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Equifax Inc.
Type	Corporation (NYSE:EFX)
Founded	1899
Headquarters	Atlanta, Georgia
Industry	Business Services, Consumer Services
Revenue	$1.5 Billion USD (2005)
Employees	5,000
Website	www.equifax.com

Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX) is a consumer credit reporting agency in the United States, considered one of the big three American credit agencies along with Experian and TransUnion. Founded in 1899, Equifax is the oldest of the three agencies and gathers and maintains information on over 400 million credit holders worldwide. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Equifax is a global service provider with US $1.5 billion in annual revenue and 5,000 employees in 14 countries.

Contents 1 History 2 Products 3 Credit score 4 Recent consumer issues 5 See also 6 References and footnotes 7 External links

Equifax was founded as Retail Credit Company in 1899. The company grew quickly and by 1920 had offices throughout the US and Canada. By the 1960s, Retail Credit Company was one of the nation's largest credit bureaus, holding files on millions of American citizens.

Retail Credit Company's extensive information holdings, and its willingness to sell them to anyone, attracted criticism of the company in the 1960s and 1970s. These included that it collected "...facts, statistics, inaccuracies and rumors… about virtually every phase of a person's life; his marital troubles, jobs, school history, childhood, sex life, and political activities." The company was also alleged to reward its employees for collecting negative information on consumers.^[1]

As a result, when the company moved to computerise its records, which would lead to much wider availability of the personal information it held, the US Congress held hearings in 1970. These led to the enactment of the Fair US Credit Reporting Act in the same year which gave consumers rights regarding information stored about them in corporate databanks.(It is alleged that the hearings prompted the Retail Credit Company to change its name to Equifax in 1975 to improve its image.)^[1]

The company has been fined by the Federal Trade Commission on two occasions for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In 2000, Equifax along with Experian and Trans Union were fined US$2.5 million for blocking and delaying phone calls from consumers trying to get information about their credit In 2003, the FTC took Equifax to court for the same reason and settled its lawsuit with the company for a fine of US$250,000.^{[2] [3]}.

The company later expanded into commercial credit reports on companies in the US, Canada and the UK, where it came into competition with companies such as Dun & Bradstreet and Experian. The company also had a division selling specialist credit information to the insurance industry but spun off this service, including the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (CLUE) database as ChoicePoint in 1997. The company formerly offered digital certification services, which it sold to GeoTrust in September 2001. In the same year, Equifax spun-off its payment services division, forming publicly-listed company Certegy which was soon acquired by Fidelity National Information Services.

For most of its existence, Equifax has operated primarily in the business-to-business sector, selling consumer credit reports and related analytics to businesses in a range of industries.^{[citation needed]} Business customers include retailers, insurance firms, healthcare providers, utilities, government agencies, as well as banks and other financial institutions.

Equifax sells businesses credit reports, analytics, demographic data, and software. Credit reports provide detailed information on the personal credit and payment history of individuals, indicating how they have honored financial obligations such as paying bills or repaying a loan. Businesses then use this information to decide what sort of products or services to offer their customers, and on what terms.

Beginning in 1999, Equifax began offering products that help people monitor their credit history, including alerting consumers to the possibility of their being a victim of credit fraud or identity theft. Equifax, and other credit monitoring agencies are required by law to provide US citizens with one free credit file disclosure every 12 months, which may be requested on-line at Annualcreditreport.com. Equifax also sells online reports and a subscription services for credit monitoring.

Associated with a person’s credit history, though not part of the credit report, is a number called the credit score, which is a mathematical model used to predict how likely a person is to repay a loan. The score is based on information in a person’s credit report, and the most commonly used credit score is the FICO credit score, used by over 70% of the nation's creditors.^{[citation needed]} For the FICO credit score, the scores range from 300 to 850, with higher scores considered better. The majority of credit scores fall within the 600s and 700s.

As of July 2007, Equifax form letters include a toll-free number, (888)876-5796, that is no longer in service. Below this defunct phone number, the Equifax form letter informs customers that they "must call within 60 days" if they wish to dispute any "information" contained within the letter.^{[citation needed]}

As of December 2007, the telephone number listed for disputing items on the free online credit report (866-233-4027) is also defunct, returning a "not in service" message when called.

• Credit score
• Identity theft
• Fair Credit Reporting Act

1. ^ ^{a b} Separating Equifax from fiction, Wired, September 1995, retrieved 13 September 2007
2. ^ Equifax Fined $250,000 Fine By FTC, NBC 10, 3 August 2003, retrieved 13 September 2007
3. ^ "Equifax to Pay $250,000 to Settle Charges", ConsumerAffairs.com, 2003-07-30. Retrieved on 2007-07-23. 

• Company website
• Equifax Credit Report Key
• Yahoo! Finance - Equifax Inc. Company Profile
• {http://www.equifax.com/online-credit-dispute/ Equifax Online Dispute]