Insurance companies often look at your claims history and the claims history of your home when they're determining your insurance premium. How far back they look depends on the particular company, but claims tend to stay on your insurance claims history report for five to seven years.
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 applicable.
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.
You should note, however, that not every insurer looks through your entire claims history. Many only look back at three year’s worth of claims.
How claims histories affect homeowners insurance costs
Having several claims on your record may make it harder for you to find affordable, reliable home insurance coverage, but that’s only true of certain kinds of claims. Catastrophic claims aren't going to impact your individual home insurance premiums. That said, catastrophes like hurricanes can have a lasting impact on the home insurance market where you live and often lead to an increase in home insurance rates across the board.
But what if you have a spate of noncatastrophic claims? Then you may find your insurance premium goes up. What's more, your insurance company might even refuse to renew your policy. This is why it’s smart to do what you can to prevent claims. In fact, many companies offer discounts for some risk management measures.
A property’s claims history can also impact the cost for insuring it. Insurers often see a history of multiple claims as evidence that the property is more susceptible to damage. This can cause insurance companies to raise rates or limit coverage. This is why when you purchase a home, you should pay close attention to the seller's disclosure statement. It shows you if there any prior claims.
Where to find your claims history
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) 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:
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Request your report online
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Call LexisNexis at 888-497-0011
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Email LexisNexis at consumer.documents@lexisnexisrisk.com
You can also get one free report every 12 months from A-PLUS Property by Verisk, which also collects loss history data for homes.
When might you want to review your home's CLUE report, or the CLUE report for another home? People usually request a report when they’re:
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Shopping for homeowners insurance.
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Assessing their home.
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Shopping for a home.
How to dispute your claims report
The FCRA 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