The Credit Bureau began with paper files, collecting data from local merchants, public records and newspaper articles. Credit operators were standing by the phones to read back files to creditors. Credit reports were typed on manual typewriters and hand delivered to customers. Almost every town had their own Credit Bureau.
In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s information was input into nationwide databases that the large credit grantors could access via dedicated phone lines with credit terminals in their own offices. Residential Mortgage Reports were still being manually updated and typed for delivery. By the start of the 1980’s, the content, storage, and processing of credit reports had changed dramatically. More accurate information (e.g., names, addresses, and Social Security numbers) was electronically stored and accompanied by loan, inquiry, and public record information (e.g., bankruptcies, judgments, and liens). Histories that were once read over the phone to an inquiring business were now transmitted electronically. Overall, computer technology, market forces, and newly developed laws provided credit reporting companies with the mandate to transform themselves from "local associations" or "bureaus" that clipped wedding announcements from newspapers to "efficient integrated systems serving an entire society. Eventually three nationwide credit repositories were formed. The original 3 credit bureaus in the United States were Equifax, TRW, and Trans Union. TRW sold it’s credit reporting division to Experian, and still operates the automotive manufacturing division. Currently the 3 credit bureaus are Equifax, Experian and Trans Union.
To a large extent, credit reporting is regionally driven. That is, creditors are more likely to make inquiries of a credit reporting company because it has a historically dominant presence in the area where a prospective borrower lives. For example, if a credit card issuer wants a credit report on a customer who lives in Pennsylvania, it is likely to use TransUnion as a primary source and one of the other two major companies as a secondary source. Similarly, the same issuer might use Experian as a primary source of credit information in another area and Equifax in another. This is driven by the fact that these companies have formed relationships with or acquired many of a region's small reporting agencies. Through these relationships or acquisitions, they have become the credit reporting company of choice for lenders in those regions. Overall, lenders want to use the credit reporting company that is most likely to have captured the majority of inquiries for a given customer for risk-assessment purposes. Given this situation, businesses often maintain zip code preference tables that guide their decisions about which credit reporting companies to use for specific geographic areas.
In the 1990’s tri-merged credit reports which took information from all three credit repositories became available with software and dial-up modems. Fair Isaac Corporation developed a scoring system that assisted lenders in assessing a consumers risk. Eventually with the birth of the Internet, web access to credit reports became available. The formation of the 3 main credit bureaus revolutionized the way people obtain financing.
Having good credit can help you achieve your dreams, if you know how to build it. Products and services are getting better and better every day, if you have a high enough credit score to get approved for them. The power of an excellent credit score is within your reach. With a little help from Drexler Financial Solutions you can be on the road to excellent credit today. All across the United States people are being denied for jobs, loans, apartments, student aid, cars, mortgages, cell phones, and car insurance because of inaccuracies on their credit reports. Don’t be a victim of having information on your credit report that does not belong to you. Let us help.
Drexler Financial Solutions is your next step toward making your credit work for you.
