July 30, 2006
To claim or not to claim...
As strange as it may sound making a claim may not always be a good idea in homeowners insurance. This is because your home is probably the largest investment you make and its equity may be the only thing you’ll have for a rainy day!
Let me explain: Homeowners who make claims run the risk of being forever stamped with a bad mark. This is because a claim represents damage to the house and that means you are actually admitting to a fault in the home. This at the time of selling can come back and haunt you.
Now you may ask who is going to know about the damage claim on your home. The answer is that the insurance company does and they have logged this information in a large repository of insurance related data.
Clueless about CLUE? This database is called the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange or CLUE and your termite problem is stored there for posterity! Psyched by this little insurance secret? You are not alone and herein - the quandary - to claim or not to claim!
The only good thing to report about the CLUE for the homeowner is that you are entitled to a free copy of your home's CLUE report every year. You can also get a free report when you've been denied insurance by your provider!
Whatever you discuss with your provider is carefully logged here and that is why your home’s prospective buyer may finally decide against your home.
Too many claims also can lead you to being dropped by your insurer and that’s why sometimes claiming may not be a good idea if you plan to sell your home. But then there’s more to this story…
Homeowners who did not claim but discussed with their agent about damage are also not being spared. This is the worst it can get - You don’t get any money and your mould problem is recorded in the CLUE report!
And that brings us back to the profound question – To claim or not to claim? One clue – Keep your problems to yourself before you decide!
--
Did you enjoy this post?
