LV Insurance & the Claims and Underwriting Exchange database (CUE) PREMIUM RISK WARNING

JRS65

I recently decided to move my home insurance from LV to another more competitive provider. I obtained various quotes from other insurers only to discover that there was an insurance claim logged by LV and sitting on the Claims and Underwriting Exchange database (CUE) which had the effect of bumping up my new premiums.

I investigated this further as I had no claims at all made. It transpires that when I made a simple and general telephone query to get advice about a potential issue, this query was logged as a claim and forwarded to CUE. (I was told by an LV associate that there was a flaw with this and that the best way to enquire was not to disclose your policy number so it couldn't be logged). 

My current 'claim' shows that there was no payout (obviously, as there was no claim), but from the perspective of any other insurer or underwriter looking at the database, they see this as a risk and adjust accordingly.

I'm writing this as a warning to other LV home insurance users as I believe their current system has the same impact as a negative credit default which, in my own case, raised my quote by £50. I have been told by LV that this record cannot be removed from CUE, so is presumably there indefinitely or a least a few 'circus rounds' every time I need to renew. Has anyone else experienced this issue?

DullGreyGuy

Your lucky... insurers ask you to declare all claims and incidents irrespective of if you claimed for them or not. Obviously most people "forget" to mention incidents that they didnt claim for and get away with a lower premium than they should be paying. Insurers will register any incident they are made aware of by default and share it with any of the counter fraud databases like CUE.

In most cases when you do a quote and "forget" to declare an incident/claim insurers dont live check CUE but will price on what you've told them. After you've purchased they then run their counterfraud checks like looking at CUE and thats when they discover the false declaration. If its caught at this point then if they think its deliberate or reckless that you "forgot" to mention it they can void the policy and retain the premiums. This means you have to tick the "yes" box to voided insurance for the rest of your life which can often double or triple premiums. 

Its much better to counsel about the need to answer questions honestly than school on how to commit fraud better. However your right, if you intend to not admit to incidents then you dont ever want to let your insurers know about it. 

JRS65

Thanks for the clarification. My gripe here is that a 'claim' can be lodged even if the query is only call for clarification of cover on the policy or procedure for a potential issue. In my case the situation didn't transpire, yet this simple 'call for advice' is still lodged as a claim. I shall ensure next time to dig out the policy documents and keep my effing mouth shut...