credit bureau

=<div>see redlining</div><div>see big data privacy</div><div>[// KB predictive analysis China?]</div><div>=
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</div><div><a href="https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/183427">Where Did Credit Reporting Come From, and Why is it So Powerful Today? | History News Network</a></div><div>
</div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: 19px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">hether you’re signing up for your <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/select/the-best-credit-cards-for-building-credit/" style="outline: 0px; color: rgb(65, 64, 66); transition: all 0.2s linear 0s;">first-ever credit card</a> or <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/select/how-to-qualify-for-a-mortgage/" style="outline: 0px; color: rgb(65, 64, 66); transition: all 0.2s linear 0s;">applying for a mortgage</a>, your <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/select/what-is-a-good-credit-score/" style="outline: 0px; color: rgb(65, 64, 66); transition: all 0.2s linear 0s;">credit score</a> plays an important role in determining whether or not you’ll be able to reach many of your financial goals. Your <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/select/what-is-a-credit-report/" style="outline: 0px; color: rgb(65, 64, 66); transition: all 0.2s linear 0s;">credit report</a> and that three-digit credit score number can also make a big difference in how much interest you’ll have to pay on loans as well as the types of loans or credit cards you’ll qualify for.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: 19px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Credit reports and credit scores as we know them today are a part of a long history of merchants and lenders collecting information and using it to evaluate whether a potential borrower would be able to pay their loans back in full and on time. <p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: 19px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/select/" style="outline: 0px; color: rgb(65, 64, 66); transition: all 0.2s linear 0s;">Select</a> spoke with Josh Lauer, associate professor of communication at the University of New Hampshire and author of “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Creditworthy-Consumer-Surveillance-Financial-Capitalism/dp/023116808X" target="blank" style="outline: 0px; color: rgb(65, 64, 66); transition: all 0.2s linear 0s;">Creditworthy: A History of Consumer Surveillance and Financial Identity in America</a>,” to understand more about how credit scoring and credit reporting came to be, and how both eventually became such an important part of our lives.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: 19px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Before there was credit scoring, there was commercial credit reporting. Unlike consumer credit reporting, where individuals are evaluated for their credit risk level, commercial credit reporting was originally used by merchants to evaluate the creditworthiness of potential business customers. <p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: 19px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In 1841, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3112840" target="blank" style="outline: 0px; color: rgb(65, 64, 66); transition: all 0.2s linear 0s;">the Mercantile Agency was founded</a> as one of the first commercial credit reporting agencies, using people known as correspondents to collect information about lenders and borrowers across the country. In a way, it functioned a bit like a modern-day credit reporting agency, collecting information about a businessperson’s marital status, ethnic background, credit history and age, which was then entered into a ledger that was centralized in one location, New York City. <p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: 19px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This type of credit reporting relied on <a href="https://time.com/3961676/history-credit-scores/" target="blank" style="outline: 0px; color: rgb(65, 64, 66); transition: all 0.2s linear 0s;">subjective methods</a> of evaluation — in other words, correspondents would provide evaluations of people based on their racial background, gender and moral character.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: 19px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It wasn’t until the late 19th century, when department stores and mass retailers gained popularity, that consumer credit reporting really took off. <p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: 19px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Some mass retailers were installment houses, which would sell items such as furniture and drugs to customers via installment loans. The retailers needed a way to attract consumers and ensure they would be paid back, so they collected information about their customers and submitted it to a local credit bureau.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: 19px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">While there are three major consumer credit bureaus today — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — it would in fact take hundreds of years to develop a national centralized credit bureau.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: 19px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It wasn’t until credit reporting became computerized in the 1960s that the industry would become consolidated. <p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: 19px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In the 1960s, there were more than 2,000 credit bureaus across the U.S.. Over the course of the next 20 years, that number would shrink to five and, eventually, to the three major credit bureaus that exist today, Lauer explains.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; font-size: 19px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Before [the 1960s], all the files were in filing cabinets, on papers and cards,” says Lauer. “So we have these bureaus that have lots of money. They come into a town and buy up all the local credit bureaus with all [of] their information and then computerize it.”