Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

10 Insider Tips to Score the Best Insurance Even If You Have Bad Credit

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Finding good insurance with bad credit
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If you have bad credit and are looking for cheap insurance, it’s still possible to get a good rate. According to The Zebra’s customer auto insurance data, drivers with scores between 300 and 579 pay around $126 more per month than those with very good credit scores between 740 and 799. According to Bankrate, the same is true for home insurance. People with bad credit pay 93% more than those with excellent credit. This is due to the fact that insurance companies consider a lower credit score a higher risk factor, meaning that people with a lower score are typically more expensive to insure. Don’t overpay for your insurance. Follow these 10 tips to get the best insurance possible.

1. Shop Around

When you get quotes from insurance companies, they pull a soft credit inquiry. This means that getting multiple quotes won’t affect your credit score. Don’t settle for an expensive plan. Instead, see what’s available in your area.

2. Choose The Right Company

Choosing the right insurance company if you have bad credit
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Choosing the right insurance company is the best way to save money if you have bad credit. You should look for a telematics-based company that tracks your driving habits, mileage, and records to determine your rate. Several companies are better for individuals with bad credit including Geico, Nationwide, and USAA. This may vary based on your location, age, and driving record though. Companies like First Acceptance Auto Insurance or Dairyland are best for drivers who have tickets or accidents.

3. Look for Discounts

If bad credit is driving up the cost of your premium, you can look for discounts in other ways. For auto insurance, many companies offer a safe driver discount. You also can bundle your home and auto insurance for a discount.

4. Be Careful with Claims

Get a quote for repairs before submitting an insurance claim if you have bad credit
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Don’t file a claim for your insurance unless the damages are more than the insurance rate increase you will get in return. Make sure to get a quote for repairs and then do the math. Sometimes you save money by paying out-of-pocket.

5. Exceptions to The Rule

Some states don’t allow insurance companies to do credit checks. If you live in California, Hawaii, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, or Massachusetts, your credit score won’t affect your insurance premiums. This may be expanded in the future since lawmakers in many states don’t believe that insurance should be tied to credit scores. Doing so disproportionally harms consumers.

6. Improve Other Risk Factors

home security system improve your risk factor
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For home insurance, you can get additional discounts for installing safety measures like smoke alarms and security systems. For auto insurance, if you have a new driver on your plan or someone with a history of accidents or tickets your policy will be more expensive. Improving your other risk factors will help you get a better rate.

7. Improve Your Credit Score

This may go without saying, but improving your credit score can help you get cheaper insurance. Focus on making on-time payments, utilizing less of your available credit, and avoiding hard credit checks to boost your score. Also, take a look at your credit report for any errors that might be bringing your score down. While a score increase won’t happen overnight, positive actions will help your score increase over time.

8. Reevaluate After a Period of Time

Most insurance companies will offer loyalty discounts after a certain amount of time with no claims. Check in with your insurance company before renewing your policy to see if you qualify. Even if you pay more for insurance within the first year, subsequent years may be cheaper.

9. Check What’s Covered

When you’re shopping for insurance, see what the plans offered actually cover. There are some things you may not need. Of course, if your car or home is financed insurance coverage may be dictated by your lender. If not, you could save money by reducing or eliminating some unnecessary coverage.

10. Choose How You Pay

There are usually small discounts for electronic billing and autopay. Additionally, most companies will offer a discount if you pay for your annual premium upfront. While these savings might be small, they can help you save on insurance costs even with bad credit.

Finding Good Insurance with Bad Credit

You can still find good insurance with bad credit. While you may pay a bit more for your policy, by using these 10 tips you can still get an affordable rate. Don’t settle for the first quote that you get and make sure that you take advantage of all the discounts available to you.

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Tips to Find Cheap Home Insurance

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Finding cheap home insurance
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Home insurance is essential to protect your investment against unforeseen disasters and losses. Of course, it’s not something you want to skimp on. But are you paying too much for your home insurance policy? Navigating the home insurance market can be difficult without proper guidance. There are many affordable ways to lower your rate without sacrificing coverage. Here we’ll help you explore ways to find cheap home insurance with appropriate coverage.

1. Bundle to Save

Bundling your insurance policies can help you get cheap home insurance. If you have a car, boat, ATV, or vacation home, those policies can be bundled. According to Progressive, customers can save an average of 7% on their auto policy when they bundle home and auto insurance. New customers can save over 20% on average. 

