Credit and Insurance

In Illinois, insurance providers can base their decisions on whether to provide insurance to you, or renew and/or cancel an already existing policy, solely on your credit history. Yet many insurers do consider other factors in determining your rates, such as where the property is located and how the space will be used.

The upshot to this practice is that if a provider is unwilling to cover your organization, your business, or you individually, they must offer you alternative coverage through another insurer. Unfortunately, in situations where you were denied a renewal on an existing policy or it was cancelled, the alternate policy does not have to provide the same amount of coverage or identical terms and conditions as the original policy. This is also true when you seek to establish a new policy and are denied by the provider.

If an insurance provider uses your credit information to determine your premium rate, they must inform you of this at the time of your application. For detailed information about laws concerning insurance and credit, contact the Division of Insurance’s Consumer Assistance Hotline at 866-445-5364 or visit their Website.