<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 19px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">It would take longer for credit scoring to gain widespread popularity in the U.S., however, as lenders were hesitant to give up their use of <a href="https://d-nb.info/1217712542/34" target="blank" style="outline: 0px; color: rgb(65, 64, 66); transition: all 0.2s linear 0s;">character assessments</a> in the evaluation of someone’s creditworthiness. <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 19px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">no lnx<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 19px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia, serif; line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; margin-bottom: 0px !important;">yikes banner  popup ads FOR EXPERION<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">would take longer for credit scoring to gain widespread popularity in the U.S., however, as lenders were hesitant to give up their use of character assessments in the evaluation of someone’s creditworthiness. <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Today, FICO scores are considered to be the most widely used type of credit score.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">According to Sally Taylor, vice president and general manager of FICO Scores, the company was founded in 1956 and would initially work with business clients to develop credit scoring models that were specific to that company.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; margin-bottom: 0px !important;">A company would hire FICO and then use its customer files to produce an individualized model, which would then be used to calculate the credit risk level of its customers, explains Lauer. <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">In 1989, FICO worked with the national credit bureaus to create a credit scoring model that could be used to evaluate all consumers — this is when the first generalizable credit score was born.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">“The idea that there’s a generic model means that lots of different companies can use a credit score for the first time and this makes credit scoring much more accessible and popular among lenders,” says Lauer.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; margin-bottom: 0px !important;">FICO scores were then cemented as a crucial part of the financial decision-making process when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac started requiring mortgage applicants to submit them in the mid-1990s.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Credit scores today<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Today, there are many different types of credit scoring models used by a variety of lenders. FICO, however, remains one of the most widely used — the company claims its scores are used by 90% of top lenders.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">FICO’s credit scoring models have evolved since 1989 to account for ever-changing consumer behaviors. Today, the scores range from 300 to 850, with higher scores indicating a greater likelihood that a consumer will pay back their loans in full and on time.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Unlike credit reporting and credit scoring methods of the past, factors such as race, age, gender and marital status are no longer considered. Instead, the following five factors are used to calculate an individual’s FICO credit score:<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Payment history (35%): Whether or not you’ve paid past credit accounts on time<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Amounts owed (30%): The total amount of credit and loans you’re currently using compared to your total credit limit — this is also known as your utilization rate<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Length of credit history (15%): The length of time you’ve had credit<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">New credit (10%): How often you apply for and open new accounts<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Credit mix (10%): The variety of credit products you have, including credit cards, installment loans, finance company accounts and mortgage loans<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">In recent years, there’s also been an effort to include data that’s not typically used to calculate credit scores. Experian Boost™ was launched in 2019, allowing users to include recurring payments such as utility bills and monthly subscription payments on their Experian credit report.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Experian Boost™<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Experian Boost™<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">LEARN MORE<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">On Experian’s secure site<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Cost<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Free<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Average credit score increase<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">13 points, though results vary<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Credit report affected<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Experian<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Credit scoring model used<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">FICO®<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Terms apply.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">How to sign up for Experian Boost™:<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Connect the bank account(s) you use to pay your bills<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Choose and verify the positive payment data you want added to your Experian credit file<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Receive an updated FICO® Score<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Learn more about eligible payments and how Experian Boost™ works.