hazard insurance/home owners insurance - which company? (credit report, fee, property)

[golfgal]

One thing about those consumer lists is that you have to keep in mind that people that have good experiences with companies RARELY post their experience. Those that have a bad experience are the ones that will go out of their way to make sure everyone knows that.

We have a neighbor that is all up in arms about his insurance company not paying for a new roof with 'hail' damage. He had 2 separate inspectors out and 3 different contractors out, they all said the same thing, NO HAIL DAMAGE. It turns out that the people that were buying his house had put in the purchase agreement that he had to put on a new roof and was trying to get the insurance company to pay for it. He filed a complaint with the state insurance commissioner over is bad experience with his insurance company.

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by golfgal

One thing about those consumer lists is that you have to keep in mind that people that have good experiences with companies RARELY post their experience. Those that have a bad experience are the ones that will go out of their way to make sure everyone knows that.

You're correct about that. Lately I've been trying to make an effort and leave good reviews, too. Feel somewhat obligated since I've found out so much courtesy of other people making an effort.

[darkblue]

Do they pull credit report before giving a quote for home owners insurance.Once of the insurance providers asked for my social sec. When i asked him why he need it , he said he is going to get soft hit on credit report ,but it doesnt affect my credit score. It that true? Do i need to give my social sec to every provider if i want to shop around for insurance?

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by darkblue

Do they pull credit report before giving a quote for home owners insurance.Once of the insurance providers asked for my social sec. When i asked him why he need it , he said he is going to get soft hit on credit report ,but it doesnt affect my credit score. It that true? Do i need to give my social sec to every provider if i want to shop around for insurance?

Yes, they do! Some do it but let you know beforehand (the only way to get an accurate quote), while others (probably most) just do it without telling you and people who are not aware of it are none the wiser. It's so annoying and unfair! The banks even do it when you open a checking or savings account. I couldn't for the life of me imagine the reason for that, but somebody in the business explained it to me - to cover their rears in case of overdraft.

Hard pulls on the credit report don't matter to me as much, but for some people they can be crucial! I can give you a fresh example. Only 11 days ago my scores were 801, 806, and 825. I know that because my lender had to pull a new credit report when I was locking the rate (the existing one was too old). Between this time and today all I did was shop for homeowners insurance at only ONE place! Today (went shopping for a new lender) the scores were 801, 807, and 803, which mean that one of the bureaus efs you big time. It's all the same to me as the rates are not any different once the scores are over 700, but to some it may mean parting with a lot of money. As an example again - the auto insurance premium quoted to me before running a credit report was $250 higher.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by darkblue

Do they pull credit report before giving a quote for home owners insurance.Once of the insurance providers asked for my social sec. When i asked him why he need it , he said he is going to get soft hit on credit report ,but it doesnt affect my credit score. It that true? Do i need to give my social sec to every provider if i want to shop around for insurance?

It is true that it is a soft hit and doesn't really effect your score. You don't have to give them your social security number but then again they won't write your policies either. All the major insurance companies use some sort of credit based insurance score now.

[jeffselan]

Erie has good multiple discounts from what I have been told. I can't get them, I had two accidents

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by golfgal

It is true that it is a soft hit and doesn't really effect your score. You don't have to give them your social security number but then again they won't write your policies either. All the major insurance companies use some sort of credit based insurance score now.

I don't think so. When I was talking with one broker selling homeowners insurance, I specifically asked him what he's gonna do. He told me a lot of companies do hard hits even without SSNs. Unless the name is very common, it probably works. I just saw my credit report yesterday - too many inquiries... BS! For the whole year had a lender pull it twice and homeowners insurance once. I did something unwise without thinking about it recently, though - needed an increase in the credit limit of a particular credit card because I was gonna make a large purchase and didn't wanna go over 30% of the limit. It probably counted as asking for credit.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by sierraAZ

I don't think so. When I was talking with one broker selling homeowners insurance, I specifically asked him what he's gonna do. He told me a lot of companies do hard hits even without SSNs. Unless the name is very common, it probably works. I just saw my credit report yesterday - too many inquiries... BS! For the whole year had a lender pull it twice and homeowners insurance once. I did something unwise without thinking about it recently, though - needed an increase in the credit limit of a particular credit card because I was gonna make a large purchase and didn't wanna go over 30% of the limit. It probably counted as asking for credit.

WHen any company uses your credit for whatever they have to send you a letter if you don't get their best rate or whatever. They have to list WHY and if the reason is too many inquiries you are doing GREAT. When we applied for the loan on our house too many inquiries was our 'problem' too. The only inquiry we had was from the mortgage company . If you have things like 'too many judgments/liens" or too many 90+ late pays, that is when you are in trouble.

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by golfgal

WHen any company uses your credit for whatever they have to send you a letter if you don't get their best rate or whatever. They have to list WHY and if the reason is too many inquiries you are doing GREAT. When we applied for the loan on our house too many inquiries was our 'problem' too. The only inquiry we had was from the mortgage company . If you have things like 'too many judgments/liens" or too many 90+ late pays, that is when you are in trouble.

I wrote this somewhere else, but the funny thing was that I saw "too many inquiries" last night on all 3 reports under the scores of 801, 807, and 803! Imagine if I didn't have inquiries... they should've designed a new bell curve... What pisses me off, though, is that one of the scores was 825 less than 2 weeks ago and the ONLY thing I did since then was get homeowners insurance from ONE place (didn't even call anybody else)! Frankly, to me it doesn't matter, but to other people it does. Then again, who knows... if I got a few more quotes it could've mattered to me, too! It's just truly disgusting and unfair practice!

[darkblue]

Here are the quotes received from two companies
Policy from G(have auto insurance with them)
Coverage A – Dwelling Coverage limit $322000
Coverage B – Other structures $32000
Coverage C – Personal property $225400
Coverage D – Loss of use $64400
Coverage E – Liability $300000
Coverage F – Medical Payments $2000
Deductible - $100
Hurricane Deductible - $6440
Total Annual premium $915


Policy from F(lender refered) Premium premium
Dwelling 188000 871.27 822.33
Sep structures 18800
Personal prop 141000
Loss of use 94000
Pers Liability 300000
Guest medical 1000
Sewer & Drain 250 50 50
Contents repl covered
Extended Repl covered (for 235000)

[SIZE=5]Deductibles[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]All Perils $500 $1000[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]Wind and Hail 1.0% 1.0%[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]Premium $921.27 $872.33[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]Policy fee $25 $25[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]Total $946.27 $897.33[/SIZE]


[SIZE=5]Which one is good comparitively?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]In the first one, it did not have wind & hail.What does it mean. Do ineed to specifically ask them?[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]What is Dwelling coverage. First one didnt say about Extended Repl but covers more than the sale price ( $320000)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]Deductible one the first one is very less. [/SIZE]