What is a Credit Bureau or Credit Agency?

A credit bureau or credit reporting agency is the same thing, as they gather information about you the consumer, maintains that information, and sells that information to those who are inquiring your credit history. Your payment history is collected from banks, savings and loans, finance companies, credit unions, and retailers. The information collected by the credit agencies is stored and sold as a credit report to credit grantors. Credit grantors request your credit report from one or more of the credit bureaus and analyze the information. This is done when you apply for new credit and the credit grantor needs to know if they will allow you a credit card or a loan. A fee is charged for every credit report sold to a credit grantor.

Credit bureaus do not help in any way with the lending decisions for the lender. They only provide the credit report. The individual lender must make their decision to give out a loan based on the evaluation they make about your credit report. There are three consumer credit bureaus in the United States: Trans Union, Experian, and Equifax. They provide the coverage of consumer credit nationwide. Even though there are three credit bureaus, not all information about your credit is consistent with each bureau. There are even some smaller banks or other credit grantors who report to only one and sometimes none of the credit bureaus, but most national lending establishments report consumer credit information to all three. In this case, your credit report may not have similar information on it and you may need to acquire credit reports from each bureau.

Credit Reporting Agencies:

Equifax: (800) 685-1111, www.equifax.com
Experian (formerly TRW): (888) 397-3742, www.experian.com
Trans Union: (800) 888-4213, www.transunion.com