Equifax Business Credit Report

To further protect your online security, active links from Q&A has been disabled!

My wife is an authorized user on some of her dad's credit cards. These are not joint accounts, but she is just an authorized user. Now, his business is going downhill and he has left these cards go into collections. It is showing up on my wife's credit report as derogatory items. We have asked the CC companies to take her off from being an authorized user, but they are still showing up on Equifax, and Transunion credit reports, what should be done? The original creditor is listing the negative items on the credit report.

Best Answer

Your father in law should have removed your wife from these accounts before he let them go to collections. There really is not a lot to be done now, they will continue to show on your wifes report but as a authorized user only she is not responsible for paying these accounts no matter what anyone says. Now for some good news, under the new system FICO 2008 authorized user accounts will no longer be taken into consideration when scores are calculated that does not apply to the collection accounts though.

Seriously, about a little more than 100% of all important business check your credit report from transunion. Whats the point of the other Experian and Equifax? I looked at all 3 reports and all inquiries were on transunion.

Best Answer

It actually depends on which part of the country you are in. There was a time when these companies were region specific and were independant of each other. In my part of the country, Equifax provides the majority of accurate information when I pull someone's credit. Also, lenders now utilize all 3 bureaus to get a median score for you. I would guess that you are in the middle of the US somewhere if Transunion seems to get pulled more. These companies have done business with one bureau for a long time and the cost has remained low so they don't bother to utilize other companies due to cost.

I have an employee who I gave a substantial loan to and would like to report it to Equifax to help boost their credit rating, does anyone know how I can do this?

Best Answer

Think about this: Your entire future is based on your credit scores in one way or another. - If you plan on buying a house, a car, or getting a loan for ANYTHING at all, you will run into a credit agency at one point or another. - If you apply for a job with the government, banks and many other businesses, your credit score will be used to partially determin whether or not you get the job. - If you apply to rent a space to live in, your credit score will be used to either approve or deny you. Experion, Equifax and Trans Union basically run your life. If you have had mistakes in your past, ones that you can no longer correct by paying them off, you're pretty much screwed. There are laws that govern how long items can remain on your credit report, but many people do not understand that companies can simply re-submit your information and it's back to the beginning. Should these 3 companies have so much power over every US citizen? Furthermore, many credit card issuing companies target teens at colleges around the US, offering free food / beverages/ other incentives to get the "Children" to apply for, and usually receive, a credit card. Many, if not most of these kids don't really have a basic understanding of how important their credit is, and will eventually abuse their cards, not pay the bills, and start their life in the real world with damaged credit. If you try and get a loan or anything like it, and your credit is not high enough, you cannot get the loan without a co-signer, which many people do not have access to. So in other words, you can't even really begin getting good credit without having to go through companies that completely rip you off and charge you enormous finance fees and percentages. Credit seems to me to be a really rotten thing in the long run.

Best Answer

The credit reporting agencies are just that REPORTING agencies. They only put into a file what is reported to them. If it is not accurate then by law they must correct it. These companies have decades of data to build scoring models. They have figured that people who have had problems in the past may continue to have problems. As with any system people are going to fall through the cracks. A correction on your statement about what people don't understand. You said "There are laws that govern how long items can remain on your credit report, but many people do not understand that companies can simply re-submit your information and it's back to the beginning". You are incorrect on this. Creditors are NOT allowed to re-age the debt. Negative information can only remain for 7 years from the date of the negative item. So if the item is more than 7 years old, it must be removed. The exception to this is 10 years for a bankruptcy. Doing this would be violation of the FDCPA(Fair Debt Collection Practices Act) and FCRA(Fair Credit Reporting Act). Now, your issue(based on your additional details) seems to be more with the actual credit card companies marketing to college kids and people who don't really understand. On this issue, you might have a point. But that is not the fault of the Credit Reporting Agencies.