Auto insurance premiums tied to credit score

You might expect a plunging credit score to affect your ability to qualify for a car loan or how high the interest rate on your credit card will soar. But too often Americans don't realize a plunging credit score can cost them big bucks on insurance premiums.

One of the biggest mistakes insurers say people make is not realizing when their credit score is tanking.

"Credit scores factor heavily into your rate," says Ashley M. Hunter, a construction-risk insurance specialist who owns HM Risk Group in Austin, Texas. That's because in the eyes of your insurer, if you've missed a few payments to your credit card company or have written a lot of bad checks (that wound up in collection), chances are you'll do the same thing to them.