Family insurance products help protect your family when life's accidents happen. Get Family, Health, Home, Auto, Life, Renters, and Pet Insurance today. When insurance companies use credit information to determine a customer’s “insurance credit score,” the score is calculated using information about a person’s credit history. Many insurance companies will penalize recent history more than old credit history. The factors used for many insurance companies scoring models include: A. Public records: Such as bankruptcy, collections, foreclosures, liens, and charge-offs. Public records generally lower your insurance credit score. B. Past payment history: The number and frequency of late payments and the days between due date and late payment date. If bills are not paid on time, the insurance score will be lower. C. Length of credit history: and the amount of time a person has been in the credit system. A longer credit history will usually raise the insurance credit score. D. Inquiries for credit: The number of times a person has recently applied for new credit, including mortgage loans, utility accounts, and credit card accounts. Shopping for new credit tends to lower a person’s insurance credit score. E. Number of open lines of credit: Including the number of major credit cards, department store credit cards. Having too much credit tends to lower a person’s score. However, it’s generally not a good idea to cancel credit accounts that have been open a long time because a long credit history helps the score. F. Types of credit in use: Such as major credit cards, store credit cards, finance company loans, etc. Generally, major credit cards are treated more favorably than other types of consumer credit. G. Outstanding debt: How much you owe compared to your total available credit. Too much outstanding debt tends to lower the score. So Don’t Delay, Check Your Credit Score Today! www.myfreecreditscore.com

Types of Insurance You Probably Don’t Need There are some types of insurance that you cannot do without. Most states require drivers to purchase auto insurance. It is wise to purchase homeowners’ insurance and life insurance. It is difficult to pay your medical bills without health insurance. On the other hand, there are some types of insurance that you probably don’t need. You probably don’t need wedding insurance. Obviously, this type of insurance is designed for people who are currently going through the process of planning their weddings. One of the protections it provides is financial reimbursement if a vendor brings the wrong flowers or the caterer doesn’t show up. If you pay by credit card, it is possible that your credit card company can provide some of that same type of protection. You probably don’t need identify theft insurance. You need to understand that the purchase of this type of insurance doesn’t mean that you will never become a victim of identity theft. It doesn’t work that way. It costs an annual fee and requires you to pay down a deductible before it will help pay for expenses incurred as a result of someone stealing your identity. Instead, see if your credit card companies offer some financial protection in case of identity theft. You probably don’t need travel insurance. Will your family be traveling far enough to require the purchase of plane tickets this Summer? If not, then travel insurance isn’t going to do much of anything for you. Travel insurance covers things like lost luggage and expenses due to a canceled, interrupted, or delayed trip due to a reason that is beyond your control. If you are planning a “stay-cation”, then you don’t need travel insurance. You probably don’t need cell phone insurance. Many of these types of insurance plans come with a bunch of exclusions. For example, a lot of them won’t cover the repair or replacement of a phone that has experienced water damage or that was dropped. Most come with a deductible that you would have to pay down before the cell phone insurance kicks in and starts covering things. Personally, it seems to me like buying this type of policy is the same as spending a lot of money for absolutely nothing in return. If you have a smartphone, it probably comes with a manufacturer’s warranty, leaving you with no need to buy extra insurance coverage for it.