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To their defense, I really can’t blame insurance companies for
wanting to reduce their exposure to potential claims. You
wouldn’t buy a used car [or a new one for that matter] if you
knew going in that it was a lemon. Same thing goes for the
property-and-casualty insurers of the world; they’ve gotten
slammed with some major claims for damages cause by mold. And
to be perfectly blunt: Their problems and losses would have
been much smaller if they hadn’t engaged in their predictable
game of claim payment avoidance and really ticked some folks off
that got in the last word in a civil courtroom. But I digress.
If you’re buying a home:
Before you sign a contract...before
you put any money at risk, you’d better make damned sure that
you’ve done the same background check on that home that your
insurance company will. Have the Seller of the property you’re
considering purchasing obtain a copy of the C.L.U.E.
Personal Property Insurance Report and give
you/your Agent/your attorney a copy of the report to examine prior
to either putting any money at risk, or to make any contracts you
have pending actually "go live" and your money then
"at risk" assuming a clear report comes back.
Can you order a report on a property
you’re thinking about buying, ahead of time and on your own?
Nope...the owner of the property is the only one authorized to get
a copy; it’s that "privacy thing" you know.
Even if there aren’t any claims on that particular property,
your insurance premiums could still be through the roof! That’s
why you’ll want to also obtain a G.U.S.
report: Geographic
Underwriting System takes
into consideration the neighborhood or area that in which the
prospective property is located. Stuff like crime, hail storms,
floods...you get the idea...all influence the final premiums
you’ll pay on the property. Find out ahead of time what your
risk factors are...or you’ll be at risk for some major financial
heartache [in the form of higher insurance premiums raising your
monthly payments to levels you never anticipated].
If you wanna blow 10 bucks, then go do it. I'm tellin' you,
it's public domain info [at least in Texas, anyway] that you can
get for free by going to the website of the county tax
assessor/collector for that county. California's a lot
stingier with this info; privacy issues prevail and make it a lot
more difficult to readily access this info for free, especially in
that particular state. Tarrant County properties can be
found at www.tad.org
for example; Dallas County at www.dallascad.org.
Search for other counties using my search engine of choice: www.google.com
How much is one of these CLUE
reports gonna cost?
For Texans and Californians and for most states, plan on spending
$8 a pop. Again, there similarities between these reports
and the reporting processes are almost identical to the heartburn
of the consumer credit reporting world.
Wanna free report?
Good news; just like the consumer credit reporting
world...you’re entitled to a free copy of your C.L.U.E. Personal
Property Report if:
– Insurance has been denied
– Insurance rates have been increased
– Insurance has been canceled
– Coverage has been limited
What happens in the information
contained in your CLUE report is wrong?
Oh boy...this sure feels like the same brain-damage all of us have
been victimized by over the years by the credit reporting bureaus.
And it should... why? Because SURPRISE!
ChoicePoint a/k/a ChoiceTrust appears to be spun-off by of our
friends at Equifax, one of the three major credit reporting
bureaus in the nation. And the process of disputing incorrect
information on one of these CLUE reports is covered by the same
laws as our credit reports: The Fair Credit Reporting Act. Which
means we’re in deep doo-doo. Disputing and succeeding in getting
erroneous information off of consumer credit reports is a major
case of heartburn just waiting to happen.
But how do I actually get these
clowns to take the stuff off of my report if it’s wrong?
Just like the process for disputing information on a consumer
credit report, the reporting agency/entity in this case [CLUE]
depends on the original company that reported this information to
authorize the deletion of negative information. So instead of Equifax
or Experian
asking Visa or MasterCard about some negative information
they’re reporting on your credit files, now you get to go fight
with whatever insurance company is reporting this negative
information. Or course CLUE simply throws their hands up in the
air and says [this should sound equally familiar]: "All
we’re doing is reporting the information being sent to us by the
insurance companies! It’s not our fault!" Yeah...you betcha.
Who do I contact to dispute this
info?
According to ChoicePoint’s website, they’ll "ask you
for your C.L.U.E. reference number, or a consumer number, the name
of the insurance company and the date of the claim. And like a
consumer credit report disputation, a brief explanation of the
facts as you know them pertaining to the challenged
information." Here’s their contact info, (as of June
27, 2002 anyway):
ChoicePoint Insurance Consumer Center
PO Box 105108
Atlanta, GA 30348-5108
(888) 497-0011
[M-F, 8a-7p ET]
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