When retailers report to credit agencies; do they just pick up the phone and call them, or is there more to it

Question

I want to understand so that when ever I make my next credit buy I want to make certain that it will be reported and if not I'd like to know if I make a request for this to be done will there be a fee or something charged to the retailer to report my account activity.

Answer 1

No, there is no charge from a retailer to you to report your credit activities. (If anyone tries to charge you, tell them to get lost.)

As a general rule, if you have to supply your social security number to a company in order to obtain credit from them, they will most likely be reporting how well you repay them to one or more of the credit reporting agencies.

Here is an article that will hopefully clear things up for you.

http://www.FastLender.com/article/credit-report.aspx

Good luck!

.

Answer 2

The retailer contracts with a third party to process credit card transactions. This is almost always handled electronically. The only time the retailer actually calls anyone is when the computer network is down. This rarely happens anymore, but it is still available as a backup.

Answer 3

Retailers just have a contract with the credit card company to use their names on the cards. The card processing is usually handled by an outside company. No one actually telephones to report to your credit report. A report is sent once a month to the credit agencies to update your credit history.