Information that auto and property insurance companies use in a controversial scoring method that helps them set your car insurance rates is now available to you for a fee.

ChoicePoint has now made available to consumers their "insurance score" at its ChoiceTrust.com web site.

ChoicePoint provides scores to more than 400 insurance companies and 80,000 insurance agents nationwide. It maintains a database of 16 billion public records. But that does not necessarily mean your data will be available through ChoicePoint.

"You would have to address with your own insurance company whether or not they use our consumer database," says ChoicePoint spokesperson Chuck Jones.

Some insurance companies use their own scoring systems and do not contract with third-party information companies like ChoicePoint.

The insurance industry uses insurance scores because it says a high degree of correlation exists between a person's overall credit history and the likelihood that he or she will file an insurance claim. Some state insurance commissioners and consumer advocates insist the method is discriminatory.

"We've worked with industry and government leaders for nearly two years to find a way to give consumers easy access to their own insurance information," says David Lee, executive vice president of ChoicePoint's insurance services bureau. The company will charge consumers $12.95 for the ability to access their insurance scoring records for 30 days. Consumers are also able to obtain a free credit report and learn how their scores were calculated and what they mean.