One Credit Reporting Agency over another

'Goodnatured'.........good point!! You DON'T usually know, when you apply for credit, WHICH CB will come up. As you clearly said, ..I, TOO, wonder if one CRA has 'more pull' over the others. What if you have a pretty good score on ONE of the CRA, than the other two?..etc. I DON'T think this is fair to us, either.

Does anyone know why we have three credit reporting agencies?

Capitalism and competition.

Do lenders chose or use one more than the other two?

I believe that more lenders prefer to use TU, but I am not certain of this.

Is there a higher authority in the credit reporting world, these people are sometimes hard to work with and will take the creditors word over yours.

The higher authorities are the FCRA and FACTA.

When a credit reporting agency will not correct your report, who do you turn to?

An attorney and/or the FTC.

What are your thoughts?

I think that few things in this world are perfect.

You DON'T usually know, when you apply for credit, WHICH CB will come up.

If it's a big ticket item, you can try asking the finance representative which CRA is utilized.

What if you have a pretty good score on ONE of the CRA, than the other two?

You fix errors on your reports, or you deal with it, because you don't have another option.

Well Morningstar pretty much cleared up those questions for you goodnatured. I believe most of our loans they used experian. I really want to check all my credit reports since I have only checked one but I don't want to use up all my free passes.

looked up my past couple bank loans from before...all are experian...hope this helps.

I would still check all three. You know how it goes..by thr time you would need it they would check the one your not keeping a good eye on.

You know how it goes..by thr time you would need it they would check the one your not keeping a good eye on.

Ahhh, the 50/50/90 rule (in this case 33/33/33/90)...
Anytime you have a 50/50 chance of getting something right, there is a 90 percent probability that you will get it wrong :P

Why stop here for the credit agencies. Is there a chance in the future we will be pulling from five or even six differnt bureaus. It seems to be big business. Wasnt there at one time only one bureau. Equifax seems to be the easiest to deal with to me.What is stopping them from adding more.

you could try to sue them but that's a lengthy process. the hope is that next time you apply for a loan or credit card, the creditor will get reports from all three agencies.

The creditor gets a consolidated report I think. Any idea on this? How do they judge otherwise? They know about varying scores from the three different bureaus.

By consolidated report ,do you mean like a tri-merge. The only companies I have had dealings with that pull these was the morgage companies .Where they then use your middle score. I think most creditors only pull from one desired bureau, as to which some may only report to one bureau.

It costs money to report your debt arrangement to the bureaus. Normally, a creditor will report you to eahc of the three majors.
Sometimes, a tradeline will not appear on all three bureaus -- however, all national credit cards and all mortgage banks and all car manufacturers will report your debt.

Private mortgages and rental paymentys do not appear -- it costs money to file, and these payments are considered private. Often private used car financing will not appear on the report. None of your utility bills or cable bills or phone bills appear, unless they've been turned over to a collection ageny.

A residential tri-merged credit report is pulled in order to provide an 'average' score (not really an average, but they pick the middle score) when a mortgage loan underwriter is qualifying you for an approval. Most other creditors, like your car dealer, will pull a single report to search for any public filings and radical credit problems.

I never knew they had to pay to list your credit on your report. I wondered how this all worked and this clears it up.

Who pays for that. Not us definitely. The companies have to pay in order to report. Am I right?

Lenders report on each account you have established with them. They report the type of account (bankcard, auto loan, mortgage, etc), the date you opened the account, your credit limit or loan amount, the account balance and your payment history. In order to report, the bureaus charge a fee, not unlike VISA or AMERICAN EXPRESS charging the retailer to handle the customer's transaction. Essentially, at the end of the day, we do pay for it.

Thats what I kind of figured. They probaly have a way of adding it in there somewhere along the lines.

I have worked for a few different lenders and each of them used a third party to actually pull your credit reports and list it into an easy to read report. One of these companies only used TransUnion but the other three compiled a report from all three of the CBs. I would definately stay on top of all three of them just to be safe.

As far as why there are three, I think it is that way so one company can't monopolize the credit industry. Just look at Microsoft and how much money they swindle from smaller businesess just because they can.

Good point about monopoly cbass. Never thought of that myself. I also agree..always check all three..better safe than sorry.

The companies pay, but rest assured the costs are passed on to the consumer.

The agencies charge the debt holder to report the debt, charges a new company money to let them see your report, and charges you to tell you your score. Even with 3 companies competing, it's not really a just system.
On the other hand, I can imagine if they didn't charge to list debts - I can see plenty of false reporting going on - "Pay me $100 and I'll report you as a good tradeline for 24 months!"

Excellent point made. I could actually see that happening and I could also see people paying for it if they could. Kind of would throw the credit world into a spin though. Your crdit wouldn't be as important if they could do this cause who would trust the reports.

You're absolutely right there goodnatured. Some of the hardest workers are those who have learned from there mistakes in the past. Just because you've had credit issues in the past doesn't mean you would be a bad employee. Besides, most people looking for jobs need to do so to increase their income so they can more easily manage their finances and improve their credit. Talk about ironic...

Just because you've had credit issues in the past doesn't mean you would be a bad employee.

No, but if you've got two candidates who are similar in education and experience, and each interviews equally well, how do you determine who gets the job?

This is where it pays to be proactive...writing personal statements on your credit report, and informing your potential employer about prior transgressions can make a big difference. Also, in the case of handling money, money problems--especially recent problems--pose a big risk in a potential candidate (internal theft at retail outlets is a huge problem), likewise employment environments where consumer personally identifiable data is used as a means of conducting everyday business (employers must do all they can to minimize risk of ID theft, in order to minimize liabilities).

I honestly can say that I never knew they used your credit report as a reference in determining employment. This has my mouth wide open. I can see if you worked at a bank. I bet a person can really get screwed out of a good job. Someone with a bad report, trying to pay off old debt, and trying to make a living could face disaster. Wow I really can't believe that. I am thanking God my isn't too bad.

Just think someday you will probaly have to get a credit check to marry. They will probaly make it a part of matchmaker.com. Not only will they match your personality with someone compatible..they will match your credit scores too. ( a little light humor). Anyway what is that old saying...God grant me the wisdom to change the things I can and the ignorance to ignore the things I can't?

Just think someday you will probaly have to get a credit check to marry.

Since the dawn of mankind, marriage has been a contract; this is an example of the adage, "the more things change, the more they stay the same."

Good one. I guess marriage is considerd a contract.

It probaly wouldn't hurt. It can definately impact a relationship. Like when going to buy your first home or car.

I have a friend that was moving in with his girlfriend and was worried about how to tell her about the bankruptcy he was IN THE MIDDLE OF and the house that was being foreclosed on. It says alot about our attitudes about money when we are more comfortable being physically naked in front of someone than we do telling them about our credit histories. You always read about marriages falling apart due to money fights. Instead of a wedding shower couples should take financial therapy together to get on the same page!

I will agree with you there. I never relized what a big deal credit was until my husband and I started getting serious about a home. Thats why I said about buying your first home which most couples do when they marry. Its better to get it all out in the open in the beginning.

I think I'm dying...Just jokin'. Sounds like a pretty good hubby to me. My better half and I married and relized we were both in the same sinking boat.

Great that way. Did you check with all the three bureaus?

I didn't. I was told to only check one every four months so that I wouldn't have to pay for the report. I know mine has stuff on it that is suppose to fall off in July. I'll check the others then. Looking at one causes too much stress.

I'm keeping my copy under lock and key. I keep hearing horror stories about debt reaging and some of it being with midland credit. This is my CA. So I figure that copy of my credit report is proof of DOLA,..just in case.