Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: It is Take Control Tuesday, which means I get a chance to talk to Manta Melusa. And today, Manta, you sent me two websites that give a wealth of information about credit bureaus and the different ways that your score can be checked, your life can be checked. Now, we know about Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, but there are many, many more and I wasn't even aware of some of these that are checking our.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: Yeah, here's the thing. And once again, we want to encourage people to go to the show notes. We've provided information and links on different bureaus. Randy, most people are aware, as you said, of the three major credit bureaus. Those are the bureaus that provide credit score. And we've talked about in the past how to ensure the correct information is provided by the bureau. In other words, the bureau has to correct any errors that are on your report.
But recently I discovered there is a wealth of other bureaus that do not provide credit scores, but generally form around different categories, which we'll go through briefly. So the three credit bureaus provide scores, right? That's the thing about credit bureaus. They're not for us, the consumer.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Right.
[00:01:31] Speaker B: They're for the people that grant us credit.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: So here are the categories of credit bureaus. Number one, there's employment screening credit bureaus. So when you apply for a job, normally the employer will pull your credit report with your permission. And it could be from some of the employment credit bureaus that are listed in the list we provide.
There are bank and check screening credit bureaus. So when you go to open up a bank account, banks have credit bureaus that have tracked your check writing history, your overdraft history, and those kind of things.
Next, there are insurance bureaus that provide companies with your claims experience with insurance. So if you're getting property insurance, rental insurance, homeowners, car insurance, you want to know what information is in there. The next one is tenant screening. There are a lot of different tenant screening credit bureaus. Once again, this isn't for our benefit, but for the landlords, the management companies and those kind of things. So if you're a renter, you need to know what information is on there on those types of bureaus. And if you're correct, next, there are subprime credit bureaus. So if you have a credit score below 600, there are credit bureaus that review those kind of files and sell that information to creditors. The next type of credit bureau is a medical credit bureau.
[00:03:17] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: They actually track your medical debt, your medical bills and Those guys, the next one is retail. Now, we all get involved with retail, but they actually have their own credit bureau. They may be using another layer of credit as well.
And the final one is gaming. If you involved with casino gambling, that type of thing, those entities have their own credit bureau.
And basically what all these credit bureaus do, they aggregate data and information, massage it in a way and present it to whoever their target audience is. And once again, remember, the audience is not the consumer they're reporting on. It's the company you're trying to do business with.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: Got it?
[00:04:12] Speaker B: Now, most of these companies are covered under the Fair Credit Reporting Guide. The information they provide must be correct. That's the takeaway from this. So I would encourage people to go in, do some research. Once again, you don't have to check them all, but you should check some of these to make sure the information they're providing is correct.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: That is also great information. And I told you off the air, I kind of needed this last week when I had to dispute something that was on my credit report. And I only found out when I was about to try to find an apartment again. We'll put that on our website attakecontrol Tuesday.com and make sure when you get this, you share it with other people as well because it is so much good information.
And as always, Mansa, thank you so much.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: Thank you.