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; margin-bottom: 0px !important;">In the U.S., 26 million Americans are considered to be credit ‘invisible’ due to having a lack of credit history, with the issue affecting more Black, Hispanic and low-income individuals. Experian Boost can be a useful tool for those with poor credit scores — or no credit scores at all — as it allows information regarding on-time payments to be included on their credit reports, which can help bump it up a bit.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">For those who want more in depth information on their credit score and to monitor changes to their credit file, consider a credit monitoring service. Both Experian free credit monitoring and Experian IdentityWorks℠ provide you with potential fraud warnings which can help protect against identity theft.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Other free options to view your credit score include CreditWise from Capital One which shows you your VantageScore from TransUnion or Discover Credit Scorecard which shows your FICO Score from Experian.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Experian Dark Web Scan + Credit Monitoring<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Experian Dark Web Scan + Credit Monitoring<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">LEARN MORE<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">On Experian’s secure site<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Cost<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Free<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Credit bureaus monitored<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Experian<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Credit scoring model used<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">FICO®<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Dark web scan<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Yes, one-time only<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Identity insurance<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">No<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Terms apply.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Experian IdentityWorks℠<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Experian IdentityWorks℠<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">LEARN MORE<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">On Experian’s secure site<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Cost<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">$9.99 to $29.99 per month<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Credit bureaus monitored<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Experian for Plus plan or Experian, Equifax and TransUnion for Premium plan<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Credit scoring model used<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">FICO®<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Dark web scan<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Yes<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Identity insurance<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Yes, up to $500,000 for Plus plan and up to $1 million for Premium plan<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Terms apply.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">*Identity Theft Insurance underwritten by insurance company subsidiaries or affiliates of American International Group, Inc. (AIG). The description herein is a summary and intended for informational purposes only and does not include all terms, conditions and exclusions of the policies described. Please refer to the actual policies for terms, conditions, and exclusions of coverage. Coverage may not be available in all jurisdictions.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Catch up on Select’s in-depth coverage of personal finance, tech and tools, wellness and more, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">
<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Read more<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); line-height: 26.88px; padding: 0em 2.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 0px !important;">What is a FICO Score and why is it important?<div>
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</div><div><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-equifax-data-breach-20171002-story.html">http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-equifax-data-breach-20171002-story.html</a></div><div>
<div>=  </div><div>long interview</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.vanderbilt.edu/university-press/book/9780826521668" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">https://www.vanderbilt.edu/university-press/book/9780826521668</a></div><div>
</div><div>we can't opt out; data collection is automatic; industry powerful; not designed to help ppl but biz</div><div>
</div><div>
<div><a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/creditworthy/9780231168083">https://cup.columbia.edu/book/creditworthy/9780231168083</a></div><div>
</div><div><h1 class="title" style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: 0.08em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Creditworthy</h1><p class="subtitle" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 20.8px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A History of Consumer Surveillance and Financial Identity in America<p class="author" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 20.8px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Josh Lauer<p class="publisher" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 20.8px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Columbia University Press</div><div>1870's NYC, dept stores</div><div>
</div><div>computerized in 60's 5 corps --> 3 now</div><div>models 1st rejected by credit men/pro, b/c cd not access character; act punished discrimination, so adopted score to avoid liability.</div><div>
</div><div>later model used to predict how much profit likely. (you do not want someone to pay in full on time); used to set interest rates; --> subprime!</div><div>
