Didn't Know About This Database - Is is Covered by the FCRA? Section D in Thursday's Wall Street Journal included an article about CLUE - The Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange. According to the article, this is an insurance industry-specific database that maintains information about property claims for individual homes. If an individual home address has several claim incidences, an insurer may refuse coverage [in effect blacklisting the home]- which is necessary before a buyer can close during the purchase process. Also, coverage refusal means higher premiums because the home address is considered "at risk", even though a prospective buyer may have a favorable claims history. Since nothing shocks me about the insurance industry anymore, I noted that the article mentioned a homeowner that was "listed" in CLUE because she simply called her insurer and inquired about filing a claim for water damage. The claim was never filed with the insurer because the damages were paid by the city where she lived. Other CLUE info found in google search engine: http://www.choicepoint.net/industry/insurance/pc_ins_up_2.html http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/sep2001/pi2001099_1703.htm My ongoing concern with these "business tools" is the lack of due diligence to prevent errors and incorrect data. We live in the information age, but where is the strong consumer protection?
CLUE is strictly an insurance company database. If there is any question regarding a claim, an insurance agent or underwriter can call the insurance company in question and receive the exact statement made by the claimant when they filed their claim or report to their company. I do it all the time. That's why they record your statements when you file a claim. You are chasing ghosts. I assure you (and I think I have the trust of most on this board) this database is not a credit bureau, and you can access any of your information anytime. If something is incorrect, it can be corrected. I have done that too. Usually it is not so much that it is incorrect, just not clear exactly what happened. Also, there has been a fair amount of discussion of CLUE on the board - do a search.
Thanks for the info . . . that's why I love this board. Ghost chasing usually produces some useful information. :-]
tee hee! I can understand it though - every time I find a new information service of any kind, my hair stands on end. You can get your CLUE report at Equifax and Experian websites, for a small fee. I don't remember if TU has it or not.
