In these cases, rejection is threatened
In exceptional cases, it is possible that a policyholder will be rejected by the insurance company. The following reasons can lead to a rejection:
- Insolvency of the applicant: If the policyholder is insolvent, it is very uncertain for the insurance company whether it will even receive payment of the premiums.
- Applicant has made an oath of disclosure: If the applicant declares bankruptcy, the risk of non-payment of premiums is also too high for insurers.
- Insurance contract has already been terminated in the past: If the policyholder has previously taken out car insurance from the same provider and the contract was terminated due to poor payment behavior, the insurer may refuse to insure the policyholder again.
What to do if you are rejected?
If you have been rejected for car insurance, you can try to negotiateInsurance companies often require an annual advance payment for liability insurance in order to still be insured. Otherwise, policyholders have no choice but to keep searching until they find an insurer who offers them liability insurance. These rates are usually significantly more expensive than those charged to consumers with good credit ratings.
What does SCHUFA say about me?
Before taking out car insurance, most insurers carry out a SCHUFA query. Using the data from the credit agency, they can check the creditworthiness of a potential policyholder.
Consent to obtain SCHUFA information required
However, the insurance company is not allowed to access the data without the applicant’s consent. Consumers have the right to refuse to provide SCHUFA information. However, in this case they must expect to be rejected by their comprehensive insurance company.
This data is stored by SCHUFA
SCHUFA will assess the following Data stored:
- Number of accounts
- Number of credit cards and loans and loan amounts
- Contracts (e.g. mobile phone contracts)
- Open invoices
- Insolvencies
- Current and previous addresses
- Affidavits
- Imprisonment threats
However, a loan without Schufa can be disregarded if it has not been recorded by Schufa. On the basis of this data, SCHUFA determines the so-called SCHUFA score. Creditworthiness is rated on a scale of 1 to 100. 100 indicates the best credit rating. The value is also influenced by whether, for example, loans are repaid on time or whether direct debits are returned.
Consumers can view all SCHUFA data
If you want to know what data SCHUFA has stored about you, you can view your data once a year free of charge. This right is guaranteed to you by Paragraph 34 of the Federal Data Protection Act.
Other credit agencies
Although SCHUFA is the most frequently mentioned credit bureaus, there are other credit agencies on the market that help insurance companies assess creditworthiness. These include:
- Deltavista
- Burglary
- Infoscore
- Boniversum
It is up to the insurance company to decide which provider to use. Insurers usually use SCHUFA data because it offers access to the data records of over 66 million people in Germany.
