What the heck is the clue report? That is possibly what you are saying.  Even worse is if you are saying “I don’t have a CLUE!”  Oh you are sooo funny!  I forgot to laugh! :S  Seriously though if you are interested in purchasing a house or currently own a house you need to understand the CLUE report.

So what is it?  The clue report is a centralized database that keeps track of all hazard insurance claims on a house for 7 years.  The important part of this is that the clue report is attached to BOTH the homeowner and the home.  The most troubling issue is that phone calls alone to your insurance adjuster is seen in many states as a claim!  This is not true though for the state of Maryland.  In the 2006 legislature they passed a law stating that ones insurance premium may only go up due to actual damages which are claimed and not just phone calls!  If you want more information on that law you can go here.

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The Clue report by far is the largest change made by the insurance industry in attempts to reduce loss, but at whose cost?  The Clue report is similar to a database that keeps track of all of the insurance claims filed by the homeowner, as well as phone calls.  Every time a homeowner just makes a phone call, no matter what the substance of that phone call; it goes onto the homeowner’s clue report. 

 So if an individual were to call their insurance adjuster to wish them a happy birthday that would go onto their clue report.  That is pretty scary.  Fortunately, in Maryland they passed a law in the past legislature specifically stating that an individual’s insurance premium can not be increased due to phone calls recorded on the clue report, it must be for actual claims filed by the homeowner.  The District of Columbia and Virginia have not yet followed suit to pass similar laws.

So what are the basics? 

• The report sticks with the individual homeowner and the home (seperately) for 5 years! 
• Only the individual homeowner can get a copy of the report.  It will be provided to the homeowner for free from this site 
• So what does a individual homebuyer do?  Well they can either ask their insurance adjuster, who will be providing them insurance for this home, and see if they can get it from them.  They can also ask the seller for what is referred to as the “Seller’s Disclosure Report.”  It can be obtained from this site 
• How does ene get the report corrected if there are errors?  They need to go and find them first, and then go back to the company with paperwork to establish the truth. 
• What does one do if they can not get insurance?  Generally speaking most individuals are able to get insurance, it is just completely higher then everyone else.  Each state government has what is referred to as a Fair plan - which is basically a insurance plan for properties which can not be insured due to these exact reasons.  You can call your specific commission in your area for specific details:

Maryland         800-492-6166    http://mdinsurance1.mdinsurance.state.md.us/sa/jsp/Mia.jsp
Virginia         800-552- 7945   http://www.scc.virginia.gov/division/boi/index.htm
Washington D.C. (202)727-8002

Please email me at info@rempower.com with any comments/concerns/questions!