Equifax

The Oldest Of The Big Three Credit Bureaus

Equifax is a consumer credit reporting agency in the United States, and is one of the three largest American credit agencies along with Experian and TransUnion.

Founded in 1899, Equifax is the oldest of the three agencies and gathers and maintains information on over 400 million credit holders worldwide.

Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Equifax is a global service provider with US $1.5 billion in annual revenue and 7,000+ employees in 14 countries.

Equifax began just before the dawn of the 20th century as the old Atlanta credit bureau. It was called the "Retail Credit Company" back then.

Retail Credit Company's extensive information holdings, and its willingness to sell them to anyone, attracted criticism of the company in the 1960s and 1970s.

These included that it collected:

"...facts, statistics, inaccuracies and rumors… about virtually every phase of a person's life; his marital troubles, jobs, school history, childhood, sex life, and political activities."

The company was also alleged to reward its employees for collecting negative information on consumers.

By the time the first version of the Fair Credit Reporting Act was passed in 1971, the Retail Credit Company wanted to get rid of its negative reputation and changed its name to Equifax.

Address:

Equifax
PO Box 105873
Atlanta, GA 30348

Phone #:

800-685-1111

Website:

www.equifax.com