddell, of Caddell and Chapman, Houston Texas. bad credit lender

Seniors

Because it recognized years ago that a host of credit reporting issues affected its members, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has closely followed the FCRA and produced research and surveys on various aspects of it, and on identity theft. In his June 2003 testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Michael W. Naylor, AARP s Director of Advocacy said, Our research does indicate a greater vulnerability of older Americans, based on the higher proportion of those age 50 years and older who report being victimized by identity theft, compared to the proportion of all age groups making such reports. ³⁰⁶ bad buy car credit

Among the myriad of problems identified by Naylor was inaccuracy caused by debt collectors. Inaccuracies can also occur when a creditor sells a delinquent account to a debt collector. Once the original creditor sells the account to a debt collector, the debt collector becomes the furnisher of information on this account to the CRAs. The main source of inaccuracy in this case results from incorrect reporting of the date of initial delinquency on the account. ³⁰⁷ bad bank credit loan personal

In a footnote to his prepared statement, Naylor added, One concern is that debt collectors may report the date they purchased or received the account as the date of initial delinquency, even though the actual date of initial delinquency was likely much earlier. Because the FCRA stipulates that most negative information remains on a consumer credit report for seven years from the date of initial delinquency, establishing this date is important to consumers attempting to restore their credit. bad credit home loan purchase

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Statement of Michael Naylor, The Growing Problem of Identity Theft and Its Relationship to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Senate Banking Committee, June 19, 2003 ³⁰⁷ Id. Continue to Next Chapter 2005 Evan Hendricks and Privacy Times, Inc. All rights reserved. Enroll in Credit Repair About Veracity Credit Consultants Contact Veracity Full Refund Policy Veracity Site Map Privacy Statement Terms of Use bad credit loan motorcycle

Veracity - Opt-Out of Pre-Screening

to secure... the right to be let alone the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men. - Justice Louis Brandeis (dissenting) Olmstead v. U.S. 277 U.S. 438 (1928) If you are tired of the barrage of pre-approved credit card offers, you can stop it. In fact, under the FCRA Amendments of 2003, you ultimately will have the right to stop large financial conglomerates from sharing data about you among their affiliates for marketing purposes. (Toward the end of this chapter, we will discuss how the new law strengthens your right to opt out.) bad credit help home loan

The right to opt-out from pre-screened offers, created by the 1996 Amendments, might be the least known right under the Fair Credit Reporting Act and no wonder. Scan one of the pre-approved credit card offers that you ve received in the mail and see if you can find the legally-required notice that (1) the credit card company got your name from either Equifax, Experian, or Trans Union, and (2) you have the right to call a toll-free number in order to stop the credit bureaus from selling your name. This effectively opts you out from future offers that are generated from your credit report data. arizona bad credit home loan

The Toll Free Number For Opting Out Is:

(888)-5-OPTOUT / (888) 567-8688 By calling the number and carefully following the prompts, you can opt out from pre-screening from all three credit bureaus. When you call, be prepared to press 2. By doing so, you get a choice of opting out for two years (Press one ), or opting out permanently (Press two ) or opting back in if you previously opted out (Press three ). bad credit home loan motor

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