Credit Agencies / Bureaus
Credit Bureaus and How they Work. The credit bureaus are giant depositories of credit information regarding both consumers and business. Apart from the three major credit bureaus there are more than 1,000 other bureaus around the country that gather information regarding your credit standing straight from the lenders. Note: despite the fact the major bureaus collect the same information there are sometimes discrepancies from one bureau to another as they do not share information. It is for that reason that we typically recommend bureaus that deal with all the major credit bureaus in order to have a complete report that you can screen to ensure all the credit information is accurate. By doing this you save yourself a lot of time and money (they tend to charge less). After testing several companies out first choice is: Each credit bureau collects the following information (though not necessarily in this order):
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Credit Bureaus and How they Work
The credit bureaus are giant depositories of credit information regarding both consumers and business. Apart from the three major credit bureaus there are more than 1,000 other bureaus around the country that gather information regarding your credit standing straight from the lenders. Note: despite the fact the major bureaus collect the same information there are sometimes discrepancies from one bureau to another as they do not share information. It is for that reason that we typically recommend bureaus that deal with all the major credit bureaus in order to have a complete report that you can screen to ensure all the credit information is accurate. By doing this you save yourself a lot of time and money (they tend to charge less). After testing several companies out first choice is:
Each credit bureau collects the following information (though not necessarily in this order):
1. Personal information -Your full name and previous names (if any) 2. Your Credit history |
3. Credit Report Inquiries
-The amount of times in the past 12 months you have applied for credit or have had an inquires done (note, personal inquires into your credit don’t count against you, in fact it is encouraged)
4. Public records
-Legal or court judgments, such as child support cases
-Tax information (typically updated every time you submit your taxes)
-Bankruptcies
To demonstrate how it works lets look at the following example:
You walk into Sasks and apply for their in house credit card. They ask you to give some personal information (name address, how long you’ve lived there, previous address, income, employer, etc) they take that info send off (normally done instantly through the wonders of automation) to credit card company dealing with them, that company in turn contacts a credit reporting agency (also known as CRA) and either manually reviews your application (that’s pretty rare these days) or a program will automatically compare the information you have submitted with what they have on record and send back the okay, or not. If there are any discrepancies it will notify the lender as well if there is new information it will store it and added it to your credit report. If your application is accepted it opens a channel from the lender to the CRA that records you activity and payment history thus becoming a part you credit file/report.
All of your credit dealings and transactions are reported monthly to CRAs by the lenders and merchants associated with you. The majority of the large creditors report your information to all three national credit bureaus. However some of the smaller lenders and creditors will send that information to one the major CRA’s. It is because of this that the information contained in your file may not be the same form one CRA to the other. Note that inconsistencies may also show up because CRA’s like Experian do not include an account that shows up on your report from TransUnion. This is of course why we always recommend that you get all three reports and review each one. Since that can be both costly and time consuming, you can get all three at the same time and have the comparison done for you for a third of the price you would have to pay of you went through the major CRA’s.
Major CRA's
Equifax: www.equifax.com #1
Equifax is by far the top and most comprehensive of the major CRA's.
P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
To report fraud, call: 800-525-6285/ TDD: 800-255-0056 and write: P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
Experain: P.O. Box 2104, Allen, TX 75013
TransUnion: : P.O. Box 1000, Chester, PA 19022
To report fraud, call: 800-680-7289/ TDD: 877-553-7803 and write: Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92634-6790
You can access your report online at any time here at Equifax and protect your self and your financial future here:
