The three main credit-reporting agencies in United States of America.

What is a credit-reporting agency?
A credit-reporting agency or a credit bureau as it is also called is a type of company that provides their customers credit information on individuals. This is important, as it gives the lenders an idea about the credit worthiness, the loan paying back ability and rate of interest to charge on loans. The information about a person’s credit will adversely or positively affect his interest rates. Credit reporting agencies do not work for free, they work for a fee and depending upon the need of their customer, they provide credit information. They not only collect information, they also organize and store a person’s past and current debt information. It is basically providing of personal financial data that they are involved in. Their clients could be anyone from creditors, insurers to landlords and collectors. These credit-reporting agencies are not to be confused with Government agencies, because they are not. They are independent privately owned organizations who simple provide financial information. There are three major credit-reporting agencies in America; these are Experian, TransUnion and Equifax.

The Experian effect
Experian is one of the three major credit-reporting agencies in America. Experian is a well-established company with more than 12,500 employees and is spread over 30 countries, where as their clients are spread over more than 60 countries. They have headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, Costa Mesa and Nottingham and it is also listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The TransUnion way
TransUnion is another of the three major credit-reporting agencies. TransUnion was founded in the year 1968 and has escalated into on of the top three major credit-reporting companies in America. TransUnion has its headquarters in Chicago, but provides information to more than 30 countries spread across 6 continents. It maintains a credit history of more than 500 million people all over the world.

About Equifax
Equifax is the oldest of the three major credit-reporting companies in America. It is 107 years old and is a part of the fortune 500 companies in America. It deals in financial information management and authentication of businesses. It is a relatively small company with about 5000 employees across 13 countries. Equifax uses integrity and performance to for its growth and innovation and strive to achieve to be the best in everything they do.