</div><div>50's boast in Life mag how much info had; parade float w file cabinet</div><div>
</div><div>The first consumer credit bureaus appeared in the 1870s and quickly amassed huge archives of deeply personal information. Today, the three leading credit bureaus are among the most powerful institutions in modern life—yet we know almost nothing about them. Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion are multi-billion-dollar corporations that track our movements, spending behavior, and financial status. This data is used to predict our riskiness as borrowers and to judge our trustworthiness and value in a broad array of contexts, from insurance and marketing to employment and housing.  In <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color">Creditworthy, the first comprehensive history of this crucial American institution, Josh Lauer explores the evolution of credit reporting from its nineteenth-century origins to the rise of the modern consumer data industry. By revealing the sophistication of early credit reporting networks, <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color">Creditworthy highlights the leading role that commercial surveillance has played—ahead of state surveillance systems—in monitoring the economic lives of Americans. Lauer charts how credit reporting grew from an industry that relied on personal knowledge of consumers to one that employs sophisticated algorithms to determine a person's trustworthiness. Ultimately, Lauer argues that by converting individual reputations into brief written reports—and, later, credit ratings and credit scores—credit bureaus did something more profound: they invented the modern concept of financial identity. <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color">Creditworthy reminds us that creditworthiness is never just about economic "facts." It is fundamentally concerned with—and determines—our social standing as an honest, reliable, profit-generating person.</div><div></div></div><div>=<div>
</div><div><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-equifax-data-breach-20171002-story.html">http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-equifax-data-breach-20171002-story.html</a></div><div>
</div><div>...Smith <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-equifax-ceo-20170926-story.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">stepped down</a> last week in the wake of the breach, which has sparked numerous federal and state investigations as well as outrage from lawmakers. His appearance Tuesday before the House panel will be the first of three before congressional committees this week.</div>In his written testimony, Smith blamed the breach on “human error and technology failures” and said the company was a victim of “a massive theft.”<aside class="trb_ar_sponsoredmod" data-v-ntidd="1069557" data-adloader-networktype="nativo" data-withinviewport-options="bottomOffset=100" data-load-method="trb.vendor.nativo.init" data-load-type="method" style="margin: 5px 0px 25px; clear: both; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="trb_ar_nt" /></aside>“The company failed to prevent sensitive information from falling into the hands of wrongdoers,” he said.“The people affected by this are not numbers in a database. They are my friends, my family, members of my church, the members of my community, my neighbors,” Smith said. “This breach has impacted all of them. It has impacted all of us.”Smith also said Equifax was “disappointed” with the rollout of a special website and call centers to deal with the fallout from the breach. The company “struggled with the initial effort” to help consumers, he said.Equifax has been criticized for waiting nearly six weeks to notify the public after learning of the hack July 29, and then initially making consumers give up their right to sue if they wanted free credit monitoring and identity theft protection. Equifax later backtracked on that requirement.<aside class="trb_ar_sponsoredmod" data-adloader-networktype="yieldmo" data-v-ymid="ym_1606464552242100545" data-role="delayload_item" data-withinviewport-options="bottomOffset=100" data-load-method="trb.vendor.yieldmo.init" data-load-type="method" style="margin: 5px 0px 25px; clear: both; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="ym_1606464552242100545" data-id="ym_1" class="ym ym_scroll" /></aside>On Aug. 1, three Equifax executives <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-equifax-insider-trading-20170908-story.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">sold thousands of shares of stock</a>. All the shares sold for about $146 each. The company’s stock sharply declined after the data breach was announced. It was about $108 on Monday morning.Equifax’s board of directors has formed a special committee and is “conducting a thorough review of the trading at issue,” Theodore M. Hester, an attorney retained by Equifax, said in a letter Friday to Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.....=A credit bureau is a collection agency that gathers account information from various creditors and provides that information to a consumer reporting agency in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">United States</a>, a credit reference agency in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom" title="United Kingdom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">United Kingdom</a>, a credit reporting body in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia" title="Australia" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Australia</a>, a credit information company (CIC) in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" title="India" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">India</a>, Special Accessing Entity in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines" title="Philippines" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Philippines</a>, and also to private lenders.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[1]</a> It is not the same as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_rating_agency" title="Credit rating agency" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">credit rating agency</a>.
