In the financial industry, three credit reporting companies are known as the “Big Three”. These are Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. They prepare your credit report and it would be good to learn about how the reporting agencies work and how to protect your report against any error and fraud that occurs in your credit report.
Big Three Are Not Alone
However it is not the “Big Three” alone that are working as credit reporting agencies in United States.
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There are many other credit reporting agencies in United States and these three are the biggest;
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There are dozens of smaller reporting agencies;
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Some of these smaller agencies are regional while others are industry specific reporting bureaus;
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Many of these companies offer risk management services besides providing the credit reports; and
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There is some international credit reporting agencies focusing on one country or a particular region.
All Attention on Big Three
However, it is the “Big Three” that enjoys most attention because of the fact that they maintain the largest database of the credit records of consumers across the country.
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Experian claims that it has got credit report of over 215 million Americans, almost 2/3rd of the U.S population;
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Both Experian and Trans Union also have big database of customers’ reports; and
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All the three agencies offer the most detailed credit report of U.S citizens.
What the Big Three Does?
What are the services that are performed by the big three? Basically these agencies perform two services.
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They collect the information on credit history of the clients from multiple sources; and
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They report in detail the credit record including credit history, habits, and rating of the citizen concerned.
How the Big Three Collect Information?
It is a practice in United States for the financial and especially lending institutions including the banks to send information to one or more of the credit reporting agencies. The updated information sent by them is recorded by the credit reporting bureaus under the account of the consumer concerned.
What Financial Agencies Report?
Financial; especially the lending agencies incorporate the following information in their report submitted to one or more credit reporting bureaus.
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Position of debt of the consumer concerned as on date;
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Their repayment habits and schedules; and
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When the consumer fills out an application seeking loans or credits of any type, all the information filled out in the form is sent to the credit reporting bureaus.
How the Big Three Collect Information?
It is a practice in United States for the financial and especially lending institutions including the banks to send information to one or more of the credit reporting agencies. The updated information sent by them is recorded by the credit reporting bureaus under the account of the consumer concerned.
Apart from all these the Big Three also checks public records for all types of financial information including court records that includes bankruptcies as well as foreclosures. And just like compiling the credit records, these credit reporting agencies also distributes the information on demand to prospective lenders on the basis of which they determine the credit report rating of the consumer concerned.
