Type | Canadian division |
---|---|
Industry | Credit risk assessment |
Headquarters | Burlington, Ontario |
Products | Credit reports |
Services | Credit information |
Owner | TransUnion |
Website | www |
Based in Burlington, Ontario, TransUnion Canada is one of two [1] credit reporting agencies in Canada. Like their main competitor, Equifax Canada, they now market their credit reports directly to consumers, in addition to their core business of providing the reports to potential creditors.
Services offered by TransUnion Canada include:
In 2012 Consumer Protection B.C issued a compliance order against Trans Union to remove all data it held over 6 years. Trans Union refused to comply with the compliance order as it felt obligated to report "substantiated facts" longer than six years. TransUnion requested a review of the compliance order, which led to court action. The BC Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that the compliance order was lawful. [3] [4]
A credit score is a number that provides a comparative estimate of an individual's creditworthiness based on an analysis of their credit report. It is an inexpensive and main alternative to other forms of consumer loan underwriting.
FICO, originally Fair, Isaac and Company, is a data analytics company based in Bozeman, Montana, focused on credit scoring services. It was founded by Bill Fair and Earl Isaac in 1956. Its FICO score, a measure of consumer credit risk, has become a fixture of consumer lending in the United States.
Experian is a multinational data analytics and consumer credit reporting company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Experian collects and aggregates information on over 1 billion people and businesses including 235 million individual U.S. consumers and more than 25 million U.S. businesses.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), 15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq., is federal legislation enacted to promote the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of consumer information contained in the files of consumer reporting agencies. It was intended to shield consumers from the willful and/or negligent inclusion of erroneous data in their credit reports. To that end, the FCRA regulates the collection, dissemination, and use of consumer information, including consumer credit information. Together with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), the FCRA forms the foundation of consumer rights law in the United States. It was originally passed in 1970, and is enforced by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and private litigants.
TransUnion is an American consumer credit reporting agency. TransUnion collects and aggregates information on over one billion individual consumers in over thirty countries including "200 million files profiling nearly every credit-active consumer in the United States". Its customers include over 65,000 businesses. Based in Chicago, Illinois, TransUnion's 2014 revenue was US$1.3 billion. It is the smallest of the three largest credit agencies, along with Experian and Equifax.
Equifax Inc. is an American multinational consumer credit reporting agency headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and is one of the three largest consumer credit reporting agencies, along with Experian and TransUnion. Equifax collects and aggregates information on over 800 million individual consumers and more than 88 million businesses worldwide. In addition to credit and demographic data and services to business, Equifax sells credit monitoring and fraud prevention services directly to consumers.
Equifax Canada Inc is one of two agencies providing credit bureau and information reports for businesses, including the financial sectors. Owned by Equifax of Atlanta, Georgia, Equifax Canada is based in Toronto, Ontario.
A credit history is a record of a borrower's responsible repayment of debts. A credit report is a record of the borrower's credit history from a number of sources, including banks, credit card companies, collection agencies, and governments. A borrower's credit score is the result of a mathematical algorithm applied to a credit report and other sources of information to predict future delinquency.
The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 is a U.S. federal law, passed by the United States Congress on November 22, 2003, and signed by President George W. Bush on December 4, 2003, as an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The act allows consumers to request and obtain a free credit report once every 12 months from each of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies. In cooperation with the Federal Trade Commission, the three major credit reporting agencies set up the web site AnnualCreditReport.com to provide free access to annual credit reports.
A credit bureau is a data collection agency that gathers account information from various creditors and provides that information to a consumer reporting agency in the United States, a credit reference agency in the United Kingdom, a credit reporting body in Australia, a credit information company (CIC) in India, Special Accessing Entity in the Philippines, and also to private lenders. It is not the same as a credit rating agency.
Information privacy, data privacy or data protection laws provide a legal framework on how to obtain, use and store data of natural persons. The various laws around the world describe the rights of natural persons to control who is using its data. This includes usually the right to get details on which data is stored, for what purpose and to request the deletion in case the purpose is not given anymore.
A credit score is a numerical expression based on a level analysis of a person's credit files, to represent the creditworthiness of an individual. A credit score is primarily based on a credit report, information typically sourced from credit bureaus.
VantageScore is a consumer credit-scoring system in the United States, created through a joint venture of the three major credit bureaus. The model is managed and maintained by an independent company, VantageScore Solutions, LLC, that was formed in 2006 and is jointly owned by the three bureaus.
A credit freeze allows an individual to control how a consumer reporting agency is able to sell personal financial identity data. The credit freeze locks the data at the consumer reporting agency until the individual gives permission for the release of the data.
AnnualCreditReport.com is a website jointly operated by the three major U.S. credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. The site was created in order to comply with their obligations under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) to provide a mechanism for American consumers to receive up to three free credit reports per year.
Credit report monitoring or company tracking is the monitoring of one's credit history in order to detect any suspicious activity or changes. Companies offer such service on a subscription basis, typically granting regular access to one's credit history, alerts of critical changes to one's credit history, and additional services. Credit monitoring can help detect credit related fraud and identity theft.
Connect, formerly PRBC, is a consumer credit reporting agency, more commonly referred to as a credit bureau in the United States. It is similar to the other four U.S. credit bureaus in that it is an FCRA compliant national data repository. Connect differs in that consumers are able to self-enroll and report their own non-debt payment history, and they can build a positive credit file based on alternative data, such as timely payments for bills including rent, utilities, cable, telephone, and insurance that are not automatically reported to the other bureaus.
OptOutPrescreen.com is a joint venture among Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and TransUnion, allowing customers to opt out of receiving credit card solicitations by mail.
"'Tenant screening'" is used primarily by residential landlords and property managers to evaluate prospective tenants. The purpose is to assess the likelihood the tenant will fulfill the terms of the lease or rental agreement and will also take great care of the rental property in question. The process culminates in a decision as to whether to approve the applicant, approve the applicant conditionally, or deny tenancy.
The Equifax data breach occurred between May and July 2017 at the American credit bureau Equifax. Private records of 147.9 million Americans along with 15.2 million British citizens and about 19,000 Canadian citizens were compromised in the breach, making it one of the largest cybercrimes related to identity theft. In a settlement with the United States Federal Trade Commission, Equifax offered affected users settlement funds and free credit monitoring.