Major Credit Bureaus: Definition & What They Do.

The majority of people have no idea that they have multiple credit ratings because of how complex the topic is. Each credit bureau uses a little different methodology and sets a slightly different set of criteria when assigning you a score; this is in addition to the fact that several types of scores (such as FICO and VantageScore) can apply to the same person. Perhaps you’re unfamiliar with major credit bureaus and have questions about why they get to determine something as crucial as your credit score. Learn more about the three major credit bureaus, and how they operate.

What Are Credit Bureaus?

Credit bureaus are companies that collect and organize clients’ financial information in order to provide prospective lenders with a basis for determining whether or not to extend credit.

Credit scores are based on the information that is included in the thorough credit reports that they generate. A person’s eligibility for a loan or credit card may be determined by their credit score, a three-digit number usually ranging from 300 to 850. They can also affect the loan amount and interest rate that a lender is willing to give you.

Also, the commercial companies known as credit bureaus have their data collection, dissemination, and disclosure practices overseen by the federal government through the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

A credit bureau can only function as a company if it receives data about you from the financial institutions, shops, and even landlords with whom you interact. Credit bureaus collect this data about you, do analysis on it, and then sell it to creditors.

What Do Credit Bureaus Do?

Credit bureaus are essentially information aggregators. After gathering this data, a credit score is developed, which is used by the majority of lenders as part of their decision to extend credit. Your credit reports are the basic data from which your credit score is calculated.

You are entitled to one free copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies once each year.

Simply put, credit bureaus collect and resell information. Your loan approval is not contingent on them. When you apply for a loan at a bank, for instance, they may check your credit. FICO creates the credit scoring model (essentially a computer program), and one of the most popular credit bureaus, Experian, may supply the data. Using information obtained from credit bureaus, your bank will determine what credit score is sufficient for approval and provide a final yes or no judgment. Also, read Credit Reporting Bureau: What is Credit Reporting Bureau?

How the Credit Bureaus Collect Information on You

The three major credit bureaus all gather essentially the same foundational data about their customers. Name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth are all examples of such personally identifiable information. Debts, payments, and credit-related applications are all part of one’s credit report. Credit bureaus routinely solicit data from mortgage and student loan providers as well as other loan originators.

Sallie Mae might notify a credit bureau that you are 45 days or more behind on your student loan payments. With federal loans, the borrower has 90 days before the loan servicer is required to record the debt as delinquent.

The IRS does not notify any government agencies of unpaid or late income taxes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may file a federal tax lien (a legal claim on a taxpayer’s property) with the county clerk’s office if the taxpayer fails to pay their tax bill within a reasonable amount of time or if the taxpayer owes substantial back taxes. Because a tax lien is a matter of public record, government agencies have access to this type of material through independent investigation.

Credit reports might vary from bureau to agency since not all lenders report credit activity to all bureaus. Even when lenders report to all three bureaus, the timing at which their information appears on credit reports might vary from month to month due to the varying schedules used by each bureau.

What Are the Three Major Credit Bureaus?

Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion are the three major credit bureaus that are responsible for managing the facts that go into determining your credit ratings.

Although the major credit bureaus differ in the products and services they provide, they all share a common function: keeping tabs on consumers’ credit histories. To be more specific, each institution keeps track of its own data relating to your accounts, sums owed, and payments made. Due to their autonomy, credit bureaus do not always share the same information about a given consumer. Anyone who has ever applied for a credit card, mortgage, or loan has at least one credit file with one of the three major credit bureaus.

#1. Experian

Experian, which is recognized as one of the major credit bureaus in the world, provides service to customers in more than one hundred countries. The company actively maintains credit information on about 220 million or more customers in the United States, in addition to 40 million businesses in the United States. In addition, the company provides credit monitoring, free credit ratings, and more tools for consumers.

#2. Equifax

Since its establishment in 1899, Equifax has developed into one of the three primary credit bureaus that are currently in business. This company not only gathers information on consumers and evaluates that information, but it also provides consumers with credit and identity monitoring services and resources. These services and resources can help consumers improve or grow their credit, or they can freeze their credit.

