Who Is LexisNexis and Why Do They Have My Information?

WV & OH ONLY

"I got a letter that mentioned LexisNexis after I shopped for car insurance. Who are they, and how did they get my information?"

Seeing an unfamiliar company with your information would make anybody uneasy.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions is a data company that supplies insurance companies with reports such as claims history, and it has your information because records about you are collected from insurers and other sources. It doesn't sell you insurance or decide your rate. You have legal rights to see what it reports about you and dispute what's wrong.

The whole system could be simpler and easier to see into. Our part is getting you the best rate we can.

LexisNexis hands over information, and each insurance company decides what to do with it. That's why the same history can look bad at one company and not matter much at another. We can check 13 companies and see how yours lands.

Straight up, I'd like to quote you. A letter with an unfamiliar company's name on it is a fine reason to pick up the phone.

WV & OH ONLY

It's a related name. LexisNexis Risk Solutions says it's part of RELX, a global provider of information and analytics. Its customers include insurance, financial services, government and healthcare. If you've heard the name from a law office, that's why it sounds familiar.

Not one of the big three you're used to hearing about. But parts of what it does fall under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which has a category called nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency. Insurance claims is one of the kinds of files that category covers.

Because businesses send it or sell access to it, and other businesses pay to use it. The CFPB lists LexisNexis C.L.U.E. and Telematics OnDemand as a consumer reporting company that collects auto and property claims and driving behavior data.

On the insurance side, LexisNexis describes products that include:

• C.L.U.E. Auto,** up to seven years of personal auto claims
• Current Carrier,** which identifies who has insured you and helps spot a possible lapse
• Credit information,** where it resells reports from the national credit bureaus and can return a credit-based insurance score

Its general consumer report page also mentions things like real estate records, liens, bankruptcies, professional licenses and old addresses.

Often you didn't deal with LexisNexis directly, because it gets records from other businesses. An insurance company orders a report on you when you've applied for coverage or have a policy with it. Federal law permits consumer reports to be used for insurance underwriting, and the federal law on driver records, 18 USC 2721, allows insurers and insurance support organizations to use that information for rating or underwriting. You may have also agreed to something when you applied for a policy or set up a connected car.

No. In LexisNexis's words, "Decisions about insurance coverage and/or rates are made by insurance companies." It says it doesn't make underwriting decisions or set guidelines. It also says a new score isn't automatically sent to your insurer when your information changes, so you may need to ask for a new report to be run.

That's a practical tip. If your credit or your record has improved, tell me. Don't wait for someone to notice.

Very often, because a report played a part in a decision. The Federal Trade Commission says that if a consumer report is part of the reason an insurer raised your premium, the insurer owes you a notice, even if the report played only a small part. The notice has to name the reporting company, say that company didn't make the decision, and tell you about your right to a free copy within 60 days and your right to dispute it.

Don't throw that letter away. It tells you who to ask.

Go to LexisNexis's consumer site and request a Consumer Disclosure Report, or call 1-866-897-8126. Federal law under 15 USC 1681g requires a consumer reporting agency to disclose what's in your file, with some exceptions such as risk scores. It also generally has to tell you who requested a report on you in the past year.

Yes. One example is a federal case over driving data from connected cars. Those claims are allegations at an early stage of the case, and no court has found LexisNexis liable in it. Part 23 of this series goes into that.

I wouldn't lose sleep. I would look. These files can be wrong, and LexisNexis itself warns its business customers that source data may contain errors and should be independently verified. If there's a mistake in yours, you want to find it before it costs you. It's one more of those common insurance mistakes that's easy to avoid.

Got a letter you don't understand? Bring it in or read it to me on the phone. Then let's see who'll give you the best deal.

WV & OH ONLY

Next in the series: Part 28, Will My Insurance Go Up If I File a Claim?