Consumer complaint received 2021-09-07
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: NM
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Difficulty submitting a dispute or getting information about a dispute over the phone

Complaint:
The purpose of this complaint is to communicate my concerns over the renewal of my homeowners insurance policy. Thus far, my attempts to resolve this matter through USAA 's various customer service options have been unsuccessful. 

On the evening of XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email about the renewal of my homeowners insurance policy, which is set to renew on XX/XX/XXXX. On Page 5 of the attached renewal document, it states the following : We have given you less than our best rates due in part to your credit information. You're still benefiting from the use of an insurance score. You would be paying a higher rate if we didn't use the insurance score as a factor when determining your premium. The most important credit-related factors that negatively affected your insurance score are : * Number of Open Retail Accounts * Number of Accounts Always Paid as Agreed * Length of Time Since Newest Account has been Established * Percent of Accounts Reported in the Last 24 Months to Total Accounts on File Your credit information was obtained from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX consumer credit reporting agency. 

This news was quite alarming. I checked at least seven credit score/bureau combinations available to me, and each reported a score above XXXX. In fact, the FICO XXXX score provided to me through USAA 's website was listed as XXXX as of XX/XX/XXXX. 

Since XX/XX/XXXX, I have spoken with multiple representatives at USAA to seek clarification. They have suggested I contact XXXX to obtain the report from which the adverse credit information was derived. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received the XXXX report. Though it contained mis-associations and incomplete or otherwise incorrect information for some of its non-credit-related findings, the credit-related findings seemed consistent with what I have seen through other services. I forwarded the report to USAA. 

One of the USAA representatives suggested that my allegedly adverse credit information might not be reflected by a credit score, which would defeat the entire purpose of credit scores. I highly doubted XXXX had developed a metric so novel and insightful that it deviated so heavily from what is customary -- credit scores. Nonetheless, the USAA representatives have defended USAA 's blind reliance upon XXXX. 

I called XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. According to that representative, my credit-based insurance score was XXXX. Apparently, this insurance score uses the XXXX -- XXXX range customarily used in credit scores. Therefore, though the XXXX is less than my actual credit scores, it still should have placed me in the most favorable tier. 

Since my last renewal, my only credit account changes were due to opening a store card, and refinancing my home to take advantage of the low interest rates. Neither of these activities, nor the ambiguous factors listed in the renewal paperwork should have adversely affected my credit information, and certainly not my premium. Additionally, in the six years I have had homeowners insurance through USAA, I have never had a claim.

At this point, USAA has indicated my credit information is favorable through the credit score they provide me, they can not cite a specific reason for denying me their best premium, and they refuse to pursue the matter further.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation