What is a credit bureau?
A credit bureau is an agency that collects information about your credit behavior. This information is voluntarily reported by credit granting firms, such as the companies that grant you a credit card or lend you money. Credit bureaus keep records of how you’ve repaid your debts. Credit bureaus are computerized. When you move, your credit history moves with you. Keep in mind that you have a legal right to see what’s in your file. The first time you apply for credit, a credit file will be automatically established for you. Review your file every year or two to make sure it’s accurate. The three national credit bureaus are TRW, TRU, and Equifax. To see the most recent credit report for yourself, just contact one of the three. Sometimes there is a small fee, but you can get the report for free if you’ve been denied credit.
Credit bureaus (sometimes called credit reporting agencies or consumer reporting agencies) maintain computer files of your financial payment histories, public record data, and personal identifying data. Your credit record does not contain information on your medical history. There are several competing major credit reporting systems: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. You can find the bureaus serving your area by looking for credit reporting companies in the yellow pages of your phone book. Activities of credit bureaus are governed by a federal law: the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Several states have enacted similar laws. Credit bureaus do not make credit decisions. Instead, they provide data to credit grantors for use in making credit decisions. How does this work? Credit grantors provide information on their customers’ debts and payment habits to credit bureaus, usually on a monthly basis.
A credit bureau or credit reporting agency is in the business of gathering, maintaining, and selling information about consumers’ credit histories. It collects information about consumers’ payment habits from credit grantors like banks, savings and loans, credit unions, finance companies, and retailers. The credit bureau stores this information in a computer database and sells it to credit grantors in the form of credit reports. Although credit-reporting agencies provide your credit report to lenders when you apply for credit, they do not make actual lending decisions. It is up to individual lenders to evaluate your credit report and any other factors they consider important and then decide whether or not to offer you credit.
A credit bureau (also called a consumer credit bureau, credit bureau agency, or credit bureau company) is an agency that compiles credit information and distributes it to creditors. Credit bureaus are private profit-making companies that provide credit bureau services to credit card companies, mortgage lenders, and banks that use the information to screen potential applicants. The credit information that credit bureaus record, which goes into consumer credit reports (also called credit profiles) includes the following data.
