Equifax Credit Reports

Equifax is a market leader in the credit report industry. Also known as a credit bureau, it is considered to be among the “Big Three” credit reporting agencies. The other two are: Trans Union and Experian. In business for more than 104 years, Equifax efficiently provides total information solutions to businesses and consumers.

Equifax is in the business to help companies minimize their financial risk and maximize their growth opportunities. At the same time, Equifax enables consumers to better protect and manage their financial well-being. Equifax has a well-earned reputation for maintaining an unwavering commitment to the highest standards of corporate ethics, data security, and information privacy. The consumer knows that they can count on Equifax to uphold their promises in these specific areas.

Being among the “Big Three” credit reporting agencies, Equifax is selected time and again, because of the high level of customer service that they afford, consistently. For the consumer, knowing that Equifax does adhere to such a demanding business standard, brings them the assurance that they need and that cannot be measured in simple dollars and cents. The strongest bargaining chip that Equifax brings into the competitive ring of credit reporting agencies is their ability to deliver cost-effective solutions that the consumer can both afford and place their trust in. These two dynamic selling points become pivotal when it comes time for the consumer to decide on which reporting agency to give their important business to.

Equifax's job is to house and maintain your credit report records. We all know how important the credit report is. By checking your report you have privileged access to your complete credit history, and then you can make well-informed decisions on all of your past, present and future accounts. It contains pertinent data needed by lenders such as: employers, landlords, insurance agents, credit card companies, among others. The information contained within your credit report will very well determine your ability to land an important job, buy your next set of wheels, obtain a critical insurance policy and buy a new home, among others. Any one piece of information contained within your credit report, if not found to be accurate, can mean the difference between a loan being accepted or denied. It becomes the credit reporting agencies responsibility to be certain your credit report is kept accurate and up-to-date. We all work together with the credit reporting agency as partners to keep and maintain an acceptable credit report.

It is important for the consumer to understand that the credit reporting agency is not singularly responsible for the maintanence and up-keep of credit files, we are all equally responsible . We should review our credit files on a regular basis and check it for errors, omissions, identity theft and fraud as well as other very important considerations. It is only when we are all on our toes and requesting copies of our files on a regular basis, that we have the opportunity to catch something in our files that can be ‘amiss.' Once we have identified the ‘culprit,' or misinformation, it becomes our job to bring this matter to the attention of the credit reporting bureaus.

At this point along in the process, we fill out the appropriate forms and then we wait on the credit reporting agency to take the next steps. In an orderly fashion, the credit bureaus will contact the appropriate people and the misinformation is corrected. The agency then goes on to adjust the credit records and the appropriate credit report is fixed. You are, next, notified of any changes made to your credit report, by the credit reporting agency. This is done in a timely manner.

When you follow all of the appropriate steps required to bring changes to the attention of the agency, you receive the corrected information back within a specific time frame. These final steps should be a smooth process and will provide for a good result for both the consumer as well as for the agency involved.

Your Equifax credit report is available to be viewed on-line. You will also be able to view your Fico Score. You will learn just exactly what this is in relation to your credit report, as well. You will learn how it affects your borrowing options. Whenever there is a change to your Equifax credit report, Equifax will email you within 48 hours of posting. Equifax will begin an investigation, if you request it, regarding information contained on your credit file as well as answer your questions concerning your credit, including any questions concerning your protection such as fraud.

Equifax takes your financial future very seriously with easy-to-understand definitions provided as well as comprehensive A-Z lists of credit and financial terms. You can access great educational and interactive tools for parents, teachers, and students (elementary through high school). You can request a free copy of your credit report from Equifax, on-line.

Consumers Can Look to Equifax for the following:

You can make a quick check of your credit, on-line and right now. The Equifax Credit Profile will provide you with accurate, in-depth personal credit information, such as: your credit profile stored by date to view on-line for up to 30 days, also your credit history. These are all on-line and easy to read. They come straight from the source. You can also have these done up for you in a printable format.
Equifax has partnered with Fair, Isaac and has launched Score Power™. This is the only on-line credit score delivery service for consumers. This delivers Fair, Isaac's FICO credit risk score and is the most widely used score in lending. You can view the score lenders use to qualify you for loans and credit cards. You can also learn how to take action to improve or maintain your score. This can prepare you to discuss your score with your lender for major purchases.
You will have access to the Equifax Credit Watch. This is a detailed credit history of up to 5 additional Equifax Credit Profiles per year with email notification within 24 hours of changes posted to the credit profile. This also gives the consumer access to stored history of the notification summary as well as to detailed reports.