Since there are 3 credit reporting agencies, when your credit is checked do they check all three, or choose 1?

Question

Is their one credit reporting agency that is more commonly used than the others? I am just curious because one report is significantly higher than the others and it doesn't show any negative activity. The other 2 have the 4 late payments I have had in my entire life, and yes, they have definately killed my score for those companies.

Also since those late things are over 1 and 2 years old, is there any chance the one agency that doesn't have them will at some point get them?

Answer 1

There is no telling which agency a particular credit issuer subscribes to. Sooner or later all have the same data (or close to the same) so you won't really dodge the bullet if the issuer you applied to uses one versus another agency.

I have been getting reports from all three for the past several years and haven't seen much difference. If you really ticked off a lender I am sure they would make it a point to tell all three how you screwed them so there really is no hiding.

Answer 2

depends on the company, some use one or if they don't like what they see then they might pull one from another credit reporting agency in an attempt to get you approved and they use the one that looks the most positive. It's not unusual for items showing on the 3 different reports to look different and not have something show on them. Go to Experian.comand you can pull a triple merged credit report there and see all three and you can dispute any items that you feel are in error.

Answer 3

Ussually Transunion is the most used. But All three records for all tree agencies can be retrieved for a single credit request. The only way an agency gets negative info in your report is if the company you owe money to informs the credit agency.

Answer 4

Checking your own score or your own reports does NOT hurt your credit in any way. Only outside inquiries (from lenders or credit cards) can hurt your credit. Why some people may think this? Your own inquiry shows up on your credit report along with the date. The fico score is such as mystery that many people do not know if this inquiry from yourself hurts the score. Again, it does not hurt you. The best thing you can do for your credit is pay your credit cards in full each month. Always wait 60 days for credit reports to update information. it takes time.

Answer 5

some times they check one or they can use some other type of program which checks all three. i know i have some inquiries on one of my credit reports and none on my others so it depends on the company that is requesting your credit report. i had my address changed and never reported it to the bureaus. the only time i did inform one of them was while disputing all of the debt i had on file which was paid off, a few weeks later i received a notification indicating that one of the 3 bureaus updated my address. so its possible that when you dispute an item one bureau notifies the rest.

Answer 6

Most always all three credit reports are obtained. All 3 agencies may or may not obtain all the information as although similiar, they do work independently and gather information differently.