There are three major credit bureaus in the United States of America. A credit bureau can also be known as a
credit reporting agency or if you lived in the United Kingdom a credit reference agency. Credit bureaus collect information on individuals and businesses from a variety of resources and offers consumer credit information to those willing to pay for the data.
Credit bureaus supply various companies with consumers borrowing and bill paying history. This allows credit lending companies to be able to determine an individuals credit worthiness. This is known as the likelihood that you will repay your loans or credit lines.
Credit Bureaus
The three major credit bureaus basically keep your credit history on file in their databases for lenders who
offer credit cards, bank charge cards, department store credit cards, business credit cards, car loans, personal loans and home mortgage loans as well as insurers, and possible or current employers.
An employer will want to see a copy of your credit report if you will be responsible for handling cash or
valuable merchandise. Employee arrests for theft, are often due to the employee falling behind on their bills and who will start taking small amounts of money and grow till they are caught.
Credit Reporting Agency
The three major credit bureaus are Experian a global credit information company, Equifax one of the oldest US
Canadian and UK credit reporting companies, and Transunion also an international credit reporting business. While there are other credit reporting agencies, these are among the oldest and largest of the group.
When you need restore your credit or want to improve your credit score, you will need to deal with the credit
bureaus in order to help improve your credit. First thing to do is obtain a copy of your credit report and credit score from one or all three bureaus since each has different criteria.
You will need to look for items that are reported as negatives and then write to dispute the inaccurate details in order to help yourself in improving your credit score. Always start with current obligations first as the older credit history does not affect your credit score as much as the last year or two.