CLUE and A-PLUS: How Your Claims History Follows You

Every time an insurance claim is filed, it gets reported to a database called CLUE — the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange. Operated by LexisNexis, CLUE is the insurance industry's equivalent of a credit report. It tracks your claims history and the claims history of your property, and it affects your ability to obtain insurance, what you pay for it, and how insurers evaluate your claims going forward.

What CLUE Is and How It Works

CLUE stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange. It is a database maintained by LexisNexis Risk Solutions that collects and stores information about property insurance claims reported by participating insurance companies. Nearly every major insurance carrier in the United States contributes data to CLUE, making it the most widely used claims history database in the industry.

CLUE maintains two separate databases: one for personal property (homeowners, renters, and similar policies) and one for auto insurance. This article focuses on the property database, which is the one that affects homeowners insurance claims and underwriting.

When a claim is filed, the insurance carrier reports information about that claim to CLUE. The data is then stored and made available to other participating insurers when they underwrite new policies, renew existing policies, or evaluate claims. This means that a claim filed with one carrier is visible to every other carrier that participates in CLUE.

What Information CLUE Reports Contain

A CLUE report includes up to seven years of claims history. The report contains information associated both with the individual policyholder and with the property itself. Specific data points typically include:

• Policyholder information: Name, date of birth, and Social Security number of the policyholder
• Property address: The physical location associated with the claim
• Date of loss: When the claimed event occurred
• Type of loss: The cause of the claim (fire, water, wind, theft, liability, etc.)
• Claim status: Whether the claim is open, closed, or denied
• Amount paid: The dollar amount the insurer paid on the claim
• Insurance company: The carrier that handled the claim
• Policy information: Policy number and coverage details
• Inquiries: In some cases, even inquiries that did not result in a filed claim may be recorded

Critically, the CLUE report follows both the person and the property. This means that claims filed by a previous owner of your home can appear on a CLUE report pulled on the property — and those prior claims can affect your premiums and insurability even though you had nothing to do with them.

How CLUE Affects Underwriting and Renewals

Insurance companies use CLUE primarily during underwriting — the process of deciding whether to offer a policy and at what price. When you apply for homeowners insurance, the prospective carrier pulls a CLUE report on both you and the property. A history of claims — even legitimate, fully covered claims — can result in:

• Higher premiums
• Reduced coverage options
• Higher deductibles
• Policy non-renewal at the end of the term
• Outright denial of coverage

The impact of CLUE on renewals is equally significant. After filing a claim, some policyholders find that their carrier non-renews their policy at the end of the term, and other carriers are reluctant to write a new policy because of the claims history visible in CLUE. This can force policyholders into the surplus lines market or state-sponsored programs like the California FAIR Plan, where coverage is more limited and premiums are higher.

How CLUE Data Can Be Used in a Claim

Beyond underwriting, CLUE data can also be used during the claims process itself. When you file a new claim, the adjuster may review your CLUE history to look for patterns or prior claims that could affect the current claim:

• Prior similar claims: If you filed a water damage claim two years ago and are now filing another, the adjuster may scrutinize the new claim more closely or argue that the damage is related to the prior loss rather than a new event.
• Pre-existing damage arguments: CLUE records of prior claims can be used to support an argument that damage to your property predates the current loss. For more on this tactic, see our guide to pre-existing damage vs. storm damage.
• SIU referrals:A pattern of frequent claims may trigger a referral to the insurer's Special Investigations Unit, adding delays and scrutiny to an otherwise legitimate claim.
• Lowball leverage:An insurer may use a policyholder's CLUE history as informal leverage, knowing that a policyholder who has been non-renewed before may be more willing to accept a lower settlement to avoid another claim on their record.

How to Request Your Own CLUE Report

Under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you have the right to request a free copy of your CLUE report once every 12 months. LexisNexis is required to provide it at no charge. To request your report:

• Visit the LexisNexis consumer disclosure page at consumer.risk.lexisnexis.com
• You can request a report online, by phone (1-866-312-8076), or by mail
• You will need to provide personal identification information including your name, address, date of birth, and Social Security number
• The report typically arrives within 15 to 30 days if requested by mail, or can be accessed more quickly online

Review the report carefully. Check every claim listed for accuracy — dates, loss types, amounts paid, and whether the claims are actually yours. Errors are more common than most people expect.

How Carriers Have Misused CLUE

There have been documented cases of carriers reporting inaccurate information to CLUE. In one lawsuit, Farmers Insurance was accused of reporting litigation expenses, settlement costs, and other carrier expenses as payments made to the policyholder — making it appear that the homeowner received millions in claim payments when they actually received a fraction of that amount. These inflated CLUE reports made it extremely difficult for those policyholders to obtain new insurance, because every prospective carrier saw what appeared to be an extraordinarily expensive claims history.

Other common inaccuracies include claims attributed to the wrong person or property, incorrect loss types (listing a liability claim as a property claim, for example), incorrect amounts paid, and claims that remain listed as open long after they were closed. Each of these errors can negatively affect premiums, insurability, and how future claims are handled.

