Which Credit Bureau Is Most Used?
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The credit bureau most used by lenders is called the Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) score. It’s a numerical representation of your creditworthiness, and it’s used by lenders to determine whether or not to give you a loan.
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The Three Major Credit Bureaus
There are three major credit bureaus in the United States: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. They are all used in different ways, but they all play an important role in your credit score. Let’s take a look at each one.
Experian
Experian is one of the three major credit bureaus in the United States, and one of the largest credit bureaus in the world. Headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, Experian has over 24,000 employees in 37 countries.
Experian collects and aggregates information on over one billion people and businesses, including 235 million individual U.S. consumers and more than 25 million U.S. businesses. Experian also powers some of the largest financial institutions in the world with its credit reporting, fraud detection, and decisioning products and services.
Equifax
Equifax is one of the three major credit bureaus in the United States, along with Experian and TransUnion. Equifax collects and maintains information on consumers’ credit histories, which is used by lenders to make decisions about issuing loans and lines of credit.
Equifax is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and was founded in 1899. The company has grown significantly over the years through a series of acquisitions, including the 2017 purchase of Credit Karma’s consumer division.
Equifax maintains a database of more than820 million consumers and more than91 million businesses worldwide. The company generates revenue through the sale of its consumer data to lenders and other businesses. Equifax also offers a suite of consumer-facing products, including credit monitoring and identity theft protection services.
TransUnion
TransUnion is a consumer credit reporting agency. TransUnion collects and aggregates information on over one billion individual consumers in more than 33 countries. Headquartered in Chicago, TransUnion has offices in 23 countries on six continents.
The Most Used Credit Bureau
The credit bureau most used by lenders is called the TransUnion. This is one of the three credit bureaus in the United States. The other two are Experian and Equifax. Lenders use the TransUnion credit bureau to get your credit report.
Mortgage Lenders
Mortgage lenders are the most common type of lender to usecredit bureau data. The credit report plays an important role in the underwriting process, as it helps lenders to assess an applicant’s credit risk. Lenders will typically order a credit report from all three major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax), and will use the middle score when calculating the loan terms.
Auto Lenders
Auto lenders are the most likely to use Experian, followed by mortgage lenders. Experian is also more likely to be used by lenders in states with higher average credit scores.
Credit Card Issuers
Credit card issuers are the companies that issue credit cards to consumers. The three major credit card issuers in the United States are American Express, Discover, and MasterCard. Visa is the largest debit card issuer in the world, but it is not a credit card issuer.
The Bottom Line
No matter which credit bureau is most used, all of them are important. Make sure you check all three of your credit reports regularly so you can identify and correct any errors. And, if you’re planning to apply for a loan or other type of credit, be sure to check your credit score ahead of time so you can be prepared.