How to Buy Renters Insurance with Bad Credit

Renters Insurance – Think Positive! Worries won’t help and rest assured, things aren’t so bad! If your credit has some less than desirable blemishes, renters insurance won’t damage your wallet. It is best to request a recent copy of your credit report and try to understand what has most impacted your credit score. You may expect to receive higher premium rates when requesting renters insurance quotes. There are some available discounts which may well save you money and you may be surprised that there are some tricks that would be very helpful especially if you are solely seeking renters insurance due to the requirement of a landlord.

Renters Insurance Coverage

The importance of renters insurance is great whether you have good credit or not. Without renters insurance, damage caused by your negligence could be an unrecoverable financial event. Perhaps a fire, smoke damage, water damage or other unforeseen incident due to an oversight; the landlord could sue you for damages and possibly attach future wages if legally enforceable.

Following a covered claim, it would be a relief to know that your Renters Insurance provides you with the funds to purchase your lost property. It is common for tenants to simply take a risk thinking that the loss won’t happen in their household but to someone else. Although credit is a scoring marker of responsibility, the decision to insure or not may be gauged as a similar marker to some extent.

Credit Scoring as a Premium Factor

Insurance companies don’t need to pull a full credit report; they request an insurance credit score which is a simple sum total of your credit scores and categorize them into one of 3 or 4 categories. There is no worry that your personal credit history details have been shared with the whole industry. Studies show that a higher insurance credit score may belong to a more responsible candidate therefore posing less risk to the insurance carrier; therefore, in states where credit scoring is permitted as a rating factor, those with a higher insurance credit score will receive a lower premium rate and vice versa.

How to Find Affordable Renters Insurance

Without the concern of your credit score limiting the choice for renters insurance, you have the option to search for the most affordable or cheapest renters insurance available. The lowest rates in the country have been found to be offered by Stillwater Insurance Company, affiliate of Fidelity National Title Company. The easiest place to start is a FREE Online Quote on their Customer Portal where you can obtain a quote, select some options, and purchase your insurance directly online. If your Landlord has requested to be listed as an ‘Additional Named Insured’, you may list their name and address during the process and the Landlord will be sent copies of the policy documents as required.

Raise The Deductible

The best way to pay less premium is to request a higher deductible. It is important to note that the deductible doesn’t apply to the Personal Liability coverage on the policy; the very item that may be the only interest of your Landlord.   For this very reason, if you are seeking Renters Insurance solely due to a lease contract requirement, the highest available deductible will offer you the lowest renters insurance rate without affecting the required coverage.