Key takeaways
- There are two reports — one about you, one about a property. Most people only know about the first.
- Zero-payout claims still appear. Withdrawn and denied claims are on there with the payout shown as nothing.
- You can get your report free once every 12 months — and again within 60 days of an adverse action notice, which for insurance includes a declination, a cancellation or an increase in what you are charged. A dispute must be reinvestigated within 30 days, extendable to 45 if you send documents.
- Before you buy a house, ask the seller for the property’s CLUE report — but see the caveat below: we could not confirm from a primary source that a free seller-facing property report is still offered, and we are not going to tell you it is.
Found something on your record you do not recognize? A licensed agent can tell you how much it is likely to matter.
Call [PENDING][PENDING]. Calls are answered by [PENDING], a licensed insurance agency (NPN [PENDING]). HomeCoverDesk is not affiliated with any insurer. Calls may be recorded or monitored for quality and training purposes. Our partner does not offer every insurer or every product available in your state.Two reports, not one
This is the part that surprises people, and the second report is the more useful of the two.
| Personal report | Property report | |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | Claims you have made, across any property you have insured | Claims made on a specific address, by anyone who owned it |
| Who can order it | You, about yourself | The current owner of that property |
| Why it matters | It follows you when you move | It stays with the house when you sell |
| The use almost nobody knows | — | Ask a seller for it before you buy. It shows what has gone wrong with that house — and whether it will be expensive to insure |
What is actually on it
Less than people fear in some respects, and more in others.
| On it | Not on it |
|---|---|
| Date of each loss | Your credit score |
| Type of loss — water, fire, theft, liability | Your credit score, and the underwriting decision any insurer made. (Inquiries are a different matter: under § 1681g(a)(3) the disclosure you receive lists who pulled your report in the past year.) |
| Amount paid, including zero-payout claims | Repairs you paid for yourself without claiming |
| The insurer involved | Non-renewals, as such — though the claims behind one will be there |
| Status — open, closed, denied | Anything older than seven years — § 1681c(a)(5) bars adverse items beyond that |
| The property address | — |
The entry that catches people out is the zero-payout claim. You reported a loss, thought better of it, and withdrew — or the insurer declined it. Nothing was paid, so it feels as though nothing happened. It is on the record, and the next insurer sees it.
If a claim on your record is making coverage hard to find, talking it through is a reasonable next step.
Call [PENDING][PENDING]. Calls are answered by [PENDING], a licensed insurance agency (NPN [PENDING]). HomeCoverDesk is not affiliated with any insurer. Calls may be recorded or monitored for quality and training purposes. Our partner does not offer every insurer or every product available in your state.Getting your copy
CLUE is a claims database. The consumer reporting agency is LexisNexis C.L.U.E. Inc., which the CFPB lists as affiliated with LexisNexis Risk Solutions — a distinction that matters for where a dispute is sent. It is a consumer reporting agency under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. That status is what gives you rights over it.
You are entitled to one free copy every 12 months under 15 U.S.C. § 1681j(a)(1)(A). Request it directly from LexisNexis — there is no need to pay a third-party service for something you can get for nothing.
And you may be entitled to a second one. Under § 1681j(b), if you have received an adverse action notice you can request a further free disclosure within 60 days of it. For insurance, “adverse action” is defined broadly at § 1681a(k)(1)(B)(i) — it includes a denial or cancellation, an increase in any charge, and an unfavorable change in the terms or amount of coverage. So a declination or a surprise increase does not use up your annual copy. An earlier version of this page told readers to get their report before shopping rather than after a bad quote, which read as “you only get one, do not waste it”. That was wrong, and it discouraged people from exercising a right at exactly the moment it arises.
Getting it before you shop is still the better plan, because correcting an error first is far easier than explaining it afterwards. But if the bad quote has already arrived, the 60-day route is open.
Disputing an error
Errors are more common than people expect: a claim recorded against the wrong address, a payout figure that does not match what was actually paid, a claim from a previous owner attached to you, or an entry that should have aged off.
| Step | What happens | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Get your report | Request your free copy — one per 12 months | Varies |
| 2. Identify the error | Wrong amount, wrong date, wrong property, a claim that was never yours, or one past its retention period | — |
| 3. Dispute it in writing | Submit the dispute to the reporting agency with any supporting documents | — |
| 4. They investigate | The agency must investigate and, if the information is inaccurate or unverifiable, correct or delete it | 30 days under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i(a)(1)(A) — extended to 45 under § 1681i(a)(1)(B) if you send supporting documents during that 30-day window, which is exactly what step 3 tells you to do |
| 5. Corrected report issued | You can ask for the corrected report to be sent to anyone who received the wrong one — but you have to name them, and under 15 U.S.C. § 1681i(d) the window for an insurance purpose is the preceding six months | — |
The Fair Credit Reporting Act obliges the agency to investigate and to correct or delete information that is inaccurate or cannot be verified. This is one of the few genuinely hard, checkable federal rules in this whole area — most of what governs home insurance is state law or carrier guidance, but your rights over a consumer report are federal and they have deadlines.
Methodology and sources
CLUE record content and retention are described from general industry practice reviewed in August 2026. CLUE is operated by LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
Dispute rights and the investigation timeline are governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Retention periods reflect general practice; the reporting agency's own policy governs only below that ceiling: 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(a)(5) bars a consumer report from carrying an adverse item that antedates it by more than seven years, subject to the § 1681c(b) exceptions. An earlier version of this note said the agency's policy governed with no ceiling at all, which contradicted this page's own point that your rights over a consumer report are federal.
This page is reviewed on a fixed schedule. If you find an error, our corrections policy explains how we handle it.
Frequently asked questions
Is a CLUE report free?
Yes. It is a consumer report under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and you are entitled to one free copy in any 12-month period under 15 U.S.C. § 1681j(a)(1)(A) — and, under § 1681j(b), to a further free copy within 60 days of an adverse action notice, which for insurance includes a declination, a cancellation or an increase in what you are charged. You do not need to pay a third-party service to get something you can request yourself.
How far back does a CLUE report go?
Seven years, which is both the CFPB's description of CLUE and the FCRA ceiling on adverse items. Most carriers look back three to five years when quoting.
Do claims I withdrew show up?
Usually yes, as a zero-payout claim. Withdrawing a claim removes the payment, not the record of the claim.
Can I get the CLUE report for a house I am buying?
Not directly. The consumer disclosure is the current owner’s to request, so the route is to ask the seller — and if they will produce it, the loss history on a property is one of the most useful things you can see before committing. One honest caveat, because an audit caught us asserting more than we could show. We could not confirm from LexisNexis’s own consumer portal or from the CFPB that a free seller-facing “C.L.U.E. Home Seller’s Disclosure Report” is still offered; the only current route we could find was inside a paid third-party disclosure package. Ask, but do not assume it is free or that the seller can obtain it easily. What is certain is the owner’s own right to a consumer disclosure under 15 U.S.C. § 1681j.
How do I fix a mistake on my CLUE report?
Notify the reporting agency — the FCRA does not require writing, but do it in writing anyway so you have a record — including any documents that support your position. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act they must generally conduct a reasonable reinvestigation within 30 days — extendable to 45 if you send documents during that window — and correct or delete anything found inaccurate or unverifiable.