<div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1;"><div class="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;">
</div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#Description" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1Description</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#India" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2India</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#Pakistan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3Pakistan</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#History" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3.1History</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#United_Kingdom" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4United Kingdom</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#Credit_Reference_Agencies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.1Credit Reference Agencies</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#Consumer_Credit_Act.281974.29" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4.2Consumer Credit Act (1974)</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#United_States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5United States</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#Tort_liability_for_business_defamation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5.1Tort liability for business defamation</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#Iran" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">6Iran</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#Philippines" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">7Philippines</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#Saudi_Arabia" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">8Saudi Arabia</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#Controversy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">9Controversy</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#Business_Credit_Reporting_Agencies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">10Business Credit Reporting Agencies</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-15" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#List_of_credit_reporting_agencies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">11List of credit reporting agencies</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-16" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#See_also" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">12See also</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-17" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#References" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">13References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-18" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#External_links" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">14External links</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">Description</h2>A Consumer Reporting Agency is an organization providing information on individuals' borrowing and bill-paying habits.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[2]</a> Credit information such as a person’s previous loan performance is a powerful tool to predict his or her future behavior. Such credit information institutions reduce the effect of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asymmetric_information" class="mw-redirect" title="Asymmetric information" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">asymmetric information</a> between borrowers and lenders, and alleviate problems of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adverse_selection" title="Adverse selection" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">adverse selection</a> and moral hazard. For example, adequate credit information could facilitate lenders in screening and monitoring borrowers as well as avoiding giving loans to high risk individuals.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[3]</a> This helps lenders assess credit worthiness, the ability to pay back a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loan" title="Loan" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">loan</a>, and can affect the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interest_rate" title="Interest rate" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">interest rate</a> and other terms of a loan. Interest rates are not the same for everyone, but instead can be based on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk-based_pricing" title="Risk-based pricing" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">risk-based pricing</a>, a form of price discrimination based on the different expected risks of different borrowers, as set out in their <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_rating" title="Credit rating" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">credit rating</a>. Consumers with poor credit repayment histories or court adjudicated debt obligations like tax liens or bankruptcies will pay a higher annual interest rate than consumers who don't have these factors. Additionally, decision-makers in areas unrelated to consumer credit, including employment screening and underwriting of property and casualty insurance, increasingly depend on credit records, as studies have shown that such records have predictive value.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#cite_note-AveryCalemCanner-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[4]</a> At the same time, consumers also benefit from a good credit information system because it reduces the effect of credit monopoly from banks<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_bureau#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[5]</a> and provides incentives for borrowers to repay their loans on time.In the U.S., consumer reporting agencies collect and aggregate personal information, financial data, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_data" title="Alternative data" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">alternative data</a> on individuals from a variety of sources called data furnishers with which the reporting agencies have a relationship. Data furnishers are typically creditors, lenders, utilities, debt collection agencies (credit bureaus) and the courts (i.e. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_records" title="Public records" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">public records</a>) that a consumer has had a relationship or experience with. Data furnishers report their payment experience with the consumer to the credit reporting agencies. The data provided by the furnishers as well as collected by the bureaus are then aggregated into the consumer reporting agency's data repository or files. The resulting information is made available on request to customers of the consumer reporting agencies' for the purposes of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_risk" title="Credit risk" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">credit risk</a> assessment, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_score" title="Credit score" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">credit scoring</a> or for other purposes such as employment consideration or leasing an apartment. Given the large number of consumer borrowers, these credit scores tend to be mechanistic. To simplify the analytical process for their customers, the different consumer reporting agencies can apply a mathematical <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm" title="Algorithm" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">algorithm</a> to provide a score the customer can use to more rapidly assess the likelihood that an individual will repay a particular <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt" title="Debt" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">debt</a> given the frequency that other individuals in similar situations have defaulted. Most <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_welfare" class="mw-redirect" title="Consumer welfare" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">consumer welfare</a> advocates advise individuals to review their <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_report" class="mw-redirect" title="Credit report" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">credit reports</a> at least once a year to ensure they are accurate.In addition to providing credit information, these services have become authoritative sources of identity information against which people can be verified using an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_verification_service" title="Identity verification service" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">identity verification service</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge-based_authentication" title="Knowledge-based authentication" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">knowledge-based authentication</a>....