Equifax – The History of the Credit Bureau

history of equifax

This is a company that knows pretty much everything there is to know about your financial life and history. Take a few minutes to learn about this influential company and how its activities have had a profound effect on Americans’ financial lives.

In the Beginning

Equifax first did business in 1899 as Retail Credit Company. By 1920, they had offices throughout the U.S. and Canada. While credit reporting was part of their business, most of their operation was dedicated to gathering information for insurance companies. Retail Credit Company gathered information on people’s finances, health, moral beliefs, vehicle use and other factors that insurance companies used when quoting for life, car and health insurance policies. By the 1960s, the company had files on millions of Americans and Canadians. They also helped investigate insurance claims and assisted with background checks on people seeking employment.

How Equifax Made the Fair Credit Reporting Act Law

In the late 1960s, the company made moves to computerize their vast records. This would make people’s personal information more accessible than ever. Congress held hearings about the company’s practices. Alan Westin, a privacy expert from Columbia University, argued at these hearings that the company had many inaccuracies in their records that caused people to be unfairly denied credit. People were not allowed to see the contents of these credit reports, and many people had no idea that they existed.

In October of 1970, Congress enacted the Fair Credit Reporting Act to protect consumers. The act imposed many regulations on Credit Reporting Agencies. It regulated how long negative information could be maintained. It requires that consumers be granted access to information on their credit report. And, it says that consumers must be notified if removed records are added back to credit reports.

The FCRA also regulates creditors that report information to Equifax and other credit reporting agencies. Creditors are required to make accurate reports. If a consumer disputes a report, investigating the claim falls on the creditor. If they are submitting negative information about you to a report, they must inform you within 30 days.

Equifax Now

In 1975, Retail Credit Company changed its name to Equifax. The company gradually phased out its insurance reporting business and expanded its credit reporting side. While the company has had a business to business model for the bulk of its existence, it began selling consumer services such as anti-fraud protection and identify theft prevention in 1999. They also offer a fee-based credit monitoring service. Like other credit reporting agencies, Equifax is required to provide one free credit report each year upon request. Equifax does this through AnnualCreditReport.com. The company now holds records on more than 500 million consumers and 80 million businesses.

For additional information on how to repair your credit, please contact our office at 617-265-7900 or request a free consultation below.

Dispute Comment Removal – How it’s done

Fast-Track
Dispute Comment Removal
Fannie, Freddie and our good friends over at HUD/FHA are no longer allowing any reference to a disputed account on credit for their automated underwriting system (DU & DO) and we’ve been getting quite a few calls and emails asking us how to quickly get around this.Some loan officers have been using a “rapid re-score” or “rapid update” process through their credit vendor but this could costs hundreds of dollars and could create unnecessary fees for your profit & loss and for the borrower.As a result we’ve designed a “FAST-TRACK” process to deal with this that will usually take between 24 and 48 hours to resolve and is completely FREE of charge!If you come across this issue please email myself at ntsoukalis@keycreditrepair.com or any of my team members with your borrower’s contact info and forward a recent copy of the credit report to them (they will need account info). We will contact them and take them through the steps necessary to resolve this.As always, please contact me direct with any scenarios.

Nikitas Tsoukalis, President
617.326.3685 direct line

Additional Credit Solutions Anyone Can Use

Easy Credit history Maintenance and repair Solutions Anybody Can Use Does your credit report need some assistance? You can mend your credit history, however you have to do it. You could manage to get a charge card or a finance with much less than outstanding credit report, but the rate of interest will certainly likewise be less than outstanding. Follow these suggestions to obtain much better credit report! Be sure that you pay each one of your costs quickly if you are trying to take care of a bad credit report history. Don’t leave them up until the eleventh hour. Establish a timetable for when you pay your costs, and utilize some form of suggestion system to make certain that they all earn promptly. An advantage to do to get an excellent credit ranking is by opening an interest-bearing account. This will certainly let bank card firms recognize that you have the methods to spend for lending. This will certainly additionally provide them the suggestion that you are responsible when it concerns financial resources. An excellent suggestion for those people looking to fix our credit report, is to enroll in overdraft account security as well as insurance policy on our credit cards. In this manner our credit report is always in great standing and we will certainly not have to fret about surpassing the limitations on your cards and incurring significant costs. In order to obtain excellent credit history keep your equilibrium reduced enough to make sure that they are in a payable variety must something happen. Considering that then paying it off may be a challenge, do not make use of all the credit history available to you. Utilize your credit report modestly and also you will be fine. Think about talking with a credit report repair service counselor if you need to mend your credit. Several credit repair therapists can aid you have even the biggest financial obligations paid off in merely a few years. A counselor will recognize better than you what actions to take as well as just what stations to follow in consolidating your financial obligation as well as constructing new credit rating. If collector won’t work with you, closed them up with a recognition letter. When a third-party collector gets your debt, they are required to send you a letter explaining such. The collection company cannot contact you once more till they send proof that you owe the debt if you send out a recognition letter. Numerous debt collection agency will not trouble with this. You can sue them under the FDCPA if they don’t provide this evidence as well as get in touch with you anyway. If you are concerned regarding your credit report past, stay away from filing insolvency at all prices. Unless you have nothing else escape, it’s better to try to deal with your lenders to discover a method to repay your financial obligations. A personal bankruptcy will certainly stay on your credit report record for 10 years, so it will be hurting you for a long period of time. Screen your credit score by signing up for a monthly credit monitoring service. This offers you a chance to see exactly what is in your report and also understand your rating. You can additionally dispute things that you find that are incorrect in your record. You obtain notifications when something adjustments in your record or if your score modifications. Credit report repair work is possible, simply make certain you follow these valuable tips to obtain the most from your efforts. You don’t need to pay higher rates of interest. Offered time, you could have stellar credit rating as well as obtain fantastic rates on your lending and also bank card. You could be able to get a credit history card or a lending with less compared to stellar credit rating, yet the interest price will certainly also be less compared to stellar. If you require to fix your credit history, think about speaking with a credit maintenance and repair therapist. Several credit report repair counselors can assist you have also the largest debts paid off in simply a few years. Screen your credit rating by subscribing to a month-to-month credit monitoring solution. Offered time, you can have stellar credit rating and also get excellent rates on your financings as well as credit rating cards.