 TITLE: Does Filing a Home Insurance Claim Raise Your Rates? CONTENT: What Else Affects Homeowners Insurance Rates?\n---------------------------------------------\nFiling a claim isn't the only thing that can make your homeowners insurance premiums go up. Other factors that could increase your rates include:\n*   **The age of your home**: As your home gets older, it may become more vulnerable to damage from aging systems such as leaky roofs or old pipes.\n*   **Risky elements**: Adding features that could cause injury or damage can raise your premiums. These include a wood furnace or wood stove; a swimming pool, trampoline or other potentially dangerous play area; or owning certain breeds of dogs.\n*   **Severe weather**: If your part of the country has experienced an increase in natural disasters, insurers will likely raise your rates the following year, regardless of whether you filed a claim. Frequent catastrophes increase the odds that your insurance company will have to pay out claims, so they'll generally raise rates to make up for their higher costs.\n*   **Real estate and construction costs**: If home values or construction costs are rising in your area, homes will cost more to repair or replace. As a result, home insurance premiums may rise too.\n*   **Your credit**: In states where it's allowed, insurance companies typically review your credit-based insurance score credit to assess your insurance risk, which is the likelihood that you'll end up filing a claim. This type of score is distinct from the credit scores lenders use, and is calculated based on different factors.\n*   **C.L.U.E. information**: The Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (C.L.U.E.) is a database of information about auto and homeowners insurance claims maintained by LexisNexis. Home insurance claims you've filed for your property in the past seven years—even if filed by a previous homeowner—will likely appear in the database and may affect your insurance costs. END