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Texas Insurance Credit Reviews: What SB 1644 Means for Your Renewal
If your renewal moved this year and you heard the law changed, here is what changed, what you are allowed to ask for, and when asking is worth it. Nobody is on trial here. Your price is being brought up to date, and you get a say in when.
The answer
Since January 1, 2026, a Texas carrier that uses your credit has to retake the photo. On every policy issued or renewed since that date, the carrier must refresh your credit information at least every 36 months and reset the premium to the new score, and at renewal you or your agent can ask for that fresh look once in any twelve month period. The carrier has to do it. The new photo can come out better or worse than the old one, which is why we read the file before we ask. The law did not promise you a lower price. It promised you a current one.
What changed, and when
-
Before this law
- The photo
- Taken the day you bought the policy
- How long it lasted
- As long as you kept the policy, with no duty to retake it
- Your ask
- Up to the carrier
-
Since January 1, 2026
- The photo
- Retaken at least every 36 months
- How long it lasts
- Three years at most
- Your ask
- Once in any twelve month period, at renewal, and the carrier has to do it
Pay off the truck, close the cards, rebuild after a hard year, and the price could still be standing on a photo from years ago. The Legislature's own analysis says carriers were not required to update an insured's credit score and policy rating after the initial assessment, and that is the gap the bill closed. Your price could be standing on a photo from the day you bought the policy.
How the ask works at renewal
- 01
Free
Read the file first
Pull your reports and read the letter before anyone asks for anything. TDI's credit scoring page lists what you can dispute and how. A fresh look on a file with an error in it bakes the error in for another year.
- 02
Once a year
Ask at renewal
You can ask, or your agent can ask for you. Once in any twelve month period. The carrier has to re-underwrite and re-rate on a current report or score.
- 03
Either way
Read the new photo
The price can go either way. If credit cost you anything, the carrier owes you a letter within 30 days that names up to four reasons and tells you how to see the report behind them.
- 04
Your call
Decide with the whole market in view
One carrier's reading of your file is one opinion. If the new photo is worse, another carrier may read the same file more kindly, and we can show you both before you sign for another year.
What the law settles, and what it leaves to the carrier
-
Settled by the statute
- Refresh
- At least every 36 months, then reassess and adjust the premium
- Your ask
- At renewal, on a current report or score, once in any twelve month period, by you or your agent
- Fresh report
- No older than 90 days when it supports an adverse action, a decision against you
- The letter
- After any adverse action, must name up to four reasons and state your right to ask for a re-rate
-
Left to each carrier
- Speed
- Whether your price moves all the way to the new score at once or steps there over time
- Triggers
- Whether it rechecks between renewals when you add a car or a driver
- Exceptions
- A policy already in the carrier's best priced tier, or a product that does not use credit
- Reading
- How it reads the words reassess and adjust
Every carrier is reading the same sentence, reassess the insured's policy rating and adjust premiums based on the updated credit score, and the Texas Department of Insurance summarized it for them in its 2025 bulletin. The sentence does not say how fast, and it does not say what to do between renewals. Every carrier is reading the same sentence. They are not all reading it the same way. I expect a lot more conversation, and probably some disputes, about what the Legislature meant before 2029. Part of our job in those years is carrying what we see in real households back to the carriers, because that is what being a steward of this community means.
Two camps, one year in
Since January I have watched carriers sort themselves into two camps. The first is my read, something I have noticed and am keeping close eyes on as the next few years play out. The second is a standard.
-
The trigger camp
- What they do
- Recheck the score when something changes, a new car, a new driver a year in, and let the price move with it
- Where I see it
- Mostly auto, where a few carriers have already made it a mainstay
- My read
- A view I am watching closely
-
The consumer first camp
- What they do
- Re-rate at any annual renewal when you or your agent ask, and apply the new score only when it lowers your rate
- Where I see it
- Travelers, which has worked this way for years
- My read
- The standard I hold the others to
I am naming Travelers on purpose, because it shows what this law looks like when a carrier is on your side. Upon request of a customer or agent, Travelers will re-rate a policy at any annual renewal using updated credit history information. When the new score lowers your rate, the lower rate is applied. When it would raise your rate, your rate stays where it is. That is how it has worked for our clients year after year, long before the law, and it is the most consumer friendly answer I have seen to this whole question. It is a way to stay with a family through one bad season, or two. There is no reason to watch someone slip and move their price the same month. I hope every carrier ends up there.
