Understanding What a Credit Reporting Agency Is
January 19th, 2010 by daphne reyes
There are a lot of misconceptions about credit reporting agencies. Firstly, they exist and are being paid by financial institutions to keep and gather information about you. They are not there to disclose information just to anyone. Only those that are their clients can view your information. For what purpose, you may ask. It’s what they use to see if you will be able to keep your word or if you are capable of paying them what you you’re trying to borrow from them.
What can they see? It includes basic information like your current name, previous names, current address and previous addresses. It enlists your current and closed credits within the past 7-10 years. It also includes information on judgements and if you’ve had any credits that went to collection agencies whether it’s still outstanding or paid off within the past 7-10 years.
Now, credit reports from Equifax, Experian and Trans Union may differ from each other. It’s because each of these credit reporting agencies have their own set of clients. One financial institution may be a client of two of them but not of one of them. That makes the other one different. Given this, it makes your credit score from that credit reporting agency different from the other two.
It is advisable for you to monitor each credit report on a regular basis to make sure that their information is accurate.
