Credit Report Bureaus

There are three major Credit Report Bureaus, namely, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. These bureaus are also known as credit reporting agencies. Everything from collection of financial information of consumers to keeping a track of their arrests (if any), in short anything that affects your creditworthiness as a consumer is all recorded and constantly updated by these agencies in the form of credit reports. These reports are then sold further to creditors, lenders, as well as employers.

These reports contain the entire credit history of consumers that includes the present and past, and negative and positive information. They also contain personal information, like Name, Date Of Birth, Social Security Number, Employment details, Income, current and past residential addresses and the names, contact numbers and addresses of all those people who have sought your credit report.

The bureaus only compile this information and provide it to the lenders. But they do not make any lending decisions. It is the lenders’ decision whether or not to approve your loan. This decision is made taking into consideration the information given in your credit report, like your credit history, credit score, job stability, income and your residence stability too.

The three agencies work independently and therefore, there are three reports prepared for each consumer by each of the three bureaus. The information available in each of the three reports may or may not be the same, as they do not trade credit information with each other. More than 70 % of the credit reports contain errors. Some of these errors are so big that they cause the rejection of loan applications.

Credit reports are financial resumes that precede you. It is therefore, essential for you to check your credit reports periodically and ensure that the information in the report is correct. Access your report from each of the Credit Reporting Agencies annually and review them. If you find any errors, initiate a dispute with the bureau to get them rectified.