Taking a look at what your credit and insurance scores will tell you

Oh sure, anybody can get a free credit report. But there's a world of other information about you out there which goes far beyond that. What's your credit score? Your insurance score? Could you get a good car loan?

Many of those reports are available for a fee, and therein lies the rub. Credit reporting agencies that used to make all their money selling your reports to lenders are now making some money by selling them back to you.

"The consumer market has been one of our fastest-growing areas," concedes Steven Katz, a spokesman for TransUnion, which has just unveiled a suite of new reports, including home and auto insurance scores.

In part, that growth stems from the fact that more people and businesses are tapping into your credit report and score. It's not just used by mortgage companies, but by potential landlords, employers, insurers, and others. Consumers should know how they are viewed by the various businesses they have to deal with, but they can also go overboard on ordering info they may not need.

The question remains: Do you really need to buy all of these reports, or does somebody else on the other side of the transaction just need to sell them? How much do you really need to know about yourself, and how much should you pay for it? Here's a brief overview of some of the report cards:

Everyone is entitled to one free report a year from all three credit reporting agencies: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. These are available at annualcreditreport.com. Take advantage of this every year, to make sure all of the items are correct. If you see any wrong addresses, cards you didn't know you had, or late payments you believe you made on time, set about repairing it.

All three agencies would have you believe you have to monitor your report regularly to make sure mistakes aren't made and your identity isn't being used to open credit cards for scam artists. It's not a convincing argument, but worrywarts who are willing to pay more for peace of mind can find all the reports they'd ever want at transunion.com, experian.com, and equifax.com.

Beyond your credit report is a credit score, commonly a FICO score, created by Fair Isaac from information in your credit report. These scores typically range from 620 to 850, the higher the number, the better. That's a really important number, especially to mortgage bankers, and you can't easily get it for free.

You can calculate a rough approximation of your FICO score at bankrate.com/brm/fico/calc.asp. Or you can buy your FICO scores for $47.85 at myfico.com. You'll get three scores; one for each credit reporting agency.

If you're shopping for a homeowner's or auto policy, it helps to know how you look to the insurers. They often base their decisions and rates on two factors: your credit score and the five-year history of claims filed on your house or car.

The latter information is contained in so-called CLUE (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange) reports, which are created and published by Choice Trust. You can get one free CLUE report a year at the company's website, choicetrust.com. It's worth doing if you've filed claims, to see how they are reported. And if you have not filed a claim for five years, your CLUE is probably clean, but worth looking at nevertheless to make sure there are no errors.

But here's a complication: If you're buying a new home, the insurer may base its coverage decisions on the home's CLUE report, not yours. And you're not allowed to order that. You can, and should, ask the seller to provide one.

Insurance companies check your credit reports, too, and the credit reporting agencies are responding with insurance specific credit scores they say more accurately reflect claims-filing risk. You can buy them too, for example at Trans Union's site, truecredit.com/insurance.

If you've had a troubling credit report, it would be worth seeing your insurance score. But if you've got a good credit score, it's unlikely you'll have a bad insurance score. It's likely that if your credit report and claims history are clean and your FICO score is solid, you'll be able to buy decent insurance coverage without shelling out extra cash for any special insurance credit reports.

Linda Stern is a freelance writer. She can be reached at lindastern@aol.com.