Who Reports Your Credit?

If you are new to the whole credit reporting and scoring scene, you might be wondering who it is that makes these decisions about your credit worthiness.

The Big Three Credit Bureaus

In the United States, credit bureaus (also known as Consumer Reporting Agencies [CRAs]) are in the commercial business of gathering and selling information collected from banks and business concerning their credit transactions with individual consumers. Other countries have their similar systems, and some of these companies do business in multiple countries.

The three major players in the credit reporting business are Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. A fourth company, Innovis, is mentioned in some sources, but is not commonly referred to as one of the major CRAs.

Experian

Founded in 1980 in Nottingham, GB, Experian began as an information services business. Through acquisition and expansion the company built its presence as a consumer reporting bureau with operations in Europe, North and South America, Malaysia, Japan, and Australia.

Experian has a checkered past, having been in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly enrolling consumers in a credit monitoring program without their consent.[1]

The company also runs two heavily advertised credit report websites, freecreditreport.com and freecreditscore.com. Freecreditreport.com was also in trouble with the FTC and the Florida Attorney General. [2]

Experian’s Web site: Experian.com.

Equifax

The Equifax, Inc., FAQ page states Equifax was incorporated in 1913 in Georgia and was listed on the NYSE in 1971.[3]  By contrast, Wikipedia states the company was founded in 1899 as Retail Credit Company and that the company took the name Equifax in 1975 after passage of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) in 1970.[4]

Equifax has been in trouble more than once with the FTC for failing to respond in a timely fashion to consumer complaints or questions about their credit reports. [5]

Equifax is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and employs approximately 7,000 people in 15 countries through North America, Latin America, and Europe.

Equifax’s Web site: Equifax.com.

TransUnion

In 1968, the Union Tank Car Company, a rail car leasing operation, created TransUnion as its parent holding company. The company now has offices in 25 countries on five continents and claims more than 50,000 corporate customers worldwide. TransUnion’s home office is located in Chicago, Illinois.

TransUnion had its share of trouble with the FTC over the practice of selling consumer information to companies who lacked an authorized purpose for receiving them. [6] Also, in 2002 a jury awarded a woman 5.3 million dollars when she won her suit against TransUnion for failing to correct errors after repeatedly offering proof of the error. [7]

TransUnion’s Web site: TransUnion.com.