Can I Run My Own Clue Report?
Yes, you can order one free LexisNexis C.L.U.E. report a year, showing claims tied to you or the house.
Free to compare
You request it straight from LexisNexis, not from the insurer that dropped you, and it lists claims going back seven years under your name or the property's address. If a non-renewal letter cited claims history, pull the report before shopping for a new policy, since it shows exactly what every insurer will see when they price you. Mistakes do show up, like a closed claim listed as open, or one that was never yours. If something is wrong, dispute it with LexisNexis directly, since that record follows the house as much as it follows you.
Once you know what the report actually says about you, the next question is what an insurer does with it. One company's non-renewal doesn't mean every company reads your claims history the same way. Some weigh an old water damage claim heavily, others barely look past three years back. Comparing quotes with the real report in hand shows which insurers still price you fairly.
What exactly shows up on the report, and how do I read it
Each claim listed shows the date it was filed, the type of loss like water, fire, wind or theft, the amount paid out, and the status, whether it's closed, open or was withdrawn. It also shows claims where nothing was paid, including ones you called in just to ask a question and decided not to file. Insurers see those too, and some count them the same as a paid claim when they're pricing a new policy.
If you moved into a house that had claims filed by a previous owner, those can still show up under the address even though they have nothing to do with you. This is one of the more common reasons someone gets a worse offer than expected on a house with no history of their own. Checking the report before you buy, not after, gives you a chance to ask the seller about anything odd on it.
The report also separates homeowners claims from auto claims if you've had both with the same insurer, since LexisNexis pulls from a shared database. Make sure you're looking at the home section and not confusing a car claim for a house claim, which happens more than you'd think when someone skims the report quickly.
There's no cost to request the report and no limit on how many times you can dispute something that's wrong, only a limit of one free copy per year without a specific reason like a denial. If you've just been non-renewed, that denial is itself a reason to request a second one later in the year if your first report needs correcting and you want to confirm the fix went through before you apply elsewhere.
Does a claim always count against me later
Claims stay on the report for seven years from the date they were filed. It doesn't matter how small the payout was or whether the claim was later withdrawn. A one thousand dollar water damage claim from six years ago still shows up next to a thirty thousand dollar roof claim from last year. The report doesn't rank them by size. An insurer pricing a new policy decides how much weight to give each one, and that weighting is the part that varies most from company to company.
Filing a claim doesn't automatically make the report worse in a way that follows you forever. Some insurers only look at the past three to five years when they price a policy, so a claim from year six or seven may not factor in at all even though it's still listed. Others pull the full seven years and weigh everything equally. There's no way to know which approach a given insurer uses just by looking at the report itself. That's part of why the same history gets different offers from different companies.
The type of claim tends to matter more than most homeowners expect. Water damage and foundation claims get scrutinized harder than wind or hail claims in a lot of underwriting models. Water and foundation issues read as a sign of an ongoing property problem rather than a one-time event tied to weather. Two claims of similar dollar amounts can affect pricing very differently depending on which category they fall into, and the report lists the category for exactly this reason.
If the house had a claim before you owned it, that claim's age is measured from when it was filed, not from when you bought the house. A claim from eight years ago that's now dropped off the seven year window won't appear even if it was a serious one. A claim from five years ago filed by a previous owner still shows up in full. Knowing the filing dates, not just the fact that a claim exists, is what lets you tell which parts of the report still matter to how an insurer prices the house today.
Before you request another quote
Pull your C.L.U.E. report and check it against the non-renewal letter. If a claim is listed wrong, dispute it with LexisNexis first, so every insurer you compare is pricing the same, accurate history.
