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Archive for the ‘Credit Bureaus’ Category

Who are credit reporting agencies? What do credit reporting agencies do?

Credit reporting agencies are large corporations that make money by compiling financial information about consumers and selling it to potential lenders and employers. Anyone who has ever applied for a loan or credit of any kind will have a credit file with each of the major credit reporting agencies. People who pay cash for everything may not have anything in their Credit Report. A Credit Report lists personal data, employment, credit cards, and debts in a person's name.

How did credit reporting agencies get all of this information about me?

The information is taken from credit applications you have completed as well as from reports your creditors make about how well you meet your obligations to them. There are many small credit reporting agencies who are often hired to examine and investigate credit histories by banks or loan agencies. However they all obtain their information from the same sources. These sources are the big three credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

What are other services offered by credit reporting agencies?

Credit reporting companies are in the business of making money. In recent years, they have realized that consumers are a big market for them. Thus, you will see that on their websites, they offer a variety of products.

Some credit reporting agencies offer you special services, such as alerting you to changes to your report or Credit Score. These services are useful for some people, but do not automatically assume you need them.

You should consider these services if:

• you have recently been a victim of Identity Theft;
• you need to improve your report or score very quickly and need to know when changes happen, or
• you are in a situation where it is worth the expense in order to get frequent updates.

Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax offer basically the same credit rating, Credit Report, and Credit Score service, but your credit reports from those three credit bureaus won't be the same, and neither will your three credit scores. You never know which report a particular lender is going to use, but for a large loan like a mortgage, a lender will check all three of your credit reports.

What is Innovis?

As we mentioned earlier, there is a fourth Credit Report, Innovis. It doesn't report your credit information to lenders, landlords and employers won't pull its Credit Report, and you'll have to do a little digging to find it.

What is Innovis Data Solutions?

Innovis Data Solutions provides information to creditors who are compiling mailing lists. The idea is to cut their costs by screening out those consumers who have blemishes on their Credit Report; that way, institutions can send information only to those people with top-notch credit and avoid offering credit to higher-risk consumers.

In one way, a negative Innovis report is kind of a bonus: It means that you get less junk mail. Nonetheless, you may want to see your Innovis report and make sure that there are no surprises on it. Innovis asks that consumers request their Credit Report in writing.

How to contact Innovis?

You can contact Innovis by writing to:

Innovis Consumer Assistance
P.O. Box 1358
Columbus, OH 43216-1358

Credit Bureaus (continues...)

How to contact the three biggest credit reporting agencies?

Below are different ways to contact the three major credit bureaus.

Equifax

• To order your Equifax Credit Report, call: 800-685-1111
• To report fraud on your Equifax Credit Report, call: 800-525-6285
• To write to Equifax credit bureau, write to: P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374

Experian

• To order your Experian Credit Report, call: 888-EXPERIAN (397-3742)
• To report fraud on your Experian Credit Report, call: 888-EXPERIAN (397-3742)
• To write to Experian credit bureau, write to: P.O. Box 2104, Allen, TX 75013

TransUnion

• To order your TransUnion Credit Report, call: 800-888-4213
• To report fraud on your TransUnion Credit Report, call: 800-680-7289
• To write to TransUnion credit bureau, write to: P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19022