<h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;">United States[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Credit_bureau&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: United States" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable" style="font-style: italic; padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">See also: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_freeze" title="Credit freeze" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Credit freeze</a></div>In the United States, there is no legal term for a credit bureau under the federal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Credit_Reporting_Act" title="Fair Credit Reporting Act" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Fair Credit Reporting Act</a> (FCRA). A consumer reporting agency is often abbreviated in the industry as CRA.In the United States, key consumer reporting agency consumer protections and general rules or governing guidelines for both the consumer reporting agencies and data furnishers are the federal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Credit_Reporting_Act" title="Fair Credit Reporting Act" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Fair Credit Reporting Act</a> (FCRA), Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Credit_Billing_Act" title="Fair Credit Billing Act" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Fair Credit Billing Act</a> (FCBA), and Regulation B.Two government bodies share responsibility for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation" title="Regulation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">oversight</a> of consumer reporting agencies and those that furnish data to them. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Trade_Commission" title="Federal Trade Commission" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Federal Trade Commission</a> (FTC) has oversight for the consumer reporting agencies. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_the_Comptroller_of_the_Currency" title="Office of the Comptroller of the Currency" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Office of the Comptroller of the Currency</a> (OCC) charters, regulates, and supervises all national banks with regard to the data they furnish consumer reporting agencies.Most U.S. consumer credit information is collected and kept by the four national traditional consumer reporting agencies: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experian" title="Experian" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Experian</a> (formerly <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRW_Credit" class="mw-redirect" title="TRW Credit" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">TRW Information Systems & Services</a> and the CCN Group), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equifax" title="Equifax" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Equifax</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransUnion" title="TransUnion" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">TransUnion</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovis" title="Innovis" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Innovis</a> (which was purchased from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Data_Corporation" class="mw-redirect" title="First Data Corporation" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">First Data Corporation</a> in 1999 by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovis" title="Innovis" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">CBC Companies</a>). These organizations are for-profit businesses and possess no government affiliation. Though they are competitors, they are members of a trade organization called the Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA) to establish reporting standards and lobby on behalf of their industry issues in Washington. Current reporting standards accepted by the four U.S. CRAs are Metro and Metro2. The Metro2 standard is defined in the annual CDIA publication, the Credit Reporting Resource Guide. Consumers are entitled to a free annual credit report from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equifax" title="Equifax" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Equifax</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experian" title="Experian" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Experian</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TransUnion" title="TransUnion" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">TransUnion</a>. Consumers can go to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annualcreditreport.com" class="mw-redirect" title="Annualcreditreport.com" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">annualcreditreport.com</a>, the Internet site maintained by the three companies, to get their free report.There are dozens of other similar information collection and reporting firms that analyze and sell information about consumers for other purposes, including those who aggregate multiple credit data sources and provide lenders with customized analytical tools. Furthermore, there are also non-traditional credit reporting agencies.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRBC" title="PRBC" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">PRBC</a> (Payment Reporting Builds Credit, Inc.) is a national <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_data" title="Alternative data" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">alternative credit bureau</a>. Incorporated in March 2002, PRBC enables consumers to self-enroll and build a positive credit file by reporting their on-time payments (such as rent, utilities, cable, and phone) that are not automatically reported to the three traditional credit bureaus.In the U.S., there are six business or commercial bureau repositories (in alphabetical order): Cortera, Dun & Bradstreet, Experian Business, Equifax Commercial, PayNet, and Southeastern Association of Credit Management (SACM). While not a credit reporting agency, Small Business Financial Exchange, Inc. (SBFE) is a not for profit trade association for small business lenders from all types of industries. SBFE gathers and protects small business payment data for its Members to help build a true and accurate picture of small business then facilitates the exchange of that data to specific business credit reporting agencies that have a Certified Vendor licensing agreement with SBFE. SBFE only allows business credit reporting agencies to license its Member’s data for risk management purposes, marketing use of the data is not allowed by SBFE.<h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;">Tort liability for business defamation[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Credit_bureau&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Tort liability for business defamation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>In the case of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dun%26_Bradstreet,Inc.v.Greenmoss_Builders,Inc." title="Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc." style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc.</a>, 472 U.S. 749 (1985) the U.S. Supreme Court held that a consumer reporting agency may be liable if it was careless in reporting an impending or past <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy" title="Bankruptcy" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">bankruptcy</a> filing of a business that is not a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_figure" title="Public figure" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">public figure</a>....</div><div>=</div></div></div></div></div>