2. Don’t Ignore Discounts

Home insurance discount for first time homeowners
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Insurance companies offer discounts for many things that you may not even think of. Are you retired? You may qualify for a discount. Other discounts may be given for home improvements, being mortgage-free, or not having any recent claims. Additional discounts will usually be given for paying for the policy in full versus monthly. Other things to ask your insurance agent about include discounts for living in a gated community, having an HOA, being a non-smoker, or being a new homeowner. These small discounts can add up quickly helping you to get cheap home insurance.

3. Add a Home Security System

Typically, if you have a home security system installed, you can receive home insurance policy discounts. The amount of the discount can vary by insurance company, but some can offer up to 10% off. Other prevention measures that could get you a discount are smoke detectors and fire alarms. If you have leak alarms, make sure to disclose that as well, as it could get you additional savings.

4. Stick with One Company

With most insurance companies, the longer you have a policy with them the more loyalty discounts they will offer. If you haven’t received a rate reduction and you have been a policyholder for over a year, try and call your insurance company and see if they will lower your rate. Sometimes bringing up switching companies can also work in your favor. Ultimately, they don’t want to lose your business.

5. Determine What You Need

Being underinsured can have catastrophic consequences. But being overinsured could cost you thousands of dollars a year. First, make sure that you have enough dwelling coverage so that you can rebuild your home if needed. Make sure enough dwelling coverage is extended to any other structures like detached garages, sheds, or barns in this number.  Next, make sure that enough is allocated for your personal property and you can revise the personal property limit up or down accordingly. You should also take a look at personal liability limits within your policy. Lastly, make sure that your loss of use coverage is appropriate if you need to rent another place to live in your area. You may also want to include flood insurance or earthquake insurance depending on where you live.

6. Shop Around

Home insurance agent helping find cheap home insurance
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Don’t commit too early to a home insurance policy before weighing your options. You can use online comparison websites to find the best rates in your area. Additionally, you also can reach out to independent insurance agents that work with multiple insurance so they can offer you several rates. However, independent insurance agents are harder to come by so this may not be an option in your area.

Finding Cheap Home Insurance

Finding the most affordable home insurance will take some research. But by asking the right questions, utilizing discounts, and bundling other insurance policies, you can find cheap home insurance. There’s no reason to overpay if you can find a reasonable policy with appropriate coverage. Do you think you are paying too much for your home insurance policy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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3 Ways to Record Your Stuff for Personal Property Insurance

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So, you’ve got auto insurance for your car, health insurance for your health, flood insurance for your property, and home insurance for your house.  Everything’s covered!  Yay!  Whoa there.  Not quite.  These days, it seems like you’ve got to insure everything if you want it covered in case of loss.  There’s pet insurance.  Celebrities are insuring their body parts.  And, while you probably don’t need to insure those killer legs, you probably want to check to make sure you have some sort of personal property insurance (or personal belongings insurance).

Despite what you may think, your home insurance doesn’t necessarily cover your personal properties.  They might have some small rider that will pay out a small amount to replace certain essentials like clothes and such, but if you’re ever in need of it, you’ll quickly find that it will fall far short of replacing much of the personal property that you owned.  Some of the things will have caps on them for value.  Got a killer gaming computer?  Not covered to it’s full value.  Many people are choosing to add a personal property policy to their list of insurance policies.

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Part of getting a personal property policy is being able to identify the item, it’s value, and prove both.  Here are three ways you can use to record the property that you own, and do it easily.

  • Spreadsheet — Create a spreadsheet for each room and list the items you are insuring from that room.  Be sure to record any serial numbers and model numbers that you can.  A short description can also be helpful.
  • Take Pictures — Combined with a simple spreadsheet, take pictures of the items that you own in each room.  This can help identify the items, and act as proof of serial and model numbers as well as condition.
  • Contents Video — Take a camcorder (or any device that records decent quality video) and walk through each room of your house, recording each item that you’ll be insuring.  Again, be sure to record serial numbers and model numbers.  You can use the ability to record voice to add in descriptions as you go.

Properly recording and keeping track of your property can make purchasing your personal property insurance a much easier task and make sure that you’re insured for the proper amounts and items so that you don’t find yourself trying to replace expensive items that you though your home insurance would cover.

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