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You can order both your Auto and Homeowners CLUE reports free of charge, and it is instantly viewable online. I just got mine and it was super simple, just enter your info answer a few questions.
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@steveliv: If any information of a CLUE report affects you in any way the Insurance company must tell you.
Plus if you have an agent that writes you a policy without mentioning he found activity on a clue report then you need to find a new agent QUICKLY!
During a government background check recently I had a fraudulent account that I disputed successfully and had removed from my credit reports years ago somehow show up. I'm still digging into it but have no answers so far. Fishy...
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This is an area that seems ripe for a regulatory overhaul and consolidation. Since these are all financial servies related products, why not put them under a single office and then make it easier to pull your reports and make corrections. annualcreditreport is a good start, but it would be nice to be able to go to a single site to request reports and request corrections, that can span across the reports and providers. If you don't want a government run program, that's fine, but at least some sort of consolidated clearninghouse.
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@ARP: Didn't you see what happened with \"Government oversight\" of the banks? They end up owning them as they crumble to the ground. All of this happens because of the laziness of citizens demonstrated in this type of post/thinking. Give me, Give me.
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@The Dude:
Jeez, I could of sworn that the problem was the total lack of \"Government oversight\" of the banks?
I guess the actual culprit was all of those SEC regulators overseeing the creation of \"bucket shop\" style derivatives, who must have gotten in the way of all the freedom-loving entrepeneurs on Wall Street. Otherwise they would have created a Randian market utopia and we would have been able to live happily ever after...
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Don't forget these jokers if you somehow still need to use paper checks for payment:
Certegy Check/Cheque Services
[www.fidelityinfoservices.com]
Search \"certegy\" and you will find all numbers of people who have dealt with them in regards to refused checks. We were refused to use a paper check at PepBoys Auto for the purchase of 4 new tires, mounted and balanced- a local address check on a regional bank. We qualified to get a Certegy account report but it was a pain in the neck so I gave up getting one.
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As a side note, FIS owns Clear Commerce/Certegy, ElecCheck (a Certegy product) and Chex Systems now...I think this only other major paper check reporting service out there is Telecheck, which I believe is still owned by FirstData.
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Well mine is accurate, showing the only insurance claim I've ever made on my car 5 years ago, so that's good :D
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So this is the dreaded \"Permanent Record\" that my teachers used to warn me about when I acted up.
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Good luck getting the MIB report, I hear they don't really exist...
Is there some kind of central point from which you can get all these reports? And how do the aggregators give out medical reports without violating HIPAA?
(Actually, I'm really curious to see if my criminal report is still available.)
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@H3ion: Is there some kind of central point from which you can get all these reports?
Two options for you.
1. I created a webpage that lists some of these.
2. Check out this Privacy Rights Clearinghouse article.
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There was an error on our CLUE report (we are in the process of selling our house).
\"There was a claim paid on your roof\" according to our listing agent.
Uh, no. We had our insurance company come out when damage was done but the amount they were offering (a few hundred dollars) was so small (on a job that ended up costing us several thousand) that we said it wasn't worth it coming up on our claims history.
I challenged our insurance company- at first they were rather indignant that they would ever, ever make a mistake but a day later, they apologised and corrected the information that they sent out.
Grrr... CLUE can't verify my identity and can't tell me why. They suggest I contact the credit bureaus, awesome.
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interesting.
i used to live with my sister and the C.L.U.E. reports showed her house and her car as well as mine.
also, my house was struck by lightning 2.5 years ago and allstate still has the claim open for the previous homeowner. i have no idea what to think about that
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Love the IBM mainframe tape drives in the photo - those are from the IBM 360 series, last manufactured around 1970...
@vaporland: Indeed, and I can still remember, as a computer operator, having to clean each tape drive on my shift. By the time I was done with all of them I had a little buzz going from the cleaning solvent.
I don't concern myself with any of that rubbish. It doesn't define me. Seems as though everyone is just a bit too worried what everyone else thinks of them. I'll take peace and contentment over paranoia any 'ol day.
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@Buffet:
Well, I'm here to tell you, there's not a lot of \"peace and contentement\" to be had when someone steals your identity. (Guess how I know.)
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Pre-Existing Conditions? Exclusions? Rescission? Just as financial companies rely on \"credit reports\" to establish credit for customers, insurance companies utilize \"medical report\" files to assess the health, determine the insurability, and set the price for insurance applicants and policyholders. Under federal law, these corporations are classified as \"nationwide specialty consumer reporting agencies\" and must comply with certain legal requirements (though they do not have the same rules as the major consumer reporting agencies Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. In addition to the Medical Information Bureau Inc. (MIB), the companies Ingenix Inc. and Milliman Inc. also sell consumer reporting profiles to insurance companies. For example, \"Denied Insurance Because of a Medical Coding Error in Her MIB Report\"
Most consumers and even many insurance agents are unaware that Humana, UnitedHealth Group , Aetna (AET), Blue Cross plans, and other insurance giants have ready access to applicants’ prescription histories. These online reports, available to insurers in seconds from a pair of little-known intermediary companies, typically include voluminous information going back five years on dosage, refills, and possible medical conditions. The reports also provide a numerical score predicting what a person may cost an insurer in the future.
An investigation in 2008 by the Federal Trade Commission found that the two companies supplying these pharmacy profiles—Ingenix Inc. and Milliman Inc.—violated federal law for years by keeping the system hidden from consumers. But the FTC has merely required disclosure if prescription information causes denial of coverage or some other adverse action; the agency imposed no penalties.
Remember, the new health care reform laws in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act don't go in effect until 2014! All insurance applicants and policyholders should request an annual copy of their medical report files from the nationwide specialty nationwide consumer reporting agencies to ensure they aren't overpaying for insurance or in danger of policy rejection or rescission for pre-existing conditions or errors.
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I've ordered my auto insurance report, and it still had accidents past the mandatory date of expiry for my province. I sent a complaint letter, but I'm letting it go for the moment because my insurance hasn't gone up due to them.
Next year, a few months before the time of renewal, I'll be writing a more official letter and getting the FSCO (The gov't dept in my province that deal with auto insurance) to help me out.
For those in Canada, you can get your auto insurance record from CGI. It is called an Auto Plus report.
@shepd: But upon further reflection, it's good that we keep fighting to keep database creep at bay, lest we become worse than them. !
@shepd:
Well, decided to write the ombudsman instead after that, and it turns out nothing on auto insurance ever expires, some people have stuff on them 50+ years old.
Seems like it's time to start writing my MPP. This would make some nice easy private members bill, especially since the insurance industry has such a black eye in Ontario right now...
@shepd:
How'd a canadian get on the American internet?