What is a CLUE Report?

Have you heard your fellow homeowners talking about their CLUE reports around the water cooler and smiled and nodded without having a "clue" what they were talking about? It's time you caught up! Your CLUE report is just as important as your credit report, which means it's just as important for you to know what's on it!

Your CLUE report does two things:

1) It lets you as a homeowner know what kind of risk a new property is and what your insurance providers are saying about you, and
2) It lets your homeowners insurance provider know how big a risk you and your property are, helping them determine your annual coverage premiums-and decide whether they want to cover you at all!

Your CLUE report is a comprehensive report on any and all homeowners insurance claims filed by you for previous properties in the past and/or filed for your current property by previous homeowners. Your report will include (but is not limited to):

1. The date of the claim.
2. The insurance company involved.
3. The policy number at the time of the claim.
4. The address of the property (if it was a claim you filed for a previous home or rental before packing your bags and hitting the highway).
5. The cause of the loss.
6. The amount(s) paid.
7. The status of the claim.
8. The name of the person who filed the claim (if previous owners were involved).
9. Anyone who has received a copy of your CLUE report over the last two years.

All of the information on your CLUE report is provided by your insurers, both past and present, and is gathered and reported by ChoiceTrust, a daughter company of ChoicePoint.

You might be surprised by exactly how comprehensive this report tends to be! When you file a homeowners insurance claim you have to calculate your deductible and the potential hike in your premium cost first. Often, well meaning agents will advise you that it's more cost effective for you to deal with the problem out of pocket rather than filing an insurance claim; however, those phone calls sometimes show up on your CLUE report as a problem regardless of whether or not the claim was actually filed.

So think carefully before picking up the phone!

Copies of your CLUE report are available through ChoicePoint and ChoiceTrust, both online, by phone or via snail mail. Ironically, this is one of the few times when doing something electronically isn't cheaper than doing it by mail! ChoicePoint charges $9.00 for reports sent by mail and $12.95 for those sent electronically; however, in certain states you're allowed one a year at no charge, and you're entitled to view a current copy of your report within 60 days of a raise in your premiums or being denied coverage.

Anyone considering insuring your home is going to see your CLUE report, so it pays to know what's on it! Get a copy of yours today to prevent potential mistakes from ruining the cost of your homeowners insurance.

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