The credit bureaus make money by selling all the data they collect about us.
How to credit bureaus make money. Consumer credit report data. The credit bureau receives a request from a lender for an individual consumer s credit report and the bureau sends it to the lender for a fee. The big 3 collects data to. Bottom line the credit bureaus do more than create and sell credit reports.
In the u s there are three national credit bureaus equifax experian and transunion. When a consumer applies for a loan to buy a car or house for example the bank will contact these credit bureaus to find out your. Wait a couple of weeks and then check your report if you still see errors send a letter to the credit bureau asking them to correct the information. Consumer services are another way credit bureaus make money.
D irect marketing data. Where the information comes from. The bureaus also make money by selling credit monitoring and education products to other companies allowing the companies to give or sell these services. These bureaus collect update and store credit histories on most u s.
A credit freeze is a step you can take through the three major credit reporting bureaus equifax experian and transunion to limit access to your credit report. Thanks to a 2018 law credit freezes which are also known as security freezes are. These include identity theft protection credit monitoring services and fraud protection. When to contact the credit bureaus.
As time goes by these services are becoming extremely popular. Credit bureaus get information from several sources and then they package and sell that information to others. Finally credit bureaus offer services that help lenders find new customers. They sell two types of data.
Much of the data comes from lenders. Federal law requires the credit bureaus to provide. If you ve borrowed money in the past there s a good chance that your lender reported that loan to one or more credit bureaus. The more inquiries coming in the more money they make.
If an inquiry or credit check comes from american express american express pays the credit reporting agency for the information on the consumer. Recently they have gotten into the monitoring business and as mentioned figured out a way to make money from you and me disputing accounts on our report. After you ve contacted your creditor you ll want to confirm that the information has been changed by each of the credit bureaus. The credit reporting agencies make their money off inquiries from consumers.