This is the plus side of a broker. We shop the whole market, we see how each carrier is reading the same law, and we can put you with the one whose reading favors your file.
When the fresh look comes back higher
It happens. Sometimes the new photo is worse than the old one, and the honest thing is to say that out loud before you ask. Here is what we do when it does.
What we do next
- Dig in on what changed. The four reasons in the letter are the map, and most of what moves a score is fixable or explainable.
- Ask whether a life event is behind it. Texas names five, and the carrier has to set that credit aside or score you as neutral when you ask in writing.
- Compare the market. Another carrier may read the same file more kindly, and that is a quote, not a hope.
- Tell the carrier what you saw. This system is new to all of us, and the feedback we gather in the first years is how carriers learn where it helps and where it hurts.
A worse photo is a reason to look closer, together.
The five events, and the one we have not used yet
Section 559.103 names five extraordinary life circumstances that let you ask, in writing, for the credit they touched to be set aside. TDI's own page walks through the same ask, and the carrier has to either use only the credit the event did not touch or score you as neutral.
The five events Texas names
- A catastrophic illness or injury
- The death of a spouse, child, or parent
- Temporary job loss
- Divorce
- Identity theft
We have not had a client need it yet, and I keep looking for the family it would help. If you think this is your season, say so. We will show you what the statute offers and what proof carriers ask for, and the request stays yours to make, in your own words.
What we do between now and 2029
We recheck your quotes and your insurance score at renewal, or in six months, so you know when your file has caught up with your life and when it is worth moving. Client or not. People check in with us every year just to hear they are in a good place. That is what an advisor is for.
Before you sign for another year
The law did not promise you a lower price. It promised you a current one.
We are learning this law in the same year you are. The difference is that we are learning it across the whole market, carrier by carrier, renewal by renewal, and we bring what we learn back to your table. If the current photo is better than the one on file, we ask for it. If it is not, we say so and you keep what you have.
Charles McDade, LUTCF
Questions readers ask
Can I ask my Texas insurance company to rerun my credit?
Yes. On any policy delivered, issued, or renewed on or after January 1, 2026, you or your agent can ask at renewal for a re-rate on a current credit report or insurance score, once in any twelve month period, and the carrier has to do it. The exceptions are a policy already in the carrier's best priced tier and a product that does not use credit.
Will the credit review lower my premium?
Sometimes. The carrier reassesses the rating and adjusts the premium to the updated score, in whichever direction the score moved. Read the file first, fix what is wrong in it, and ask when the current photo is better than the one on record.
Does SB 1644 apply to my policy?
It applies to policies delivered, issued, or renewed on or after January 1, 2026. A policy issued or renewed before that date stays under the old rules until it renews. From that renewal on, the carrier must refresh your credit information at least every 36 months and adjust the premium to it, which makes 2029 the last year a carrier can take its first retake and stay inside the law.
What if a divorce, an illness, a job loss, or identity theft hurt my credit?
Ask the carrier in writing for an exception under Section 559.103 and bring reasonable proof. The carrier has to either use only the credit information the event did not affect or give you a neutral score. Texas names five events, and some carriers consider others.
Sources worth opening before you decide
- Credit scoring and insurance, Texas Department of Insurance, with its company by company lists for personal auto and homeowners
- Commissioner's Bulletin B-0012-25, Texas Department of Insurance, 2025
- Senate Bill 1644, enrolled text, 89th Texas Legislature, effective September 1, 2025
- Senate Bill 1644, bill analysis and statement of intent, Texas Legislature Online
- Texas Insurance Code Chapter 559, Use of Credit Information, Sections 559.052, 559.054, 559.055, 559.058, and 559.103
- Use of credit history information and insurance scoring, Travelers
The purpose is to help the reader ask better questions before claim time.
Make your renewal match your life
Your price should stand on today's photo.
Send us the renewal, or the letter that came with it. A licensed Texas agent reads what the carrier is standing on, asks for the fresh look at renewal when the file says it will help, shows you how other carriers read the same file, and rechecks your quotes and your score at renewal, or in six months, so you know when to move. If you are already in the right place, we say so, client or not. We translate the contract before you sign for another year.
The audit is free. The decision is yours. No broker fees for personal lines clients.
