Do You Know What A CLUE Report Is?

CLUE is short for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange - it is an insurance industry database. Your CLUE report is an insurance report that keeps your homeowners insurance claims active for seven years. So why should you care and what does this mean for you? Well, the entries on this report could cost you big on your insurance premiums or prevent you from getting coverage altogether. Because almost all insurance companies use CLUE to check the claims of their prospective policy holders.

Insurance companies use the CLUE reports because statistics show that people who have filed a claim in the past are more likely to file one in the future. However, the amount of the claim is not as important as the number of times you have filed. Therefore, some insurance companies offer a discount if you have not filed a claim within the past five years.

Just because you have a clean CLUE report does not mean that you are guaranteed lower insurance premiums. Because many insurance companies also look at your credit score as a risk factor. How much debt you have and if you pay your bills on time. Their studies show that people who can effectively manage their finances are a better risk than those who do not. Of course, there are other factors as well, such as location and the type of construction of your home.

By Federal Law you are entitled to one free CLUE report each year. You can get your CLUE report here: personalreports.lexisnexis.com or you are also able to obtain one by phone or by mail as well.

These are the details that will be included on your CLUE report:

• Your name, home address, your DOB, and social security number
• The number assigned to your report
• The name of your insurance company
• The type of insurance policy you have and the number
• The type of losses you have reported and a claim number for each
• The date of each loss you have reported and the dollar amount of those claims
• The status of all your claims
• Instructions about how to dispute any errors

Needless to say, you should spend some time once each year to obtain and review your CLUE report. Because any errors could be costing you money. So don't neglect doing this.