#3. TransUnion

It is said that TransUnion is responsible for monitoring the credit information of hundreds of millions of people in 30 nations all over the world. This gives the company a significant presence around the world. TransUnion, much like the other major credit bureaus, provides identity and credit monitoring services, as well as free credit tools and resources, information regarding legal rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and other services.

Types of Information Credit Bureaus Collect

There are a plethora of credit bureaus, and their methods vary widely. However, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian are the major credit bureaus that are relied upon for the majority of important loan decisions.

#1. Personal Information

Credit bureaus need your personal details to be able to identify you and give you a unique credit profile. Typically, this entails

Name, home address, SSN, and birth date
Previous addresses
Employment history

#2. Public Records

As of the spring of 2020, only bankruptcy filings will be included as a public record in credit reports. By April 2018, the credit bureaus had removed all tax liens and civil judgments, such as foreclosures, evictions, and wage garnishments, in order to adhere to tougher reporting criteria under the National Consumer Assistance Plan.

#3. Inquiries

The credit reporting organizations make a note of the event each time someone inquires about your credit history through their services. Your credit report will contain a record of these inquiries for approximately two years. They could initially bring your credit score down by a few points, but this effect often disappears within a period of less than a year.

#4. Tradelines

Tradelines, which are records of your loans and lines of credit, are among the most important data acquired by credit bureaus.

They explain the most important aspects of each loan. Various credit reporting agencies use different monikers for the same things, but they all share the following qualities:

Loan Category
Name of Creditor
Date Opened
Date of last activity
Currently Outstanding Loan Amount
Superior equilibrium
Account status
Comments
Financial responsibility for the account
The Overdue Amount
Minimum payment due
Amount of your last payment

How to Dispute Incorrect Information

Regularly checking your credit reports is a smart financial move. Once every year, you receive a free copy from each of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). A free internet resource called AnnualCreditReport.com makes it easy to check your credit report each year.

Credit reports should be reviewed to ensure that you have a thorough grasp of your financial commitments and payment history, but federal authorities also advise checking for inaccuracies. This is because it is not uncommon for credit reports to have inaccurate information, which can mask the first warning signs of identity theft. There is a good chance that your credit reports contain at least one minor error that needs fixing, such as an old account that you terminated but the bureau still shows as open or the same debt has shown twice.

The good news is that you can follow a formal procedure to challenge inaccurate information that has been reported about you. Specifically, you should write letters to the credit bureaus and the entity that originally gave the inaccurate data. To properly structure your letter, please include the following details:

Your name and contact information
An explanation of mistakes on your credit report
A copy of your credit report with the mistakes highlighted or circled
Supporting information that shows why the information is wrong
A request for the information to be updated or removed

Why Does Your Credit Score Differ Between Credit Bureaus?

If you have ever checked your credit score on multiple sites, you may have noticed that the numbers are often different. This is perfectly normal. The factors that determine your credit score are complex.

To begin, your credit report will look different from one bureau to the next based on how often they update your information and how far back they look into your financial history. Furthermore, hundreds of distinct credit scoring models exist, including, for example, FICO Score 8 and VantageScore 3.0. Different credit scoring models utilize different methods to determine risk, thus your score may change based on which model the credit reporting agency uses to evaluate your file.

For instance, the *Experian BoostTM free credit score service provides scores based on the popular FICO® Score 8 model. The Equifax Credit Score, however, is based on Equifax’s own proprietary algorithm and is not available elsewhere for free.

Finally, different lenders use different bureaus. The credit report that is requested upon application for the Citi® Double Cash Card may differ from the credit report that is requested upon application for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see charges and fees.). That’s because it’s possible that Chase doesn’t utilize the same credit bureau or scoring mechanism as Citi does. You and your friend may have applied for the same credit card, but the credit bureaus utilized to evaluate your applications may be different.

Checking your credit report at all major three bureaus before making a credit application will provide you with a complete picture of your financial health. You should also inquire as to which credit bureau the lender utilizes in order to verify the specific credit score being used. Also, read Best Way to Check Credit Score: Top Best Ways.

Why Are There Three Main Credit Bureaus?

Over a century has passed since the first credit reports were filed. Local organizations were responsible for most credit reporting in those days. Furthermore, only lenders were known to require such details in order to determine a potential borrower’s creditworthiness.

