You may not realize it, but those two times you paid your credit card bill late may mean you’re paying more in auto or home insurance premiums today.
Insurance companies set premiums based on their perceived risk for covering you. To do this, they look at many factors — and your credit history can be one set of factors in insurance risk scoring. Insurance companies believe that people who pay their bills on time may be less likely to file a claim.
Therefore, the same behaviors that hurt your credit score (late payments, payments in collection, too many accounts, being close to your credit limits, etc.) can also lead to higher insurance premiums.
Of course, until recently, credit card companies have not made it easy for cardholders to stay on top of their bills.