Equifax

Equifax Home
Equifax Home page ... Equifax helps consumers take charge of their credit with Canadian launch of Credit Watch(TM) Equifax launches Citadel(TM): The most advanced ...
www.equifax.com

Equifax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Founded in 1899, Equifax is the oldest of the three agencies and gathers and ... Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Equifax is a global service provider with US $1.5 ...
en.wikipedia.org

Warning: mkdir() [function.mkdir]: Permission denied in /home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line 12

Warning: mkdir() [function.mkdir]: No such file or directory in /home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line 12

Warning: fopen(/home/templatecore2cache//*cluesnet.com/f5/f556d0ea8565b5b3899f54573446f75d38791175.tc2cache) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line 130

Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line 131

Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in /home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line 132

{{ambox| type = serious| image = | text = This article is subject to manipulation attempts by the described entity using multiple user names. Please be critical of edits and discussion page entries.-->

{{Infobox Company |company_name = Equifax Inc.| company_type = Corporation ([NYSE:[http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/lcddata.html?ticker=EFX EFX)| foundation = | location = [Atlanta, Georgia| // key_people = Richard F. Smith, [Chairman & [CEO
Donald T. Heroman, [CFO
Kent E. Mast, Chief Legal Officer
Paul J. Springman, Chief Marketing Officer
Nuala M. King, Principal Accounting Officer| industry = Business Services, Consumer Services| revenue = $1.5 Billion United States dollar ([)| //operating_income = $422,000 United States dollar ([)| //net_income = {{profit--> $246,500 United States dollar ([)| num_employees = 5,000| homepage = http://www.equifax.com/ www.equifax.com -->

Equifax, Inc. () is a consumer credit reporting agency in the US, considered one of the big three American credit agencies along with Experian and TransUnion. Founded in 1899, Equifax is the oldest of the three agencies and gathers and maintains information on over 400 million credit holders worldwide. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Equifax is a global service provider with US $1.5 billion in annual revenue and 5,000 employees in 14 countries.

History Equifax was founded as Retail Credit Company in 1899. The company grew quickly and by 1920 had offices throughout the US and Canada. By the 1960s, Retail Credit Company was one of the nation's largest credit bureaus, holding files on millions of American citizens.

Retail Credit Company's extensive information holdings, and its willingness to sell them to anyone, attracted criticism of the company in the 1960s and 1970s. These included that it collected "...facts, statistics, inaccuracies and rumors… about virtually every phase of a person's life; his marital troubles, jobs, school history, childhood, sex life, and political activities." The company was also alleged to reward its employees for collecting negative information on consumers. Separating Equifax from fiction, Wired, September 1995, retrieved 13 September 2007

As a result, when the company moved to computerise its records, which would lead to much wider availability of the personal information it held, the US Congress held hearings in 1970. These led to the enactment of the Fair Credit Reporting Act in the same year which gave consumers rights regarding information stored about them in corporate databanks.(It is alleged that the hearings prompted the Retail Credit Company to change its name to Equifax in 1975 to improve its image.)

The company has been fined by the Federal Trade Commission on two occasions for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In 2000, Equifax along with Experian and Trans Union were fined US$2.5 million for blocking and delaying phone calls from consumers trying to get information about their credit In 2003, the FTC took Equifax to court for the same reason and settled its lawsuit with the company for a fine of US$250,000. Equifax Fined $250,000 Fine By FTC, NBC 10, 3 August 2003, retrieved 13 September 2007 {{cite news | title = Equifax to Pay $250,000 to Settle Charges | publisher = ConsumerAffairs.com | date = [2003-07-30 | url = http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news03/equifax.html | accessdate = 2007-07-23 -->.

The company later expanded into commercial credit reports on companies in the US, Canada and the UK, where it came into competition with companies such as Dun & Bradstreet and Experian. The company also had a division selling specialist credit information to the insurance industry but spun off this service, including the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (CLUE) database as ChoicePoint in 1997. The company formerly offered digital certification services, which it sold to GeoTrust in September 2001. In the same year, Equifax spun-off its payment services division, forming publicly-listed company Certegy which was soon acquired by Fidelity National Information Services.

Products For most of its existence, Equifax has operated primarily in the business-to-business sector, selling consumer credit reports and related analytics to businesses in a range of industries. Business customers include retailers, insurance firms, healthcare providers, utilities, government agencies, as well as banks and other financial institutions.

Equifax sells businesses credit reports, analytics, demographic data, and software. Credit reports provide detailed information on the personal credit and payment history of individuals, indicating how they have honored financial obligations such as paying bills or repaying a loan. Businesses then use this information to decide what sort of products or services to offer their customers, and on what terms.

Beginning in 1999, Equifax began offering products that help people monitor their credit history, including alerting consumers to the possibility of their being a victim of credit fraud or identity theft. Equifax, and other credit monitoring agencies are required by law to provide US citizens with one free credit file disclosure every 12 months, which may be requested on-line at Annualcreditreport.com. Equifax also sells online reports and a subscription services for credit monitoring.

Credit score Associated with a person’s credit history, though not part of the credit report, is a number called the credit score, which is a mathematical model used to predict how likely a person is to repay a loan. The score is based on information in a person’s credit report, and the most commonly used credit score is the FICO credit score, used by over 70% of the nation's creditors. For the FICO credit score, the scores range from 300 to 850, with higher scores considered better. The majority of credit scores fall within the 600s and 700s.

Recent consumer issues As of July 2007, Equifax form letters include a toll-free number, (888)876-5796, that is no longer in service. Below this defunct phone number, the Equifax form letter informs customers that they "must call within 60 days" if they wish to dispute any "information" contained within the letter.

See also

Credit score
Identity theft
Fair Credit Reporting Act

References and footnotes

External links

Company website
Equifax Credit Report Key
Yahoo! Finance - Equifax Inc. Company Profile
{http://www.equifax.com/online-credit-dispute/ Equifax Online Dispute]

Online Credit Report and Credit Check Services - Equifax
Consumer credit information including a vehicle and property checking service.

Contact Us
We have redesigned and enhanced equifax.com. In order to fully enjoy our new site, you must be using a standards-compliant Web browser. We would like to help you improve your ...

Equifax Personal Solutions
We have redesigned and enhanced equifax.com. In order to fully enjoy our new site, you must be using a standards-compliant Web browser. We would like to help you improve your ...

Equifax
Refused Credit? / Manage Your Finances . Been refused credit? Find out why - Instantly Online. Thinking of buying that car or holiday? Why wait? Don't pay over the odds Get the ...

Equifax Secure Ltd
Equifax Secure is currently the only Government approved digital certificate provider that is able to process certificate registration and issue the certificate online. The ...

Equifax Secure - Digital Certificates
Equifax Secure: Providing a safe, secure environment for e-commerce while minimizing transaction risk through the application of the industry's most comprehensive set of ...

Equifax Personal Solutions
As this is the 1st step in your purchase process, and to welcome you as an Equifax customer, we need some personal details to help verify your identity.

Equifax
Don't take credit for granted Your credit file may not be as good as you think. Your credit file is important as it plays a major part in many decisions that affect your life.

Equifax: Credit Reports, Credit Scores, Protection Against Identity ...
Equifax compiles credit reporting data from many sources and creates a credit file that reflects your personal credit history including your FICO® score. Now you can view your ...

Check your credit report - Experian UK and Ireland - the information ...
Organisation specialising in credit referencing and general business advisory services.