What Are the 3 Top Credit Bureaus?
Credit bureaus provide credit reports to consumers, lenders and financial institutions, supplying information that assists in making credit decisions by scoring individual consumer behavior. The top three credit bureaus in the United States are Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
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Equifax
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With its headquarters in Atlanta, Equifax operates in Latin American and Europe in addition to the United States. Equifax provides consumer and business credit information, as well as fraud protection and marketing services.
Experian
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The Experian corporation operates out of Dublin, Ireland; Experian's United States operations are headquartered in Costa Mesa, California. According to the company website, Experian manages credit data on about 215 million American consumers.
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TransUnion
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TransUnion was founded in 1968 in Chicago. The company was originally a railcar leasing firm, later expanding into data collection and consumer credit. According to the company, TransUnion operates in 25 countries and holds credit information on about 500 million people.
Considerations
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Consumers contact credit bureaus to check their credit scores and to fix any errors in their reports. Bankrate.com contains contact information for each of the major three credit bureaus, with toll-free phone numbers and website addresses.
Remember
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When applying for credit, lenders may use any of the three major credit bureaus--or even a combination of two or all three. Credit bureaus are not the only source of credit scoring, as banks and other financial institutions may also factor in their own internal scoring.
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