Something bizarre I notice - Fair Credit Reporting Act

[emeleel]

I was paying my auto insurance yesterday, and looked on the back of one of the papers included with the bill, and found an odd message:

NOTICE UNDER FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT

An investigative consumer report may be requested and procured which will include applicable information concerning character, general reputation, personal characteristics and mode of living. You are entitled to request within a reasonable time a complete and accurate disclosure of the nature and scope of the investigation requested.

I've seen similar messages about reporting information on payments to the credit folks, which is understandable, but character? General reputation? Personal characteristics? Mode of living? What, does this mean American Express can call up my insurance agent and ask if we live in a dump, drink to excess, have tattoos, and whether we're nice people or not?

It doesn't worry me, but I thought it was totally bizarre. I was wondering if anyone knows what this means.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Could mean contacting landlords and employers for references, I guess.

[emeleel]

Hmmm. You may be right. I was looking at it as saying that they (the insurance company) might have to release information about us to someone, and that if so, they would give us a copy of the report. But I guess it would be more that they would be the ones doing the requesting. That does make more sense - they would want to know something about the persons they're going to insure to make sure they're honest.

[mtomm[$]]

I know that at least some insurance companies run credit reports before writing new business. Your credit score is turning out to be an all important number and I'm not sure that is fair to some people. Should companies be putting that much stock into your credit report?

[Joubert[$]]

Been there for a while, I think. Your company simply be starting to elaborate more. Many of the companies reserve the right to go through all phases of an insured's life. The special investigations units especially need that release. In high crime areas or in cases where someone is insuring certain things, they can also assign someone to call neighbors, check police records, verify employment, verify that you are re-hireable at old jobs, etc.