 TITLE: Does Your Credit Score Affect Homeowners Insurance? CONTENT: Do Homeowners Insurers Check Your Credit?\n-----------------------------------------\nMany homeowners insurance companies will check your credit and use credit-based insurance scores. However, your credit-based insurance score will be one of many factors that are considered.\nAlso, your insurance score generally won't be the sole factor leading to you being denied or receiving a higher rate—many states don't allow insurance scores to be used this way. Some states also strictly regulate or completely outlaw the use of credit-based insurance score in relation to homeowners insurance.\nFor example, if you live in California, Massachusetts or Maryland, homeowners insurance companies don't use an insurance score as part of the approval or rate-setting decision. In Oregon, the insurer might be able to use your score to help determine your initial rate, but not for approval, denial, renewal or future rate-setting decisions.\nIf the insurance company does use an insurance score, your debt payment history, current account balances, recent credit applications and whether you've declared bankruptcy can all impact your score. A higher score may make it easier to get a homeowners insurance policy at a low rate. But remember, your insurance score is only one of many factors, so its impact will be limited. END