What are Credit Reporting Agencies?

Credit reporting agencies are companies that collect information from various sources about an individual's lending and repayment history. This information is then used by lenders and other creditors to make underwriting decisions. In the United States, the terms "credit reporting agencies" and "credit bureaus" are often used interchangeably.

Credit Reporting Agencies: The Big Three

Most people who have dealt with credit reporting agencies, or credit bureaus, are familiar with The Big Three: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. These three are the nation's largest consumer data collectors, and just about every lender in the United States will use one of these three. However, there are smaller agencies, generally used for specific industries or for commercial use. The Big Three are private, for-profit companies, so they are not affiliated with the government. One of the ways they make money is by selling your name and address to credit card and insurance companies. That is why you will receive pre-approval letters in the mail. You can put a stop to receiving many of those by opting out. Contact one of the three bureaus for the number, or request a form that will opt you out permanently.

Credit Reporting Agencies: Alternative Credit Bureaus

There are also a few alternative credit bureaus in the United States. These bureaus collect data on non-financial debt payment information such as your rent, utilities, cable, or phone. These payments are not typically reflected on your Big Three credit reports. Payment Reporting Builds Credit, Inc. (PRBC) is the leading company in this field, and enables customers to self-enroll and build a positive credit report by reporting on-time payments for alternative bills. Although employers, lenders, and landlords do not pull from PRBC, you can request a file be sent to them to show good history for those alternative payments that are not reported to The Big Three.

Credit Reporting Agencies: Business and Commercial Bureaus

The Big Three are for consumers, and there is not much reported to them about businesses unless the business is a sole proprietorship using the individual's social security number rather than an employer identification number. However, for commercial businesses, there are commercial bureaus which gather information on the business. One of the most popular commercial bureau's is Dun & Bradstreet. Dun and Bradstreet collects information on businesses that can be used for lending purposes, business-to-business marketing, and supply chain management. The downside to this bureau is that charges businesses to improve their ratings, and as a result has had several lawsuits filed against them by those who refused to pay in order to improve their rating. Still, the company maintains information on more than 220 million companies worldwide.

For more information on how to pull your credit report from one of the big three credit reporting agencies, visit www.identityguard.com today.

Why You Should Check Your Credit Report Three Agencies

When it comes to creating a credit report, three agencies collect data on your borrowing history.  Credit card companies and other lenders may report to a specific agency or may report to all three agencies, but the data that is reported to any of them will eventually be aggregated in most cases and you will have a complete and comprehensive report with each of the three different credit bureaus in the United States. 

While your reports should be accurate and each of the three agencies should have basically the same information on your credit history, your scores from the three agencies may be different. Further, there are situations where a mistake may be made on one report but not all of them. As such, it is important to regularly obtain a credit report three agencies so that you will be aware of what each of the credit bureaus is saying about you.

A Credit Report Three Agencies Lets You Spot Mistakes

Sometimes, one credit reporting agency will make an error when compiling your credit report. For example, the agency may confuse you with another borrower who happens to have the same name as you. This mistake may be made by just one of the three credit reporting agencies and not the others. If this happens and you only check your report from one credit bureau, you may never see the error and won’t know to correct it.   This could adversely impact your ability to borrow money.

You Don’t Know Which Credit Reporting Agency Your Lender Will Use

You should get a credit report three agencies because you may not know which credit reporting bureau your lender will use when you apply for credit. You need to be aware of what your lender is going to see when you apply for credit so if there is a mistake or a problem you can fix it.  The credit bureaus may also have different credit scores for you, so you need to know what your score is that will be seen by the particular lender you are seeking a loan from.  If your credit score is lower with one of the credit bureaus, you should try to find out what is causing the score to be lower and can take steps to try to improve your credit so you get a more favorable interest rate.

Get a Full Picture Of Your Finances With a Credit Report Three Agencies

Since there are three different credit bureaus out there collecting information on you, getting a credit report three agencies just makes sense. Your credit report and score have such a profound impact on your finances and ability to borrow money, it only makes sense to stay informed.   Fortunately, it is easy to get a credit report three agencies from services like IDENTITY GUARD® so visit Credit Report 123 today to learn more.

What is the Function of a Credit Reporting Bureau?

A credit reporting bureau has a very important job in the United States. These bureaus collect financial information about consumers. The information is stored and compiled into a report, which is presented to lenders who are considering allowing that individual to borrow money. The credit bureaus also use the information they collect about each consumer to assign him a credit score. This credit score has a profound impact on whether a lender will allow a debtor to borrow money, and at what interest rate.
  
