The various cards in your wallet may be factored into how much you pay for your coverage.
It seems as though every store has its own credit card, check cashing card, discount card, loyalty card, or other offer that has you sign up in order to obtain some kind of benefit, and the insurance industry is paying attention to what you’ve chosen.
The cards are meant to eliminate the need for paper coupons and to provide stores with invaluable data.
However, those same discounts that are being applied at stores could also be used by the insurance industry to calculate premiums and may mean that policyholders are paying more than they otherwise would have. The technology employed for loyalty cards and other similar programs are meant to help to keep track of consumer purchasing behaviors in order to continually make improvements to stores, their offerings, and their promotions.
The data from these cards is also being seen by the insurance industry, not just the stores.
When an application for one of these store cards is completed, the information will also be added into that consumer’s financial record. Therefore, when a credit check is performed, these cards will have had some influence over your credit rating – which is a factor used in the calculation of premiums in some states.
However, beyond that, these cards can also reveal a number of important details about your lifestyle to the insurance industry, which they may or may not see as favorable. For instance, if you use a loyalty card at a grocery store in order to obtain discounts, that card will have recorded both the healthy and unhealthy foods that you have purchased. Over time, this will reveal the types of foods that you purchase on a regular basis.
The insurance industry would then be able to see how health conscious you truly are in terms of the food that you regularly do – or do not – buy. Therefore, consumers may begin to think beyond their credit scores when it comes to their shopping habits and begin to think more about what their purchases are revealing about them.