Who are the Credit Bureaus?

The Credit Bureaus are non governmental agencies, that collect and sell information.  They are also known as “The Credit Reporting Agencies.”  The three major consumer credit bureaus that supply the majority of consumer credit are known as Experian, Trans Union, and Equifax.  For the most part this information includes histories of creditworthiness that show how business and consumers rate in terms of their ability to meet debt obligations.   The credit reporting agencies provide many other services related to gathering information and statistics and some are involved in business credit as well.   Dun and Brad Street is the major bureau that gathers information to provide to creditors and vendors for business to business credit.  Credit bureaus supply this data to many clients who use it to make decisions about extending credit to consumers and businesses.  Credit bureaus are private enterprises or may be operated as cooperatives by companies in different areas across the country.   The Bureaus make profits by charging fees for these services through amount of usage or in many cases a membership fee.

The Credit Reporting agencies serve as a library of information about how patterns of payments reflect for all types of consumer and business credit histories.  The creditors constantly update and provide the bureaus with new information about changes in credit history, whether positive or negative, and that is then compiled and resold to members who are making decisions about approving credit extensions.  There are 100′s if not 1000′s of regional bureaus across the US they are under contract or owned by one of the three bureaus mentioned.



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