How to Dispute Errors on a CLUE Report

If you find inaccurate information on your CLUE report, you have the right to dispute it under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FCRA dispute process for CLUE reports works similarly to disputing errors on a credit report:

• File a dispute with LexisNexis. Contact LexisNexis in writing, identifying the specific information you believe is inaccurate and explaining why. Include any supporting documentation.
• LexisNexis investigates. Under the FCRA, LexisNexis must investigate your dispute within 30 days. They will contact the insurance company that reported the information and request verification.
• The insurer must respond. The reporting insurer must review the disputed information and either verify it, correct it, or agree to delete it.
• You receive the results. LexisNexis must notify you of the investigation results and provide an updated report if any changes are made.
• Dispute directly with the insurer as well. In addition to disputing with LexisNexis, contact the insurance company that reported the inaccurate information. Under the FCRA, the furnisher of information (the insurer) has independent obligations to investigate and correct errors.

If the dispute process does not resolve the error, the FCRA gives you the right to add a brief statement to your file explaining the dispute. More importantly, if an insurer negligently or willfully reports inaccurate information to CLUE, the FCRA provides for statutory damages and, in cases of willful violation, potential punitive damages. An attorney experienced in FCRA litigation can evaluate whether you have a viable claim.

Should You Avoid Filing Claims to Protect Your CLUE Record?

This is one of the most common questions policyholders face, and there is no universal answer. Every claim leaves a record that follows you for seven years. A small claim — $1,500 for a broken window, for example — might cost far more in increased premiums and reduced insurability than the payout is worth.

That said, insurance exists to cover losses, and policyholders should not be afraid to file legitimate claims for significant damage. The decision should be made with full awareness of the consequences. Consider the size of the loss relative to your deductible, your current claims history, and whether the loss is likely to affect your ability to maintain coverage. A Public Adjuster can help evaluate whether filing a claim makes strategic sense in your specific situation.

CLUE and Home Sales

CLUE data is also relevant when buying or selling a home. A prospective buyer's insurer will pull a CLUE report on the property, revealing claims filed by prior owners. A property with a history of water damage claims, for example, may raise red flags that affect the buyer's ability to obtain affordable insurance — or insurance at all.

If you are purchasing a home, consider requesting a CLUE report on the property before closing. This can reveal past claims that may not have been disclosed by the seller and can help you anticipate any insurance challenges. If the property has a problematic claims history, you will want to shop for insurance before finalizing the purchase to ensure you can obtain adequate coverage at a reasonable price.

A-PLUS: The Other Claims Database You Don't Know About

CLUE is not the only claims database. Verisk (the same company that owns ISO and has ties to Xactimate) operates a competing system called A-PLUS — the Automated Property Loss Underwriting System. While CLUE is more widely known, A-PLUS is used by many major carriers that do not participate in CLUE, or that contribute to both systems.

A-PLUS functions similarly to CLUE: it collects claims data from participating insurers and makes it available for underwriting and claims evaluation. The key difference is which carriers participate. Some insurers report only to CLUE, some only to A-PLUS, and some report to both. This means that pulling only one report may not give you the complete picture of what insurers can see about your claims history.

You can request your A-PLUS report from Verisk, just as you can request your CLUE report from LexisNexis. Both are free under federal law. If you are concerned about your claims history or planning a major insurance decision, request both reports to get the full picture.

FCRA: Your Federal Rights Over Claims Databases

Both CLUE and A-PLUS are classified as “consumer reports” under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. This classification gives you significant legal rights:

• Right to a free annual report — You are entitled to one free copy of each report every 12 months.
• Right to dispute inaccurate information — If your report contains errors, you can file a formal dispute. The database operator must investigate within 30 days.
• Right to notification of adverse action — If an insurer denies you coverage, raises your premium, or takes other adverse action based on a CLUE or A-PLUS report, they must notify you and tell you which report they used.
• Right to add a consumer statement — If a dispute does not resolve in your favor, you can add a 100-word statement to the file explaining your side.
• Right to sue for violations — If LexisNexis or Verisk fails to follow FCRA procedures, you can sue for actual damages, statutory damages (up to $1,000 per violation), and attorney's fees.

Disputing Inaccurate Information

Inaccurate claims database entries are more common than most people realize. Common errors include:

• Claims that were opened but never paid — An inquiry or inspection that was reported as a “claim”
• Incorrect claim amounts — The loss amount reported does not match what was actually paid
• Wrong cause of loss — A water damage claim reported as a “fire” claim, or vice versa
• Claims attributed to the wrong property — An address error that ties someone else's claim to your property
• Claims attributed to the wrong person — Name/identity matching errors
• Duplicate entries — The same claim appearing multiple times
• Claims that should have aged off — Entries older than seven years that remain on the report

To dispute an error, submit a written dispute to LexisNexis (for CLUE) or Verisk (for A-PLUS) identifying the specific entry and explaining why it is inaccurate. Include supporting documentation: a letter from the insurer confirming no claim was paid, the correct claim details, or proof that the entry belongs to a different property or person. Under the FCRA, the database operator must investigate within 30 days and either correct the information or explain why it will not be changed.

How to Request Your Reports

• CLUE (LexisNexis) — Request online at the LexisNexis Consumer Disclosure portal, by phone at (866) 312-8076, or by mail. You will need to verify your identity.
• A-PLUS (Verisk) — Request by phone at (800) 627-3487 or by mail to Verisk Consumer Inquiry, P.O. Box 105108, Atlanta, GA 30348. Written requests must include your full name, current and prior addresses for 7 years, date of birth, and Social Security number.

Both reports are free once per year. If you have been denied coverage or received an adverse action notice citing a CLUE or A-PLUS report, you are entitled to an additional free copy within 60 days of the adverse action.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Insurance policies and applicable law vary by state and by policy form. Consult with a licensed professional regarding your specific situation.