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Provide two basic services: collecting information and reporting information. Lenders and creditors report information to these data management bureaus on a monthly basis. Businesses use these reports to evaluate an individual’s financial worthiness. Throughout the years, credit report companies have undergone many transitions. Lewis began collecting detailed information on his customers to protect his business. During the first half of the twentieth century, companies only collected negative information on consumers.

Consumers could not access information on themselves. But in 1971, Congress passed a new law changing the way credit report companies did business. The Fair Credit Reporting Act required agencies to provide correct information to businesses about consumers. Although each bureau collects information differently and works with varying creditors and lenders, the information collected falls under the same categories. Identification information includes an individuals name, address, employment history and spouse.

Delinquencies reflect negatively on a consumer whereas on-time payments and account upkeep will increase financial worthiness. Credit report companies will also report on legal issues such as lawsuits, tax liens, and bankruptcies. Based in Atlanta, GA, the oldest of the credit report companies was founded as Retail Credit Company and specialized in turning personal information into a viable industry, providing services in portfolio management, fraud detection and financial information. All three companies provide a plethora of services from risk management and information profitability to consumer analytics and direct marketing.

A growing concern among all Americans is credit identity theft, which is a very serious threat to any person that has a social security number and/or a credit card. A criminal can commit credit identity theft by stealing a person’s name, social security number and borrowing card number and then it becomes a race to see how much money can be taken and aggravation brought to the victim. How do these criminals get this information?

Credit identity theft criminals also get pretty creative when they walk into a post office and fill out a change of address form, diverting a victim’s mail, including pre approved plastic card offers, bank statements and other tasty morsels filled with information. Criminals have also committed credit identity theft by using electronic devices that store your plastic card information when you use the card at a store to pay for an item. A fraud alert can be placed on any person’s borrowing history file which means that anyone wanting to issue borrowing privileges in the consumer’s name must first contact that consumer.

Many of the services that companies offer to protect a consumer’s identity can actually be done by the consumer for no charge at all. If a person is a victim of credit identity theft, a police report is extremely important to file. This becomes the basis on which extra credit reports can be offered by the three major borrowing history reporting companies. Be sure and write down every person’s name and the date and time of each conversation so that deniability can be quashed if needed.