CFPB Report on Largest Credit Bureaus

The CFPB released a report on consumer experience with the three largest nationwide credit reporting companies: Equifax Information Services, LLC; Experian Information Solutions Inc.; and TransUnion LLC. Among the key takeaways in the report, which is one of the most comprehensive studies of credit reporting to date, are that credit card history dominates the information in consumer reports and that debt collection items generate the highest rate of disputes.

Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion each have more than 200 million files on consumers. In a typical month, they receive updates from approximately 10,000 information “furnishers,” which are the entities that supply data on consumers. The furnishers do this on more than 1.3 billion “trade lines,” which are individual information sources on a consumer report such as a consumer’s accounts for a car loan, mortgage loan, or credit card.

The report is the result of the CFPB analyzing U.S. information from 2011, including information submitted by TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. Among the key takeaways in the report:

• More than half of the trade lines in the credit bureau databases are supplied by the credit card industry. 
• More than a third of disputes have to do with collections. 
• Fewer than one in five people obtain copies of their credit report each year. 
• Most information contained in credit reports comes from a few large companies. 
• Most complaints are forwarded to the furnishers that provided the original information.

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View the report.