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Understanding Credit Bureaus & Credit Counselling

Link: Understanding Credit Bureaus & Credit Counselling.

Understanding the Workings of Credit Bureaus Credit reporting is done by corporations that rely on information from credit grantors, (credit card companies, utilities, retailers, etc., and public records (judgements, etc.) as a basis for their ratings. When a consumer signs for a consumer loan or a credit card, he or she permits the credit grantor to share their credit information with appropriate credit reporting authorities. Equifax in Canada's largest credit reporting agency, with offices across the country. It supplies most of the personal credit information used by lenders.

The History Of Equifax

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""Retail Credit Company"" was the name of what we now know as Equifax. Equifax began operations in 1899 and became a publicly owned corporation in 1965.

Equifax common stock has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the Symbol EFX since 1971.

As of December 31, 1999 Equifax had about 11,800 shareholders on record.

Equifax processed over 1.4 billion payment transactions in 1999.

Leading provider of full service third party card processing services to 5500 credit unions and independent banks in the U.S.

Third party card processing services internationally in Brazil, the United Kingdom, India and Chile

30 million cards under management worldwide.

Credit and debit card transaction processing, portfolio management services, credit marketing services, cardholder customer services, risk management services, merchant processing and collection services

Mainframe and unix-based software for in-house card processing, collections and merchant processing used on 125 million accounts worldwide.

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Equifax Takes Aim At ID Theft

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By Robert Jaques

Consumer credit and financial information provider Equifax has unveiled an online information system that it claims will help slash ID theft.

Specifically targeting the public sector, the Equifax eTrail service offers ""instant"" online access to the firm's consumer databases detailing the records of more than 45 million adults in the UK. This information, the company said, is derived from sources including the Electoral Roll, Registry Trust and its own database of over 300 million credit agreements.

According to the financial information firm, the service will help public sector organisations to meet both regulatory requirements and commercial pressures by allowing them to trace, authenticate, investigate and locate individuals.

It enables officials to investigate individuals under Sections 29 and 35 of the Data Protection Act 1998 for the purposes of crime prevention and facilitation of legal proceedings.

Lyn Jones, head of government services at Equifax said: ""This information serves as a valuable tool in combating ID fraud by allowing staff to verify address information and process applications, quickly and efficiently.""

However, Rob Bamforth, principal analyst at independent research group Quocirca, told Information World Review that information services such as eTrail need to be used judiciously to ensure legitimate privacy concerns are addressed.

""Coping with increasing demand from any service is fine when everything runs smoothly, and when everyone is honest. The problem is with exceptions, either accidental or deliberate. With public services the taxpayer expects both instant answers to their questions, but also sufficient control to avoid errors or abuse,"" Bamforth said.

""The quandary is when this requires personal information, how do we balance personal security versus the needs of society? Technology solutions such as eTrail can provide the tools, but the skills to use them safely still need some honing.""

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Equifax Phone Number-Equifax Credit Report

Equifax:
Equifax Credit Information Services, Inc
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374
Tel: (800) 685-1111
To place a fraud alert:
(888) 766-0008
To opt out of mailing lists:
(888) 567-8688
www.equifax.com

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