Good credit a key factor in negotiating financial transactions. Credit scores affect loans, employment and interest rate decisions. Credit bureaus collaborate with creditors and lenders such as banks and credit card companies. They collect and share consumer credit information, review consumers' accounts and/or make decisions about credit approval. There are three national credit bureau companies in the United States: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
Equifax
Equifax was created in 1899 as Retail Credit Co. Equifax operates in more than 14 countries. Equifax provides services to large and small businesses from its database collected from public records, demographics and financial institutions, and use it for analysis and decision making in business transactions. Equifax also provides services and tools to consumers to manage their credit information and to avoid identity theft. The United States Equifax headquarters is in Atlanta.
Experian
Experian originated in Nottingham, England, in 1980 as CCN Systems. The acquisition of TRW Information Services in 1996 brought Experian to the United States. Experian is a worldwide company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Like Equifax, Experian offers financial services information and analysis for decision making to businesses and consumers across the globe. Experian also owns FreeCreditReport.com and Consumer1nfo.com.
TransUnion
TransUnion credit bureau originated in 1968 and was then an affiliation of UnionTank Car Co. TransUnion became an independent company in 2005. TransUnion provides businesses the service to protect their transactions with other businesses by giving them the details about registration, banking and bond or any default, as well as property history and the history of the business' last three years.
Considerations
Equifax, Experian and TransUnion are independent of and are not funded by the government. There are independent, local, credit bureaus nationwide. These local credit bureaus usually collaborate with one of the national credit bureaus but are not under their ownership. The Fair Credit Reporting Act is a Federal law passed in 1970 that regulates the collection, dissemination and use of consumer's information.
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