Credit Reporting Bureaus Collect Data

Credit reporting bureaus collect data about almost everything that you do with your debts and your credit. For example, credit reporting bureaus have information about all accounts that you have opened, as well as accounts that have been recently closed. Lenders including car financing companies; mortgage providers; banks that issue personal loans; and credit card companies all provide information to the credit reporting bureaus. This information includes details like the available credit limit you have, the age of your accounts, how much new credit you have recently applied for and whether you have paid your bills on time or not. All this data, together, paints a very detailed picture of how responsible you have been with borrowing money over your life.

Credit Reporting Bureaus Give you a Score

Once the data on your borrowing behavior is collected, credit reporting bureaus use proprietary formulas to determine what your credit score is. While each of the three major credit bureaus in the U.S. may have slightly different proprietary formulas, the basic factors that the bureaus look at in determining your score are largely the same. To determine a credit score, the credit bureaus look at whether you have always been on time with payments; whether you are using 30 percent or less of your credit; whether you have a long history of responsible borrowing; whether you have a mix of different kinds of debt; and whether you have avoided applying for too much new debt in a short period of time. If the answers to all of these questions is yes, you likely have a good credit score.  

Checking Your Credit Report and Score

While credit reporting bureaus have an important job and usually do it well, mistakes can be made. It is important to check your own score and report with the credit reporting bureau to make sure the information on your report belongs there. A service such as IDENTITY GUARD® can make it possible to check your report and score so you can see how your score measures up. Visit Credit Report 123 today to learn more.

Senior Citizens Should Check All Three Credit Reports and Scores

As you get older, you may be paying off debts and may not be thinking as much about taking on new loans or whether you are credit worthy or not. The fact remains, however, that senior citizens should check all three credit reports and scores. In cases where a senior has gotten older, gone into a nursing home and is no longer managing his or her own affairs, this task may fall to family members who have power of attorney and authority over the senior’s financial assets.  Even in these cases, it is still important to check the senior’s credit report and credit score, despite the fact that it is unlikely the senior will borrow more money.

Why is it Important for Seniors to Check All Three Credit Reports and Scores?

It is important for seniors to check all three credit reports and scores because a senior citizen could be the victim of identity theft. There are many scammers who specifically target older people because they know that seniors may not be up-to-date on technology or may have fears about their finances and health.  If a senior’s memory is going or the older person is experiencing cognitive difficulties that tend to come with age, this also makes a senior more vulnerable to falling victim to a scammer who is out to steal his identity.  Checking all three credit reports and scores can help senior citizens and their family members to identify when personal information has fallen into the wrong hands and been misused.

How Does Checking All Three Credit Reports and Scores Benefit Seniors?

When you check all three credit reports and scores for yourself or for an older family member, you should quickly be able to see whether there have been any new inquiries. Each time someone applies for credit, an inquiry is listed on that person’s credit report.  If the senior isn’t applying for new credit at all, and an inquiry shows up, this can be a strong indicator that someone else has applied for credit with the intent to commit identity theft. Likewise, new accounts showing up on a credit report or unexplained charges on a credit account can also be a red flag that something is wrong and that the creditors (and possibly the police) need to be contacted.

Check All Three Credit Reports and Scores Regularly

Financial abuse is one of the most common types of abuse that affect older people in the United States, and it is very important to always be on the lookout for signs of problems.  Visit Credit Report 123 today to learn more about how to obtain all three credit reports and scores and how to check those reports and scores regularly to protect yourself or vulnerable loved ones from having their identities stolen and their credit destroyed

Benefits of 3in1 Credit Reports

When it comes to checking your credit and keeping on top of your score, 3in1 credit reports is one of the smartest options to consider.  Obtaining three reports in one makes it much simpler and easier to keep up-to-date on what the credit reporting agencies are telling lenders about you and about what the agencies have on file about your borrowing history.  There are many benefits of3in1 credit reports, including these key advantages.

3in1 Credit Reports Make Spotting Discrepancies Simple

While each of the three major credit bureaus should have the same basic information about you, this is not always the case. Sometimes, a creditor will report only to one of the agencies and not all three. In other cases, one credit reporting agency might make a mistake, like transposing information from someone else’s financial history onto your credit report.  When this happens, you need to be aware of it. Checking 3in1 credit reports makes it easier to spot problems like different and incorrect information on only one report, since you can easily compare the data from each of the credit bureaus.

3in1 Credit Reports Provide Up-to-Date Information

By checking 3in1 credit reports regularly, you’ll always have the most up-to-date information that is being reported to each of the credit reporting agencies.  You’ll know right away how your score is being calculated by each of the different credit reporting agencies so you can track how your score chances over time as you shift your behavior, such as by paying off debts or by opening new accounts. 

