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Specialty Consumer Reporting Agencies

Specialty consumer reporting agencies prepare reports on consumers’ histories for specific purposes. The reports cover employment, insurance claims, residential rentals, check writing, and medical records. Think about ordering a specialty report if you are ready to buy homeowners or automobile insurance, open a checking account, apply for private health or life insurance, or rent a home or apartment.

Property Insurance Claim Reports: Insurance companies often check reports of this kind when you apply for homeowner’s or automobile insurance. One of these reports is the CLUE report (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange). CLUE reports contain information on property loss claims against homeowner’s insurance and automobile insurance policies. A CLUE report contains personal information, such as your name, birth date, and Social Security number. It also contains a record of any auto or homeowner property loss claims you submitted to an insurance company. It includes the type of loss, date of the loss, and amount paid by the insurance company. It lists inquiries, or companies that have checked your claim history.

Another property loss report is called A-PLUS (Automated Property Loss Underwriting System). The A-PLUS database is compiled by a smaller company and is less commonly used than the CLUE database. You may order a CLUE report and an A-PLUS for free once every 12 months.

Tenant History Reports: Landlords sometimes check your tenant history as well as your credit history. You may order a free copy of your tenant history report once every 12 months.

Employment History Reports: Employers sometimes check your employment history when you apply for a job. Your current employer may also check your history. You must give your consent for a current or prospective employer to check your history. State and federal law entitle you to a free copy of your report if any employer requests your permission for a background check.

You can also get one free copy ever 12 months. Consider ordering an Employment History Report if you’ve been frequently turned down when applying for jobs.

Medical Insurance Reports: Insurance companies often check with the Medical Information Bureau (MIB) when you apply for health or life insurance as an individual (not as part of a group plan). Insurance companies give the MIB information on their customers’ medical conditions that the companies consider significant. A report from the MIB contains codes for specific medical conditions and lifestyle choices. Examples include conditions like asthma and diabetes and activities such as smoking or high-risk sports like skydiving.

A report from the MIB includes the nature of any information MIB has on you, the names of companies that reported information on you to the MIB, and the names of the companies that received a copy of your MIB record in the previous 12 months.

You may not be in the MIB database. If you did not apply for individual health or life insurance, the MIB will probably have no records on you. You may order a report from the MIB for free once every 12 months.