“Buchmueller says the use of credit scores raise fundamental issues of fairness and could be interpreted as a punishment against the poor, who might see insurance rates rise when they experience a drop in credit rating for non-driving related reasons.””Somebody who has really good credit because they have higher income and greater savings, if they get into an accident they may decide not to file a claim,” says Buchmueller. “Whereas someone living paycheck to paycheck isn’t going to have that luxury. So, the credit score is predicting higher claims, not because you are irresponsible, it’s just that you don’t have the cash on hand to fix your car.”

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