By checking all three reports, you’ll know as soon as any of the credit reporting agencies has made a change to your score or has received new details from a lender. This means you may be able to spot inquiries indicating that new credit has been opened in your name sooner, since the inquiry may show up with one of the reporting agencies (the one the lender used to check your credit) before showing up on the reports from the other credit bureaus. By getting information on your credit as soon as your reports are updated, you could potentially spot identity theft sooner and thus take action before the thief has time to do a lot of damage to your credit.

3in1 Credit Reports Let You See What Lenders See

When you apply for credit, lenders can choose which of the credit reporting agencies they want to use to get background information on you. Different lenders use different credit reporting agencies, so you want to know what all of the agencies are doing.  This way, no matter which report your lender pulls, you’ll know what they are seeing on your credit history.  With 3in1 credit reports, you can obtain this information without having to individually pull your credit each month from each of the three credit bureaus.

Fortunately, there are services available that allow you to check your 3 reports simply and easily on a regular basis. The sooner you get signed up, the sooner you can enjoy the benefits of knowing how your credit history looks to lenders and affects your finances.

Why Check Your Child’s 3 Score Credit Report

Most adults know they need to check their 3 score credit report so that they can find out information about how their creditors are reporting on their debt and borrowing habits to each of the major credit bureaus. However, many adults may not be aware of the fact that it is also a good idea to check their children’s credit reports… even if their kids don’t have credit.  So, why check all 3 credit reports under your child’s name? There are a lot of good reasons to do so.

Check your Child’s 3 Score Credit Report for Mistaken Information

Your child may not actually have credit in his or her name yet, but that does not mean that someone else doesn’t have a similar name and a lengthy credit history.  It is not uncommon for mistakes to be made and for the wrong information to be reported on someone’s credit report. If you check all 3 credit reports for your child, you will be able to catch any mistakes that are made by any of the credit reporting agencies. You can then contact the agency and get the incorrect information removed from your child’s report so he won’t start out life with a credit report that has someone else’s data on it.

Check All 3 Credit Reports For Signs of Identity Theft

Checking your child’s credit report is also a good idea because kids, like adults, can become the victim of an identity thief. It is important that you catch an identity thief as quickly as possible so that you can notify the appropriate authorities and so you can make sure that creditors don’t negative information about your child or even try to take action to collect from your child for debts that an identity thief incurred.  Checking your child’s credit reports lets you quickly see if someone has opened an account in your child’s name so you can take swift action.

Check Your Child’s 3 Score Credit Report So Your Child Will Be Ready to Get Credit

Finally, the last reason to check your child’s 3 score credit report is so that you can ensure your child is ready to get credit when he or she needs it. When your child goes to college, there is a real possibility that student loans will be necessary since most kids require them. You want to make sure your child is able to qualify for the best rates, and you can help him or her to do that by ensuring that there is no information on a credit report that will have an adverse impact on the ability to borrow.

Fortunately, checking all three credit reports is easy with IDENTITY GUARD® Platinum. Visit Credit Report 123 today to learn more about how to obtain a 3 score credit report and make sure your child’s credit information is correct.

How Do You Check Your 3in1 Credit Reports?

Since there are three major credit reporting agencies in the United States that keep data on consumers, you need to check your 3in1 credit reports regularly.  This will ensure that you know what each of the credit bureaus is telling lenders about you.  Fortunately, checking your 3in1 credit reports is easy.

You Can Order a 3in1 Credit Report

One option to check your 3in1 credit reports is to simply pay a fee and order this report one time.  By doing this, you can get a snapshot into what is on your reports with each of the credit reporting agencies.  You can also see what your score is.  This is simple and allows you to take a quick glance at your credit to look for mistakes, signs of identity theft or red flags that could make a lender less likely to let you borrow money at a favorable rate.

You Could Sign Up for a Service That Offers a 3in1 Credit Report

The problem with just ordering your reports one time is that your credit information is constantly changing, and the information being reported about you does not stand still.  Each time a month passes, creditors report new information about your debts, your payment history and your outstanding balance.  New information is also reported if you apply for new credit (or if someone has taken your identity and applied for new credit in your name).

Because your credit report and score is constantly subject to change, it is a better idea to use a service that lets you see 3in1 credit reports regularly.  This way, you can monitor whether any new mistakes have shown up and whether anyone has borrowed money in your name without your knowledge.  You can also see how actions you have taken, such as repaying debt, have impacted your credit score.

Get Started and Order Your Report Today

One option you have is to order 3in1 credit reports and have access each month by using a service such as IDENTITY GUARD® Platinum.  Visit Credit Report 123 today to learn more about how this type of service can be helpful to you and to learn how to get the process started of checking out your credit reports and scores.