As a nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), MIB provides US consumers with the rights, protections and privileges available under FCRA. In addition, MIB also provides substantially equivalent rights to Canadian consumers, as well as consumers who reside in the Caribbean region and have done business with an MIB member.

Therefore, there is no charge to request a copy of your MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File (if one exists) once per year directly from MIB.

In addition, in the event that you have received an adverse underwriting decision letter from an insurer indicating that an MIB record influenced the insurer's underwriting process, which resulted in your application being rated or declined, then MIB will provide you with a free copy of your MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File in addition to your free annual copy.

Before requesting a free copy of your MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File, you should know that you will not have an MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File if you have not applied for individually underwritten life, health, disability income, long-term care or critical illness insurance with a member insurer within the last 7 years or earlier depending on applicable law. Therefore, you may not have an MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File if: (i) you applied for insurance more than 7 years ago; or (ii) you applied for insurance that was not individually underwritten (for example, group insurance or guaranteed issue life, or ACA-based health insurance); or (iii) you applied to an insurance company that was not an MIB member.

As a practical matter, MIB codes are not typically reported on individuals in good health whose life and health insurance applications are approved as standard or preferred risks.

In order to obtain a copy of your MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File (if one exists), MIB will need to obtain some personal information from you so we can accurately search our files. This information will be collected and maintained securely by MIB and will be used solely to process your request. The identifying information you provide will be validated with other consumer reporting agencies. Please refer to MIB's Consumer Privacy Policy for additional information and details.

You may only request a copy of your own MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File. You may not request the MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File of any other person, including your spouse or another relative, unless you are authorized to request the person's MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File as an attorney-in-fact (agent) under a Power of Attorney, or as legal guardian under a court appointment, or as parent and natural guardian for your minor child. Accordingly, you will be asked to certify under penalty of perjury that the information you provide to MIB is accurate and complete and that you are requesting a copy of your own MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File and not someone else's.

What Should I Expect to Receive?

Upon verification of your identity, MIB will process your request in a timely fashion and send you your MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File by mail. If you do not have an MIB Consumer File, you will receive immediate notification of NO RECORD FOUND and a link to access your letter indicating that a record does not exist for you.

Your MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File ("Disclosure") may consist of the following information:

Medical and personal information about individuals is kept confidential in MIB's secure database in the form of MIB proprietary codes. These codes incorporate numbers and letters to represent those types of medical conditions and avocational activities that are significant to the underwriting process. While the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) provides more than 68,000 different codes for use by health plans and healthcare providers for numerous purposes, MIB only needs to have a small fraction of this ICD-10 number (less than 1%) for its underwriting alert purpose. MIB codes can be counted in the hundreds, not the thousands.

Due to the limited number of MIB codes, MIB's codes often represent somewhat broad categories of verified medical conditions or other conditions (typically hazardous avocations and adverse driving records). Nevertheless, these codes are very effective for highlighting medical impairments or avocational risks that were previously reported by a member company. Because MIB uses these codes and not actual medical records, MIB does not report the complete details about a person's medical condition.

When we provide you with a copy of your MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File, we will translate your MIB codes, if any. When you read the code translations, please keep in mind that underwriters and medical directors at MIB member insurance companies are the exclusive users of (and audience for) MIB codes. They are highly trained professionals with experience in the selection of risks and knowledge of medical conditions that may have a significant impact on your health and longevity. Accordingly, underwriters and medical directors will know how to interpret the MIB codes appropriately, keep them confidential under their professional standards, MIB Rules and applicable laws, and use them effectively to guide their underwriting investigation. Remember, MIB codes are not used to determine your eligibility for insurance.

The true test of whether the translated codes in your MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File are accurate and complete is whether: (i) they fairly and reasonably portray your medical conditions to an underwriter or medical director and (ii) thereby lead them to obtain medical records and other information (including attending physician statements and lab tests) from which they can then make an equitable underwriting decision.

MIB is committed to the principle that every consumer should be entitled to know the contents of his or her MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File, and to correct any inaccurate or incomplete information. When you obtain your MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File from MIB, we will provide you with instructions on how to seek a correction or modification of any information that you feel is inaccurate or incomplete. For additional information, you can visit: How to Dispute Your MIB Underwriting Services Consumer File.