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Re: [TowerTalk] insurance and towers

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] insurance and towers
From: Tom Anderson <WW5L@gte.net>
Reply-to: WW5L@gte.net
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 09:57:30 -0600
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
There is a process like the credit bureaus to get a copy of the claims filed in the past on your property with the clearinghouse most insurance companies use and other information the insurance companies have on your home. They were real specific that my name (full legal name not nickname) match their records along with SSN, etc. I'm sure your homeowners ins. agent can give you the name and address of where to write.

My State Farm agent gave me the address and I wrote them a couple years ago and it listed the claims my XYL and I had filed since we moved here in 1992. One was a water claim from a hot water heater that had a line rupture and the other was a lightning damage claim. Fortunately my insurance agent goes to the same church as we do and his wife and my wife both play in the church handbell choir so I can talk to him about possible damage without it generating a claim.


Tom, WW5L




Jim Lux wrote:

In your case, the record should be adjusted to reflect ONE claim.
Inquiries in which no claim was filed should not be entered into
the CLUE database and multiple claims as a result of a single
event (Lili) should be entered as a single event (even if the
insurance company processes the claims separately).

Much like the Credit Rating Agencies, CLUE is required to repair
incorrect data and/or include customer responses (on request) in
the event of "unfavorable" records.




I don't think there is an equivalent to the federal Fair Credit Reporting
Act  (which is what requires credit reporting entities to correct erroneous
records) for other similar databases (CLUE, MIB, ChexSystems, etc.). Some
states may have laws for this, though. By and large, in the U.S.,  anyone
can collect any sort of data they want and sell it or use it however they
want.  The collector of the data is the owner and is responsible for the
data's use. The EU is very different, by the way, essentially saying that
personal data is the property of the person, and that the person has to
explicitly give permission for further use, etc.  This causes big problems
for multinational corporations with data processing facilities in the US who
want to process "personally identifiable data" from EU partners/subsidiaries
(think bank and credit card accounts).  Read those annual privacy
disclosures very carefully!


In fact, the FCRA was put in place to shield credit agencies from libel and slander lawsuits along the lines of: If you promise to correct errors, etc., then we'll prevent people from suing you for for distributing incorrect derogatory information. In theory, one can sue an organization which runs a "CLUE" type database if they distribute incorrect information, but you'd have to prove that it caused damage to you (very, very tough) and, odds are, at some point, you signed or agreed to some form of contract that waived that right to sue (probably when you bought your insurance).

It's not so much the data, as the use to which the data is put.  If the
database shows you had two instances of damage and two inquiries (albeit all
related to the same "root cause") and you actually had two instances and two
inquiries, then the database is correct.  It's the insurance company's
subsequent interpretation of the data that's the problem, and that's mostly
a matter for the state's insurance regulator as far as rates and
eligibilities go.

Jim, W6RMK

_______________________________________________

See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.

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_______________________________________________


See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.

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