There was a dramatic increase in the need for data from credit bureaus over time. There are now just three major credit reporting agencies: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian.

However, at first, these organizations were limited to serving a small portion of the country. For instance, Equifax handled customers in the East and South, while Experian covered the West and TransUnion covered the Midwest and the rest of the country. In response to the rising demand for credit report data, all three of these companies expanded nationwide.

The three major credit bureaus in the United States are TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax, while there are many others. In reality, a large portion of lenders rely nearly completely on data from these three major credit bureaus. The fact that these three credit bureaus are the longest continuously operating agencies is largely responsible for their continued success in the modern market.

What Are the Differences Between the Three Main Credit Bureaus?

Many people mistakenly consider TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian to be the same organization. Credit reporting agencies are not affiliated with one another and operate on their own. Although they share a common data collection process, they use very distinct management and storage approaches.

If a landlord provides that information, Experian will include rent payments in its reports. Neither Equifax nor TransUnion provides this option. When it comes to employment information, TransUnion is typically the most comprehensive of the three credit bureaus. No harm will come to your credit score from this, but it will assist lenders verify your work history.

There is no information sharing across agencies because they are all separate businesses. Instead, each bureau collects information on you from its own sources, typically your creditors.

Keep in mind that your creditors can choose which credit bureaus to share your information with. Although the three major credit bureaus often receive identical information from the majority of creditors, this is not always the case. This is why it’s crucial to keep an eye on your credit reports from all three credit bureaus. This can be done by checking your free credit report on a yearly basis.

How Are FICO and VantageScore Different from the Main Credit Reporting Agencies?

The two most common methods used to determine a person’s creditworthiness are the FICO score and the VantageScore. Companies like credit reporting agencies don’t gather or manage your personal information. Instead, they construct a model to figure out where you stand credit-wise. Then, they calculate your credit score based on the details already included in your credit reports with the three major credit reporting agencies, such as your payment history and credit utilization ratio.

When it comes to credit rating, FICO has been around the longest and has the most users. The FICO score is used almost entirely by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Although TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian collaborated on the development of VantageScore, the score itself is administered by a separate organization.

There is more than one credit score, despite what you may believe. Each of the three major credit reporting agencies uses a distinct credit score calculated by FICO and VantageScore. Actually, having the same credit score with all three bureaus is quite uncommon.

The fact that each of your credit reports has unique information helps explain why you have several credit scores. Your score also depends on how long credit reporting organizations keep your credit history.

Credit scores are calculated in a variety of ways by these various methods. Each of the three major credit reporting agencies employs FICO’s scoring formula. However, VantageScore employs a unique rating mechanism for each credit bureau. The fact that different scoring models are used is a fundamental factor in the wide range of possible credit scores.

Additional Major Credit Reporting Agencies

Although the most popular credit bureaus are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, they are far from the only ones. There are dozens of consumer credit bureaus, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a list of them arranged by the information they compile and distribute.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has compiled a list of all the credit reporting agencies, complete with links to their websites, phone numbers, and addresses, as well as summaries of their services and information on whether or not they offer free reports to consumers. Most will, but others may require you to submit your inquiry via telephone or postal mail.

Here are three additional credit bureaus to consider using.

ChexSystems. Closed bank account data is collected and reported by ChexSystems.
National Consumer Telecom and Utilities Exchange. The NCTUE is an information clearinghouse for the utility, telecommunications, and pay television sectors.
C.L.U.E. Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, which is owned and run by LexisNexis, is a data aggregator and insurance report generator for individual policyholders. These may be used by an insurance company as a factor in determining your rate.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the three major credit bureaus compile your credit report using data from many different sources. Keep in mind that the credit bureaus are limited in what they can collect and communicate to consumers by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Take advantage of AnnualCreditReport.com’s free annual credit report; if you discover an inaccuracy, you can dispute it by contacting the credit bureau directly. If your credit report contains an error, the credit bureau(s) must repair it immediately.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who owns the credit bureaus?

Credit bureaus are independent businesses. Credit registries, on the other hand, are often public bodies overseen by bank regulators or central banks and are the second main form of credit bureau.

Which credit bureau is best?

No one credit reporting agency—Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion—is superior to the others. Lenders’ choices on loan approval frequently hinge on information from one or all three credit bureaus.