About Equifax and Equifax Credit Report Services

This article is about Equifax and Equifax credit report services and how they can help you.

Equifax and Equifax Credit Reporting

Equifax is a US company that provides reports about consumer credit. As such it is in the top three of the large US consumer credit recording and reporting companies: the others being TransUnion and Experian. As it was formed in 1899, Equifax is older than both Experian and TransUnion. Today Equifax has a database that holds credit related information of in excess of 400million credit users across the world: its operation extends across 13 countries employing over 4,500 workers globally.

Equifax Credit Reports

Equifax credit reports are the staple of Equifax's commercial operation. Equifax effectively sells credit reports to consumers and organizations. Consumers can purchase an Equifax credit report, which will tell them about how their credit and credit-worthiness are perceived. Organizations use Equifax credit reports to check the credit worthiness of consumers who are applying for some type of credit arrangement with them. Consequently, organizations such as retailers, banks, insurance companies, mortgage lenders and utilities companies all have an interest in finding out about a the credit history of people who wish to enter into a financial agreement with them.

Equifax Credit Reports for Consumers

In the late 1990s, Equifax started to promote its consumer credit report service to enable people to keep an eye on their credit history with a view to managing it. One of the principal drivers for this was the growth in the rate of identity theft that started at around that period of time. In this guise, Equifax credit reports help people to see if they are a victim of such fraud by viewing items on their credit report such as fraudulent credit card purchases or subscriptions and other activities that suggest identity theft.

Viewing Your Equifax Credit Report

US citizens are entitled by law to view one credit report free of charge each year. This will give you a snapshot of your credit report history up to that point it time but will not give you access to a further Equifax credit report afterwards. In order to have ongoing access to your credit report you would need to either pay a one off fee to Equifax or enter into a subscription agreement with them to view your credit report as an when you wanted to.

Your Credit Score and Your Equifax Credit Report

Often thought of as being one and the same thing, credit scores are actually separate from your credit report. Your credit score is literally a number that has been assigned to you as a result of a mathematical algorithm that has been developed to numerically show how much of a risk you would be as a borrower i.e. would you repay a loan or credit agreement. Although some of the information on your Equifax credit report would likely be used to calculate your credit score, the report itself is a different entity.

Site Links Related Pages to Equifax Credit Reports

Experian Credit Report - Credit Repair - Credit Card Consolidation