Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers do not have any right to charge higher premiums to those clients who have medical history but those who smoke are prone to be charged higher premiums with no coverage. Instead health insurers can additionally burden them up to 50% surcharge besides the regular premium rates. Hence if one does not want to get burdened with this extra cost, it will be good to quit smoking. Many clients try to conceal this smoking habit to save their money but, it can cause them more troubles by making them an Insurance fraud as per the opinion of Pete Moraga, the spokesperson for the Insurance Policy Network of California.
Some insurance companies use policyholder’s credit scores to determine the premium rates for property and life insurance. Even though it is not a good practice and is also restricted in many places as it is not a legitimate way of setting someone’s premium rates. In California it is practiced but insurers can use credit scores only in underwriting process when a client is not paying the insurance premium annually in huge amounts but spreading it over the entire year
Auto, Homeowners and Renters insurers take into consideration, as per your State Laws, your insurance claims in the past and accordingly charge you higher premium rates. Once you are up for a renewal after a claim then switching of insurers also cannot save you as they use the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange to look through your claims made in the past 5 years. Even though some companies have policies for forgiving 1 claim still, it is recommended not to file claims for minor matters as this action of one can cost them higher insurance premium.
Insurers pay prime importance to the occupation and lifestyle of the policyholders in case of life insurances. If they find you are involved in a profession that might challenge your life anytime like being a cabin crew or ship navigator then they charge you higher interest rates. Also they take due care of the fact whether you travel a lot and take part in life risking activities while holidaying like scuba diving, rock climbing and other such for determining premium rates.
Another factor shaping the insurance premium rates is, if the policyholder has an aggressive dog that tends to bite people. In this case also they will either exclude the dog from policy or will make you pay a higher premium.
