TransUnion®, Equifax®, Experian®, and Innovis® — and why your score at each one is usually different.
Credit bureaus are private, for-profit data companies — not government agencies. The three largest (TransUnion®, Equifax®, Experian®) grew out of regional retail-credit cooperatives in the mid-20th century. Innovis® emerged later as a fourth, serving a somewhat different lender base.
Lenders are not legally required to report to all four. Each lender picks which bureaus to send data to, which is the main reason your reports — and scores — differ from bureau to bureau.
Headquartered in Chicago. Historically strong relationships with auto lenders and the rental-screening industry.
Headquartered in Atlanta. Widely used by mortgage lenders and insurers; also one of the three bureaus whose files are used for the "classic" FICO® mortgage score.
Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland (with U.S. ops in Costa Mesa, CA). Largest of the three in terms of total consumer records globally.
Headquartered in Pittsburgh. Smaller than the "big three" but widely used for identity verification and some lender decisioning. The Kovo Credit Builder reports here in addition to the big three — a point of difference worth knowing.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you are entitled to free weekly credit reports from each of the three largest bureaus via annualcreditreport.com. For Innovis®, request directly through innovis.com.
Kovo Credit members have access to templated FCRA-compliant dispute letters in the member portal.
"Your credit report is a document other companies write about you. You have the right to make them correct it. Use that right." — Rohit Patel, J.D.