Credit reporting agencies obtain at least half their information on consumers-including mortgage applicants-from credit card companies.
These findings came from a new study published by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The agency noted that the nation’s big three credit reporting firms-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 agency writes in a summary of its findings. “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.”
CFPB said it hopes the study will bring “more clarity to the confusing world” of credit reports. When a consumer files a mortgage application, one of the first things a lender does is pull the consumer’s credit report.
Source: Mortgage Services and SourcMedia
