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Equifax Credit Rating
Most people who know the Equifax name will recognise it as a credit reference agency. However, it's quite a bit more than that. Equifax has been going for over one hundred years, has its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia and employs around 6,900 people in fourteen countries. It provides businesses and consumers with mainly financial information.
Services include portfolio management, fraud detection, decision technology and marketing tools. The company claims to let consumers manage their personal credit information, protect their identity and generally improve their financial well-being.
The main effect that the company has on most people is through its Equifax Credit Rating, which is used by many companies to determine the financial stability and credit worthiness of potential customers. In its role as a credit reference agency, the company gathers information from a variety of sources to build a financial picture of consumers throughout the UK.
It obtains address information from the electoral roll, details of bankruptcies and county court judgments from court records, account details from financial organisations and a multitude of other data. In all, 350 million records are tracked each month, which will also provide information on fraud committed, how accounts are operated and any that are in default.
This is a huge amount of data and does, inevitably, give considerable scope for error. It's important, therefore, that you check the details that Equifax maintains, especially if you are applying for credit, to give you the best chance of success. Even a small mistake, such as zero missed off your salary or an incorrect house number that links you to someone else's details can spell disaster.
The Equifax Credit Report is available online and may be accessed initially through a free trial offer. You can also buy a copy of your statutory credit report, get guidance on understanding its content and obtain advice on improving your credit score. So if you do have a poor credit history, it's required reading that will pay dividends in the long term.
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