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Key points

  • Your CLUE includes information about your auto and homeowner claims over seven years.
  • You can get your CLUE report for free once a year.
  • You can dispute errors on your CLUE report.
  • These reports can come in handy if you’re buying a house.

The Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (CLUE) report contains information about insurance claims you’ve made on your home and auto policies. It can be good to have if you’re in the market for a new home and also helps insurance companies determine your policy rates.

Here’s a look at what CLUE reports are, how they work, and how to get one.

What is a CLUE report?

Your CLUE report, developed by risk solutions company LexisNexis, serves as a snapshot of your home and auto insurance history. It details any claims you’ve made as a policyholder in the past seven years, and is used by insurance companies to help determine your rates.

It can also offer valuable insight into a property’s history for potential homebuyers interested in purchasing a house.

“If there have been many insurance claims in the past, insuring that property might be quite expensive for you,” says Matthew Roberts, an insurance expert and COO at My Choice, a Toronto-based company that helps find insurance quotes.

What does your CLUE report include?

If you’ve made an auto or homeowners insurance claim over the past seven years, it’ll likely appear on your CLUE report. For instance, if a branch fell on your house four years ago, and you submitted a claim to your homeowners insurance provider, you’ll probably see that on your CLUE report. Or if you submitted an auto claim after a fender bender last year, that’ll be on there too.

Typically, the following info is detailed in CLUE report claims:

  • Name of insurance company.
  • Policy information (policy number, date established, etc.).
  • Personal information (your name, address, birth date, etc.).
  • Date of claim.
  • Claim details.
  • Amount of payout.

How insurance companies use your CLUE report

When you’re shopping for a new policy, homeowners and auto insurance providers may use your CLUE report to help determine your rates. These reports detail the number and type of claims you’ve submitted in recent years.

If you have several claims, your insurance company may view you as higher risk to submit a claim in the future. Fewer past claims may deem you lower risk. Either way, that information will be used to help calculate your rate.

How to get a copy of your CLUE report

Thanks to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you can get a free copy of your CLUE report each year. Here are options to get your report:

  • Access it online via LexisNexis.
  • Request it from a LexisNexis representative by calling 1-888-497-0011 or emailing consumer.documents@LexisNexis.com.
  • Request it from the home seller if you’re buying a house.

What to do if your CLUE report is blank

No need to panic. If you pull or receive a blank CLUE report, it could simply mean that there were no claims filed in the last seven years. That said, if you know you’ve filed a claim in that timeframe, you’ll likely want to correct the error.

How to correct errors on your CLUE report

The process for correcting an error on your CLUE report is fairly simple. If you’d like to dispute a claim error, you can contact LexisNexis customer support. They will then reach out to the insurance company on your behalf to verify the information. Once they’ve reached out to the insurer, LexisNexis will notify you of the dispute results within 30 days.

You can also add an explanation to a past claim to provide context. For instance, if you filed a homeowners claim after someone was injured on your trampoline, but you no longer own the trampoline, you might note that on your CLUE report.

Overall, a CLUE report can be helpful for insurance companies, homeowners and homebuyers. It offers helpful insight into a home or automobile’s history that can be used for different purposes.

Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy. The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.

Jess Ullrich

BLUEPRINT

Jess is a personal finance writer who's been creating online content since 2009. Before transitioning to full-time freelance writing, Jess was on the editorial team at Investopedia and The Balance. Her work has been published on FinanceBuzz, HuffPost, Investopedia, The Balance and more.