Who is the big dog?

[Soxfan827]

Of the three credit reporting agencies, is there one that is used more than the others by lenders?   Do lenders pull all three as a general rule or do they have their favorites that they use?  Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

When you say lender, are you talking for a mortgage?  If so, all 3 are pulled and in most instances, use your middle score.

If you are talking a creditor in general, I believe it would depend on what area you live in and the creditor themselves. 

[RobertEG]

Creditors pay a fee to the CRAs to enter into a reporting agreement.  Generally, the smaller the lendor, and the smaller the amount of the pricipal on the credit, the less likely the credtior is to routinely report to all three CRAs.  They may select the CRA that has the lowest fee, or the one that has the highest number of creditors reporting.

Most major CCCs and mortgage lendors are dealing on either such bulk or such high principal loans that they dont routinely consider which CRA to report to, and thus report to all three.  It is entirely their own business decision.

I cant say for sure who the "big dog" is, only who the "small dog" is.  There are four national CRAs.  One of those four is Innovis, who is so much smaller that most consumers have never even heard of them.  Yet Innovis is one of the four national CRAs that work on a joint committee to establish CRA reporting requirements/guidelines.

[Anonymous]

double tap

[Anonymous]

In my particular experience, Equifax was not pulled.   I just recently got a mortgage and both for the preapproval and the actual underwriting, they only pulled Experian and TransUnion.    It's too bad, since Equifax is my best score.  

Your mileage might vary.

[haulingthescoreup]

Well, when it comes to non-mortgage credit, TransUnion seems to be the little dog, unless you live in the upper Midwest, where they rule.

A shame, because it's my best report.

Experian seems to be used by a lot of the big boy banks (American Express, BofA), and Equifax is often favored by credit unions. But there are lots and lots of exceptions.

Also, it's often geographic. EQ was traditionally used a lot in the South and Southeast, as they are headquartered in Atlanta. TU as mentioned is used a lot in the Midwest, as it's hq'd in Chicago. Experian has traditionally been strong in the west (including Hawaii.) This probably stems from the days when credit bureaus had more of a physical presence, and lenders in their area were more likely to use that one.

Now that everything is online, I think that some lenders stick with a given CRA out of habit, while others go with a report that they might perceive as being more accurate or perhaps one that cuts them a better deal.