credit checks for house insurance

mikeb222

I'm trying to get some house insurance cover, but most of the companies I have tried want to do a credit check, which I don't want.

Does anyone know of any company that doesn't do a credit check?

And, why do they need to do a credit check anyway?
Doesn't seem very fair to me.

dogbot

Not all do and those that do often won't perform a check in all circumstances. That said, I don't think you will find it easy to buy cover on installments and not have the potential of being checked.

If you are opting to pay all in one go - i.e. annualy - it is much much less likely that the company quoting will undertake a credit check. It costs them money to do it so often it is targetted.

Lots of companies - particularly the mid to large personal lines brokers as well as direct insurers - are starting to undertake credit checks on customers who pay in installments, and usualy in a targeted way, because they often bear the credit risk themselves (when you don't pay for insurance in one go you are paying in installments and not paying monthly; i.e. buying the insurance on credit. If a customer defaults then the broker or insurer ends up with bad debt, going into their cost base and so passed on to customers in the price they pay). It is perfectly reasonable for a business to protect against credit risk.

Some firms have also found there is correlations between poor credit risks and claims experience.

Remember a check for this is not like an application for a credit card or something, it is not going to leave much of a footprint on your credit record.