Your home insurance policy can help pay to repair or replace your home or personal items that get damaged or destroyed in a covered loss, like a windstorm or wildfire. But filing home insurance claims can affect your insurance record and your overall insurance costs.
Find out how long home insurance claims stay on your record, how they can affect your home insurance premium, and how to prevent your rate from going up after a claim.
How long do home insurance claims stay on your record?
Home insurance claims usually stay on your record for five to seven years. Each time you file a claim, the loss gets recorded on your Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (CLUE) report or in the Automated Property Loss Underwriting System (A-PLUS) database. Insurers look at your past claims history to determine if you are eligible for coverage and how much to charge for your policy (called your premium).
While most claims remain on your record for five to seven years, the exact length of time depends on a few factors, like your insurance company and the severity of the claim. Usually larger, more expensive claims stay on your record for longer, whereas smaller, less expensive claims might be removed earlier.
How do home insurance claims impact home insurance costs?
Insurance claims have a direct impact on the cost of your homeowners insurance policy, but certain types of claims affect your premium more than others.
In general, catastrophic claims, like losses after a natural disaster, won’t affect your home insurance premium. These losses, which are considered “acts of God,” are out of your control and are largely unavoidable.
Because of this, significant home insurance claims resulting from a catastrophic incident don’t normally lead to an individual premium increase. However, disaster claims can indirectly cause your home insurance premium to go up if the insurance company decides to raise rates for everyone in the affected area.
It’s more common for home insurance premiums to increase after a claim if you have multiple small claims on your record within a short period of time. For example, if you file three insurance claims that each cost $5,000 within the same year, there’s a good chance that your home insurance rate will increase when your policy renews. Home insurance companies often raise premiums for policyholders with multiple claims because it indicates that the property has a higher risk of damage than other homes. If the policyholder is consistently filing claims, it causes financial loss for the insurer. After a certain number of claims, your home insurance company may decide you are no longer eligible for coverage and cancel or nonrenew your policy.
How to keep home insurance rates from going up after filing a claim
Home insurance claims are sometimes unavoidable, but there are ways to keep rates from increasing after a claim. Here are some tips for maintaining your premium after a loss:
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Raise your deductible: Most home insurance policies have a deductible, which is the portion of the loss you pay for out of pocket. The higher your deductible is, the lower your insurance premium will be. To avoid a rate increase after a claim, consider increasing your deductible — but do so with caution. Make sure you can easily afford to pay a higher deductible amount in the event of another claim.
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Ask about discounts: Many home insurance companies offer discounts that can help homeowners save money on home insurance. Some common home insurance discounts include home security discounts, pay-in-full discounts, newer roof discounts, newly constructed home discounts, and gated community discounts. Contact your insurance company to see which discounts you qualify for.
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Bundle your policies: One of the most effective ways to save money on home insurance is to bundle your policy with another one, like car insurance or life insurance. Many insurance companies offer generous discounts when you bundle multiple policies together. If you’re facing a rate increase after a home insurance claim, a bundling discount could offset the higher price.
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Shop around for new quotes: If your rate increases after a home insurance claim, get quotes from several other insurers to compare. You might find that a different home insurance company can offer you a lower rate than you’re currently paying. But keep in mind that other insurance companies will view your claim history to determine your insurability and calculate your premium.
Frequently asked questions
What is an insurance claims history report?
Home insurance claims for a particular property are compiled on a national insurance claims history report called the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (CLUE). Every time you file a claim, your insurance company reports the case to either CLUE or A-PLUS (Automated Property Loss Underwriting System), the other major claims database.
A CLUE report includes:
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The name of your insurance company
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Policy number and claim number
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The date or dates of every loss and claim
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The cause or type of loss (e.g., fire)
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The outcome of each claim (i.e., if it was covered or denied)
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The settlement amount, if any
Home insurance claims stay on your record between five and seven years. Every insurer scopes out your recent claims history, as well as the claims history for the home, when you switch insurance companies or purchase a new policy. This helps them price your policy.
However, not every insurer looks through your entire claims history. Many only look back at three years’ worth of claims.
Where can I find my claims history?
The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows you to get a free CLUE report from LexisNexis (the research company that maintains the CLUE database) once per year. To get your report, you can:
You can also get one free report every 12 months from A-PLUS Property by Verisk, which collects loss history data for homes as well.
How can I dispute my claims report?
The Fair Credit Reporting Act mandates that companies must conduct a free and reasonable investigation when there’s a dispute, so you should report information you think is a mistake to LexisNexis. The company will then contact the insurer to investigate the issue and report the results to you.
If the investigation reveals there is an error on your CLUE report, then the company that provided the incorrect information (such as an insurance company) must correct the error and notify all of the consumer reporting companies to whom it provided the inaccurate information.
To begin the dispute process, call LexisNexis at 888-497-0011 or write to:
LexisNexis Consumer Center
P.O. Box 105108
Atlanta, GA 30348
