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We are always looking for interesting and helpful information that our homeowners can use to make better decisions. One thing that is an important part of owning a home is insurance. Did you know that insurance adjusters have access to a shared database called CLUE? CLUE stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange.
We will go into more detail below, but the simple point to take away from this blog post is that you should think before calling your insurance adjuster to ask questions or report a claim. You can be fairly confident that any call you make will be recorded and potentially used against you for new or renewal insurance policies. Well-intentioned consumers who call an insurer to ask about coverage for water damage have been shocked to have their insurance cancelled.
(NOTE: The following are excerpts from PrivacyRights.org – CLUE and You, How Insurers Size Up)
What is CLUE?
The CLUE report and the insurance scoring system are tools insurers use to decide your risk profile, that is, how likely you are to file a claim against your policy. Insurers feed information about paid claims – perhaps even your questions about coverage that do not result in a claim – into a national database for use by insurers. Information included in the database, along with your insurance score, makes up your risk profile. Insurers use the profile to decide whether you get new insurance. At renewal time, your current insurer will probably review your claims history as well as your current insurance score to set your premiums – even to decide if you get to keep the insurance you have. When you shop for new insurance, the company may order a CLUE report. If the information is not accurate, you can be left without insurance while you work to correct the errors.
What Does the CLUE Report Say About Me?
The CLUE report includes personal information such as your name, date of birth, and Social Security number. Tied to your identifying information is a record of any auto or homeowner property loss claims you have submitted to an insurance company for the past five years, including:
- Date of the loss.
- Type of loss claimed.
- Amount paid by the insurance company.
The CLUE database may also include notations of property “damage” – even if the insurance company didn’t pay out a cent. Any hint of water damage to a property, for example, is likely to trigger a negative mark on the property’s CLUE report.
How Do I Get a FREE Copy of My CLUE Report?
For information on how to get your free claims history or CLUE report from LexisNexis, see www.lexisnexis.com/risk/factact/ or call (866) 312-8076.
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