4 Credit Bureaus??

[Anonymous]

So I got a pre-approval today from First Premiere, and as I was feeding it into the shredder, I read the back and it said they report to the 4 major credit bureaus!

Since when are there 4 bureaus???? 

Any one heard of this?

[Anonymous]

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LEEHI wrote:

So I got a pre-approval today from First Premiere, and as I was feeding it into the shredder, I read the back and it said they report to the 4 major credit bureaus!

Since when are there 4 bureaus???? 

Any one heard of this?

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Yes, there is a little-known (and little-used) bureau known as Innovus.  You can order a free report from them, just like you can the other three (as required by law), but you can only get delivery by snail mail.  I've never bothered to get mine, but people who have generally say it has only a fraction of the information reported on the Big Three.  Also, they don't do FICO scores based on this report at all.

[Anonymous]

It is my understanding that Fair Isaac is now the fourth. EDIT: Hopefully someone here knows more about this. I did a web search and found several references to FI now being in the CRA business but I'm not sure any of them are reputable sources. So, actually my answer was a question.

Message Edited by contractor on 04-11-2008 09:04 PM

[Anonymous]

I'm also under the impression that some folks consider

ChexSystems as a major credit reporting entity. Granted,

their focus is tracking personal check activity. Some banks

will pull your credit reports just to open a new checking or

savings account, and during this process they also pull

a ChexSystems report to make sure you don't have a

history of bouncing checks. If so, you'll have to take care of it

before the bank will let you open an account with them...

I just thought I'd throw this out there...

CanDo

"The right attitude is everything"

[Anonymous]

I did find info on Innovis, they certainly seem to be a CRA.

[KingAdrock]

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contractor wrote: It is my understanding that Fair Isaac is now the fourth. EDIT: Hopefully someone here knows more about this. I did a web search and found several references to FI now being in the CRA business but I'm not sure any of them are reputable sources. So, actually my answer was a question. Message Edited by contractor on 04-11-2008 09:04 PM

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No, no no no no. Fair Isaac is NOT a CRA. They get your CR from the 3 and then using that info compute your FICO score. But they do not collect the information themselves.

[Anonymous]

When you hear about the fourth CRA, that is Innovus.  ChexSystems is also a CRA, but it's not usually used for credit applications, normally only for deposit accounts.

I'll look into the question of FI getting into the CRA business and see what I can find out.

[Anonymous]

Cheddar, if interested I'll PM you the search results that make it kinda look that way.

[Anonymous]

Regarding FI as a CRA:

http://www.fairisaac.com/fic/en/product-service/product-index/fico-expansion-score/frequently-asked-...

FI has a product known as an Expansion Score, which is generated based on non-traditional credit data like utility accounts, rental histories, deposit accounts...things like that.  Since none of this data is reported to the major reporting bureaus, FI has taken it upon themselves to become the repository of information used to generate the reports.  That is, they are the CRA for reports used to generate this score.

Note the following, from the page linked above:

What are Fair Isaac's new subsidiaries?
Fair Isaac established two new subsidiaries to organize non-traditional credit data and use it to produce FICO® Expansion® scores:

• Fair Isaac Credit Services, Inc. is a fully-compliant subsidiary that organizes non-traditional data into consumer files; produces reports and risk scores for business clients; and resolves consumer disputes.
• Fair Isaac Network, Inc. develops and manages the company's growing network of emerging information sources. It also seeks out new information sources that may provide data into the network.

[Anonymous]

On the nose.