Credit Bureaus

Your local credit bureau (also known as a Credit Reporting Agency or CRA) gave you a copy of your credit report.  Whew!  They know A Lot about you.  How do they know so much?  Perhaps when you were born, the doctor slipped a microchip in under your skin while you were sleeping?    Hmmm...

This page will explain who credit bureaus are, what they do, and how they get their information.

Credit Bureaus - Governmental Bodies or Private Sector?

Credit bureaus or credit reporting agencies are not part of the government.  The major 3 are owned by private individuals.  However, there are also independent, non-national, local credit bureaus throughout the country that are generally affiliated with one of the 3 national systems, but may not be owned by any of them. Local bureaus can be for-profit or non-profit associations of lenders in a particular geographical area.

The 3 national credit bureaus are competitors of each other, and they do not normally share their credit information except in special cases. That is why it is important to review all three credit reports.

The three main credit bureaus in the U.S. are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion:

Equifax

P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
1-800-525-6285

Experian

P.O. Box 9532
Allen, TX 75013
1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742)

TransUnion

Fraud Victim Assistance Division
P.O. Box 6790
Fullerton, CA 92634
1-800-680-7289

Well, you will be thrilled to know the government hasn't gone quite as far as to monitor us through microchips.  Actually, credit bureaus obtain their information from three major sources (I listed the fourth source to alert you of another method of how credit bureaus and others (obtain your information.)

Conclusion:

Credit bureaus provide creditors/lenders with a means to evaluate you.  Without these type of agencies, you would probably find it to be very difficult to obtain a loan unless you knew the lender personally and had plenty of collateral to secure the debt.  I would prefer to keep my credit transactions private, but I do find having a credit card to come in quite handy from time to time.  That does not mean that all parties should have access to your information. 

Review privacy policies of all individuals with whom you do business to ensure your information is not sold to third parties (marketers).  And, review your credit report to keep  those without a permissible purpose from accessing your personal credit information.