Month: May 2013

Many people in Coppell, Texas wonder if filing bankruptcy will affect their ability to purchase insurance. While there is some reason to be concerned, in practical terms, you can still get insurance in Texas after filing for bankruptcy.

Over the past four or five years, DFW, Coppell and many other parts of the state were impacted by the weak economy. Although the state of Texas had a lower unemployment rate and a stronger overall economy than the nation as a whole, there was still a significant percentage of people living in DFW, Coppell and all parts of Texas that fell on hard times and had to file for bankruptcy.

When you file for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and have all of your debts discharged, you are actually in a much better financial position than if you were behind or in default on payments to your creditors. As your independent insurance agent, here in Coppell, we can help you find affordable insurance even if you have filed for bankruptcy.

While you may have a more difficult time securing the most favorable rates, there are many insurance companies that are more than happy to work with people who have taken a misstep in their financial lives. In Texas, an insurance company can not discriminate against people with bad credit or people who have filed for bankruptcy. They can, however, charge higher premiums and also ask for more of a down payment when you take out a policy.

Insurers issue policies based on risk. One of the factors that they consider when evaluating risk is financial stability. People with bankruptcies on their record are considered to be in a higher risk group than people with perfect credit. Although a bankruptcy can affect your rates, if you are a safe driver and do not have any traffic violations, you should have no trouble finding insurance at a reasonable rate.

If bankruptcy forces you to initially pay a higher premium, as time goes by, your rates will come down, especially if you stick with the same insurance company that wrote your original policy.

Regardless of whether you are a homeowner or business owner in Coppell, Texas or anywhere else within the DFW Metroplex, you might want to think about protecting yourself, your business or your other assets even more by adding umbrella insurance to your existing insurance portfolio.

Both business and homeowners insurance policies have built in provisions to protect the policy owner against liability. The amount of that liability protection depends on the type of insurance, and the amount of coverage you purchase.

Protecting Your Assets

At one time, insurance agents only recommended that people who had over $200,000 worth of assets purchase umbrella insurance. Today, there are many reasons for which a person or business might get sued.

Umbrella insurance is designed to pick up where the liability insurance leaves off, protecting you above and beyond the limits of liability coverage that is built into your homeowners insurance or business insurance.

Other Reasons for Umbrella Insurance

If you have some sort of large-scale celebration at your home, and one of your important guests (your boss, a doctor, the company CEO, or anyone else whose net worth is substantial,) is seriously injured, your liability insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of the medical costs, lost wages or other expenses that the person will incur as the result of that injury. This is the sort of situation where an umbrella insurance policy may save you from financial ruin.

If for some reason, you are involved in an automobile accident for which you are at fault, and there is damage to your car and several others, including at least one luxury vehicle that is totaled, there is no way that your liability insurance would cover the damages of the other cars, let alone the replacement cost of any luxury vehicle. Umbrella insurance provides protection after the amount of liability insurance coverage is exhausted.

Talk to your independent agent in Coppell, DFW or anywhere else in Texas to determine whether you would benefit from umbrella insurance.

No matter how much money you earn or where ever you may live, having a poor credit score can affect you in more ways than you might realize. If you are trying to finance a new car in Coppell or obtain a mortgage for a house in the DFW area of Texas, you can have a hard time getting a loan if you have bad credit. Poor credit score can be a reason that you do not get a job or it can cause you to have to pay more for your auto insurance.

As your independent insurance agent in Coppell, Texas, we see the large discrepancy in car insurance rates that someone with a 500 FICO score and someone with a 750 FICO score pays. While we understand that good people run into financial problems all of the time that causes a decline in their credit score, if you find yourself in such a situation, there are ways to rebuild your credit score and qualify for a lower premium on your car insurance.

Insurance companies consider your credit score as a factor in assigning risk premiums. Statistics show that people with good credit scores act more responsibly and get in fewer accidents. If your credit score is low, you should start working on a plan today to build it back up to a solid number.

You can not improve your credit overnight. Just as it took months or years to fall into financial distress, the process of re-establishing your credit will take some time. You should start by making sure you pay all of your bills on time. If you have past due bills, contact your creditors and make arrangements to pay the debt off at a rate you can handle.

You can also improve your credit score by paying off your credit cards. Credit rating agencies look at your debt to credit limit ratio. For instance if you have a $10,000 limit on your unsecured credit cards and only $1,000 of available credit left, that will reflect negatively on your score. Stop charging and pay down your debt.

If you want lower auto insurance rates, make a concentrated effort to reform your spending habits. When you reduce debt and pay your bills on time, your FICO score will go up.